FORKS — The Upper Hoh Road and Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest area have reopened following a road closure.
The road closure on Friday occurred at mile marker 1.24, where Jefferson County and partners Trout Unlimited were removing a pair of fish barrier culverts on a tributary to Hells Roaring Creek, Eric Kuzma, Jefferson County’s deputy public works director, wrote in an email.
The National Weather Service reported that West Jefferson County received just more than 3 inches of rain in 24 hours on Friday, Kuzma wrote.
“The onslaught of stormwater dammed up behind the temporary bypass road, and the box culvert excavation back-flooded due to the adjacent, inundated floodplain,” Kuzma wrote. “In consideration of the bypass road potentially washing out, and out of an abundance of caution, Olympic National Park evacuated the Hoh Rainforest and the county temporarily closed the Upper Hoh Road Friday evening.”
By 9 a.m. on Saturday, the rain had subsided and the water level dropped several feet, Kuzma wrote.
“Trout Unlimited’ s contractor, Interwest Construction Inc. (ICI), had repaired and reopened the bypass road,” Kuzma wrote. “The bypass road had only suffered minor damage, largely due to ICI’s ability to quickly reinforce it during the storm.”
Also Friday, a state Department of Transportation Facebook post said flooding on U.S. Highway 101 at Amanda Park near Lake Quinault led to closing the road until further notice.
The post noted no detour was available for travelers. An update on Saturday late afternoon said the road was reopened.
A washout occurred at mile marker 9.7 on the Upper Hoh Road last December. After Jefferson County failed to secure federal funding from sources used in previous washouts, Gov. Bob Ferguson granted repair dollars from the state’s Strategic Reserve Fund.
The road was closed for more than four months.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
