Storms bring flooding to Oregon and Washington
<p>The Snoqualmie River floods the valley closing Northeast 124th Street between Highway 203 and the West Snoqualmie Valley Road on Monday near Duvall, Wash., on Monday morning.</p>
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Heavy rain and runoff from melting snow helped push the Sandy River across a road near Mount Hood, washing it out and forcing residents to evacuate on foot.
The washout Sunday on Lolo Pass Road near the town of Zigzag was part of the damage done across Oregon and Washington state by heavy weekend rains that caused landslides and minor flooding.
The weather was also blamed for at least one death when a Washington State Department of Transportation worker died after being hit by a falling tree.
Billy Rhynalds, 66, a 12-year veteran of the department, was setting up safety cones to alert motorists to power lines knocked down on Highway 203 just south of Carnation when the tree fell on his truck and killed him Sunday night, according to WSDOT officials.
On Mount Hood in Oregon, the Hoodland Fire Department sent teams on foot and ATVs Monday to reach people in 30 to 40 homes cut off when the river washed out about a 300-yard-long section of Lolo Pass Road Sunday night.
"There are trees everywhere - it's like a bomb went off. I don't know how they're going to fix it," Becca Niday told KGW-TV as she headed out on foot.
According to the National Weather Service, as much as 6 to 10 inches of rain fell in about 24 hours in the Sandy River drainage while an additional 2 inches of snow melted on the flanks of Mount Hood.
The river appeared to have changed course when it washed out the road, also knocking out power to homes in the area.
In southern Oregon, a rapidly rising Rogue River put emergency crews on alert Sunday, but meteorologists did not expect the river to reach flood stage.
Numerous mudslides were reported along the north coast, including Tillamook County, and in the Cascade Range.
In Washington state, heavy rains were causing problems along the Pacific Coast and the Cascades Mountains with flood warnings issued for several waterways, officials and forecasters said.
A rockslide just north of Soap Lake in Washington struck some vehicles and injured two people, said Grant County officials. The slide also forced the closure of State Highway 17.