BRINNON — Flood waters rose in some Brinnon homes for the second time in three months as the Duckabush River, fueled by at least 7 inches of rain in the Olympic Mountains, spilled its banks in the areas of Kelly Road, Shorewood Road and Duckabush Road today.
Given weather forecasts of more rain to come, more flooding may be ahead.
About a dozen people left their homes as rescue teams worked from early this morning to early this afternoon before halting efforts — at least temporarily, said Patrick Nicholson, Brinnon Fire Chief.
Swift water teams from Clallam County and state Fish and Wildlife rescued three people — an adult and two children — from a Ford pickup swept away by the river at 7:30 this morning, Nicholson said.
A family of five that was trapped in a home in the area of Kelly and Duckabush roads were rescued — and another five chose to leave their homes.
Two people were helped from their homes on Trailwood Drive on the other side of the river, he added.
None of the unidentified people were injured, he said.
A mud slide at Shorewood and Kelly roads reported at about 3 a.m. today was the first sign of the effects of flooding, according to Nicholson.
“When we arrived, the water was rising very rapidly through the neighborhood,” he said.
“I saw the potential of how bad [the flooding] was going to get” and called out swift water teams and fire department personnel.
The slide was cleared by 3 p.m., said Bob Hamlin, Jefferson County Emergency Management director.
Rescuers — about 20, counting two volunteers — stood down at about 1:30 p.m., according to Nicholson.
By then, swift water teams had pulled three unidentified people from a Ford pickup that had been swept away by the river current when the driver tried to detour the mud slide that had blocked both lanes at that time.
Rescuers also had visited at least 14 homes on the Kelly Road side of the river and nine on the other side of the river, checking to see if people needed help.
The people who evacuated left with family or friends, Nicholson said.
Although the Department of Emergency Management had arranged with the American Red Cross Olympic Peninsula Chapter to open the Brinnon Community center as an emergency shelter, it was not needed, Nicholson said.
“It is still an option,” if the need arises he said, as rain continued to fall in the area at 5 p.m.
“We won’t do anything more unless there are more calls for help,” he said.
“It’s still raining very hard here.
“I expect conditions to worsen at high tide [Saturday] morning,” he added.
High tide at Pleasant Harbor near Brinnon is expected to be at 6:52 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Rain is expected through at least Monday night, with a short break Sunday morning, said Ni Cushmeer, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Seattle office.
“Rainfall amounts will not be as much as we’ve seen recently,” she said.
“It will exacerbate any flooding we’re seeing now and increase the threat of landslides,” she added.
The area that was flooded today was the same that had been hit hard in a Dec. 9 storm, Nicholson said.
After deluging Clallam and Jefferson counties with rain earlier in the week, that storm skipped relatively lightly over Forks, Port Angeles and Sequim, but smashed East Jefferson County with massive power outages and flooding in Brinnon.
The Red Cross ran an emergency shelter for a day in Brinnon and eight people were rescued from their homes while others fled on their own.
Brinnon Fire Station 42 on Shorewood Drive, which contained several pieces of equipment, was flooded badly then, suffering some $200,000 worth of damage.
The station flooded again today, although the damage was less because no equipment was stored there, Nicholson said.
In the Lazy C housing development, which was flooded in December, several homes were threatened today but no one choose to leave, he said.
At least 7 inches of rain fell in the Olympic Mountains during a 24-hour period ending at 7 tonight, briefly driving other North Olympic Peninsula rivers such as the Dungeness, Elwha and Bogachiel to flood stage.
The hardest hit lowland area on the Peninsula was Brinnon, which had received 5.18 inches of rain since midnight, Cushmeer said.
Over the same period of time, from midnight to 7 p.m., Port Townsend and Sequim received less than an inch of rain while Port Angeles had slightly more than 1 inch and Forks nearly 2 inches.
The deluge is from an “atmospheric river of moisture” coming from the sub-tropics west and south of Hawaii, Cushmeer said.
Today’s storm was the second in a line approaching the Pacific Northwest. The first, a weak system, hit Thursday. The next was expected to hit tonight, and another to drop rain on the area Sunday night and Monday.
“It doesn’t look as wet as the recent one,” Cushmere said, but with much of it falling in the Olympics, “the rivers will remain pretty high.”
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Our Seattle news partner, KOMO, has aerial video of the Brinnon flood scene: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Evacuations-under-way-as-mudslide-flooding-hit-rural-Jefferson-Co-291072751.html
BRINNON — Swift-water rescue teams are going door-to-door on Kelly Road where several homes are being inundated this morning with Duckabush River floodwaters.
Kelly and Shorewood roads are partially blocked by a mudslide, and three people were rescued from a flooded pickup truck on Kelly Road, said Keppie Keplinger, Jefferson County Emergency management spokeswoman, this morning.
“Five or six homes are being inundated with water on Kelly Road,” Keplinger said.
Swift-water rescue teams from Clallam County and state Fish and Wildlife are going door-to-door to see if people need help, she said.
Swift-water rescue teams rescued three people from a flooded pickup on Kelly Road at 7:30 this morning, she said.
They evaluated and were discharged, she said. None was injured. She did not know who they were.
A mudslide that blocked Kelly and Shorewood roads at about 1 a.m. today has been partially cleared, but traffic is still not being let through because of flooding, she said.
The National Weather Service, in adding the Duckabush to its series of flood warnings, said radar and rain gauges “indicate at least 2-4 inches of rain have fallen and perhaps as much as 7 inches in the eastern foothills of the Olympics.”
The agency’s statement adds: “The heavy rains will subside this afternoon, but it will take overnight for the larger streams to come back down.”
The Weather Service’s flood warning is in effect until 4:30 a.m. Saturday.
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Our Seattle news partner, KOMO, has aerial video of the Brinnon flood scene: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Evacuations-under-way-as-mudslide-flooding-hit-rural-Jefferson-Co-291072751.html
