A break in the rain ebbed major flooding concerns on the North Olympic Peninsula, but saturated ground, and fast-moving streams prolonged the threat of fallen trees and landslides.
Bob Martin, utilities and emergency management manager for Clallam County, said crews were in the field on Thursday to assess flood damage. The county is entering into a recovery phase.
“We are finding quite a bit of damage,” Martin said.
“It’s kind of what you would expect in a storm like this.”
Moisture content is high in all the soils, so more landslides can be expected, Martin added.
The immediate flood danger seems to have passed.
Clallam County closed its emergency operations center on Thursday, and flood warnings for both Clallam and Jefferson counties were lifted.
State highways reopened on the West End, providing access to Neah Bay and LaPush after they were isolated in Wednesday’s floods.
Rivers swelled
Heavy rains and an unusually high freezing level swelled the major rivers on the West End on Wednesday. The freezing level dropped back to 3,000 feet in the Olympic Mountains by Thursday morning, and the rivers gradually subsided.
Karen Gustin, Olympic National Park superintendent, said the weather caused small power outages and landslides in the park.
“So far nothing really catastrophic, but we’re feeling the effects like everyone else,” Gustin said.
In Port Angeles, the Waterfront Trail from the City Pier to the Morse Creek trestle was closed Thursday because of fallen tree limbs and small slides.
The paved trail is considered dangerous and impassable.
“With all the rain we’ve had, that whole area is really soft right now,” said Teresa Pierce, city of Port Angeles spokeswoman.
“The trail is closed because of the potential of more slides.”
The trail remains closed until further notice. The course for Saturday’s Rain-Deer Fun Run and Walk has been changed.
Meanwhile, county engineers installed a temporary structure on Nicholas Road Bridge off Hoko-Ozette Road.
The bridge washed out on Wednesday and stranded nine or 10 families.
“The bridge is destroyed — probably unrepairable,” Martin said.
Jefferson County
Jefferson County commissioners late Wednesday declared an emergency to help Jefferson County Public Works move quickly on repairs to flood-damaged Upper Hoh Road, the entryway to Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rain Forest.
There was no significant damage to roads in East Jefferson County.
“We got off better than most counties,” said Monte Reinders, Jefferson County road engineer.
Jefferson County’s Emergency Operations Center was activated at “minimum staffing” Wednesday until 11 p.m. and reopened Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m., reported Bob Hamlin, county Department of Emergency Management program manager.
An estimate of the costs of repair to county roads is being developed and will be included in a report to the State Emergency Operations Center in a few days, he said.
Several washouts closed Upper Hoh Road east of U.S. Highway 101.
Jon Preston, a ranger from Forks, inspected the road on Thursday.
“I got up to mile 7.5 today, and just about every drainage on the south-facing slope has some kind of failure,” Preston said.
Preston described “mountains of debris” overtaking the road at the culverts where the water backs up.
An alluvial fan from a large landslide shoved the Hoh River to the south about 7 miles up the Upper Hoh Road, Preston said.
Crews were unable to restore power to the Upper Hoh area following a Wednesday outage because of the road conditions.
Forest Service roads in the Sol Duc Valley and Quinault area washed out Thursday, according to the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Region.
Sekiu flood
Faulty drainage flooded Washington Street in Sekiu, Martin said. The street remained flooded late Thursday.
“There was a pretty good bit of damage in Forks in one of their main arterials,” Martin added.
The state Department of Health issued a drinking water advisory for the Crescent Water Association, which serves about 2,200, late Thursday.
Residents there were advised to boil water for one minute before drinking.
The system relies on treated river water for its supply, but floods had churned the river so much it could no longer be treated adequately.
As the Bogachiel River returned below flood stage Thursday, the main access to La Push reopened at about 4 a.m. State Route 110 was closed at Milepost 8 between Forks and LaPush when the Bogachiel River crested close to 5 feet above its flood stage and covered the roadway.
Neah Bay was isolated on Wednesday when State Route 112 closed in two spots because of flooding.
The state Department of Transportation reopened the highway between mileposts 12 and 13 — and mileposts 23 and 27 — on Thursday afternoon.
But the slide-prone highway closed again at Milepost 36 at about 6 p.m.
“I was the last car through on 112,” said Vince Cook, a Neah Bay resident and environmental division manager of the Makah tribe.
The DOT closed the road at Milepost 36 because the road was sinking, Cook said.
Motorists were bottoming out and sustaining flat tires.
West of the closure, the conditions didn’t improve much.
Cook said the roads near Neah Bay are in “pretty rough shape,” littered with potholes and branches.
“There is all kinds of mud and muck on the road at the Pysht area,” Cook said.
Commissioners Mike Chapman and Steve Tharinger on Wednesday declared a state of emergency for Clallam County, making the county eligible for state and federal funds.
Martin said the county is accumulating damage estimates on public and private property and could be eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency funds.
“Any information on damages to public or private facilities should be reported as soon as possible to this office in order to help determine our need and eligibility for funding assistance,” Martin said in a news release.
To report flood damage, call Clallam County’s emergency management department at 360-417-2305, 360-417-2483 or 360-417-2504.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
Port Townsend-Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
