And now, the cleanup begins

North Olympic Peninsula officials breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday as intermittent sunshine brought an end to several days of rain that caused flooding, washouts and slides.

The flooding destroyed a home near Sequim and led to evacuations and damaged roads in south Jefferson County and the West End of Clallam County.

U.S. Highway 101 near Lilliwaup, in Mason County south of Brinnon, remained closed due to a mudslide, but officials say at least one lane could be open for local use by Saturday.

Both Clallam and Jefferson counties deactivated emergency operations centers instituted earlier in week.

“We shifted into an emergency recovery phase this morning,” Clallam County Emergency Services Director Joe Ciarlo said Wednesday.

“We’re assessing damage and getting initial calls from people who suffered property loss.”

Damage estimates were not yet available.

The most damage came on Kinkade Island southwest of Sequim.

Rusty and Kimberly Culp, lost their house at 3092 River Road after it was undermined and washed away Tuesday when a 15-foot creek near the home turned into a raging torrent fueled by the Dungeness River.

The rest of this story appears in today’s Peninsula Daily News. Click on “Subscribe” to get the PDN delivered to your home or office.

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