Major Flooding Remains, Some Assess Damages

Some of the worst flooding on record continues to keep residents away from their homes, while others are returning to assess the damage.

Our homepage photo comes from an iSpot: user who said their neighbor’s garage was claimed by the flood in Wilkeson. View Photos

Here are the latest developments:

• Gov. Gregoire says she's confident the amount of storm damage will meet the criteria for federal disaster relief. Senators Murray and Cantwell say money from the federal bailout should be made available in for disaster relief. See video

• Interstate 5 reopens at Chehalis. Waiting freight trucks are the first to roll on the freeway that was closed Wednesday evening by flooding. KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Rick Price first reported in this report via cell phone that the freeway would likely open Friday.

• Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass reopened in the eastbound direction at 9 a.m. and in the westbound direction at noon, the Washington State Department of Transportation said.

• Water from the White River poured unexpectedly into the town of Pacific Thursday night, flooding some homes with several feet of water. Initially, a levee was thought to have broken, but King County said water may have spilled over the top of the barrier. An official cause is not yet known. Some areas continued to be in waist-deep water Friday. VIDEO: Sudden Flooding In Pacific Brews Controversy | SLIDESHOW: Sudden Flood Puts Pacific Underwater

• WSDOT said highways are still closed in many other locations. SLIDESHOW: Roads Torn By Slides, Floods, Avalanches

On Thursday, highway crews reopened Highway 2 across Stevens Pass. Traction tires are advised.

Highway 12 through White Pass is not a viable east-west route due to flooding at Randle and a washout near Glenoma, WSDOT said. Local traffic is allowed on parts of the highway that had been closed.

Hundreds of truckers had pulled their rigs off onto highway shoulders or packed truck stops as the bad weather bottled up nearly all freight in and around Seattle, costing the economy untold millions of dollars of day.

State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond estimated the economic effect of just the I-5 shutdown at $4 million a day. A major storm 13 months ago closed the same stretch for four days.

The National Weather Service said many flooding rivers in Western Washington have crested but warnings remain in effect in 10 counties.

Major flooding is still occurring Friday morning on the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Cedar and Chehalis rivers.

Floods, mudslides and avalanches in the Pacific Northwest were touched off by a combination of heavy rain of 6 inches or more and a warm spell in the mid-40s that rapidly melted snow in the Cascade Mountains.

SLIDESHOW: South Sound: More Flooding, Flood Aftermath

One of the remaining problems from this week's flooding has been damaged water systems. The state Health Department is advising residents to boil drinking water at South Bend, Morton and Pe Ell. SLIDESHOW: Morton Has Snow, Landslides, Flood Damage

More than 30,000 people in western Washington were urged to evacuate their homes on Wednesday in low-lying areas from Bellingham to the Kelso area as rivers spilled over their banks and flooded some neighborhoods.

The stricken areas included such communities as Fife, Orting and Snohomish, but Seattle itself saw little flooding.

Rescuers used boats to evacuate scores of people from nursing homes. Fire trucks rolled through the streets, using loudspeakers to warn people to leave. By Thursday afternoon, Orting officials told residents they could return to their homes.

Most of the flooding rivers in Western Washington had crested by late Thursday and begun to fall, although major flooding continued on the Snohomish at the town of Snohomish, the Snoqualmie at Carnation in the Snoqualmie Valley and the Chehalis and Skookumchuck near Centralia, along I-5.

SLIDESHOW: Fall City Residents Find Discouraging Damage VIDEO: Fall City Residents Start To Survey Damage

Crews struggled to reopen highways, especially those leading to communities cut off by the flooding and avalanches.

In Snohomish, about 30 miles north of Seattle, a crowd watched as Robert Bishop and his roommates were rescued by boat from their two-story duplex. The home close to the Pilchuck River was nearly half underwater.

No freight or passenger trains were moving between Seattle and Portland, but trains were making it across the Cascade Range. About 60 trains travel daily between Portland and Seattle carrying freight and passengers, said Gus Melonas, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Amtrak service and some freight trains were stopped as well.