Flooding in Washington state not as severe as earlier storm
A truck drives through water over a road near Everson, Wash., Monday, Nov. 29, 2021 past a car that was stranded by flooding in the area earlier in the month. Localized flooding was expected Monday in Washington state from another in a series of rainstorms, but conditions do not appear to be as severe as when extreme weather hit the region earlier in November. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Localized flooding in Washington state from another in a series of rainstorms doesn't appear to be as severe as when extreme weather hit the region earlier in the month.
People in the small communities of Sumas and Everson in northwest Washington had been asked to evacuate voluntarily Saturday night. Both towns near the Canadian border saw extreme flooding from the previous storm that caused an estimated $50 million in damage to Whatcom County.
As of 10 p.m. Sunday, Everson Mayor John Perry posted on Facebook that water levels on a main road through town were “slowly receding” and that Nooksack River levels were dropping.
“It appears that we are through the worst of it for the Everson/Nooksack area,” Perry wrote. “We could still see a few isolated areas where the level raises slightly, but for the most part it looks like we are improving.”
Many local roads in the area were still closed and some schools in the region also kept students from classes as a safety precaution.
More rain was forecast for Tuesday, the latest deluge from atmospheric rivers — huge plumes of moisture extending over the Pacific and into the Northwest.
But forecasters say the rainfall totals should be less than previous storms, with up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) expected in northwest Washington and up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) in the Olympic and Cascade Mountains.