PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – People in the Northwest kept a wary eye on rising rivers and faced another messy morning commute as rain and wind that have caused flooding and landslides kept up the onslaught.
Officials advised residents in affected areas to avoid traveling and to watch for flash floods, mudslides, falling trees and power outages and to avoid driving through high water.
A second barrage of heavy rains Tuesday hit the Portland area and western Washington and the rain soaked already saturated ground, pushing many area creeks and rivers to flood stage as residents in some communities stacked sandbags prevent further flooding.
Andy Haner, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle, said Tuesday night that every major river in western Washington is either already at or will rise to at least a minor flood stage over the next few days.
“This is a pretty significant flood event,” he said, due to what the service is calling a parade of storms.