Local Flood Watch Extended to Monday

Sharply rising river levels throughout the State have forced the National Weather Service to extend their flood watch advisory to Monday.

A report issued by the National Weather Service today at 12:30 p.m. says the following:

THE EPISODE OF HEAVY RAIN AND HIGH SNOW LEVELS THAT BEGAN
SATURDAY AFTERNOON WILL CONTINUE TODAY. RAIN WILL GRADUALLY
DECREASE TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES EAST ACROSS THE REGION.

NUMEROUS RIVER FLOOD WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT ALREADY AS WELL AS FLOOD ADVISORIES AND FLOOD WARNINGS FOR SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOODING DEPENDING ON WHICH COUNTY YOU ARE IN.

ALL RIVERS HAVE BEEN RISING SHARPLY ... AND A FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT IN ALL COUNTIES FOR RIVERS THAT ARE NOT YET UNDER A WARNING ... AND FOR THE POSSIBILITY THAT SMALL STREAM AND URBAN FLOODING COULD BECOME SERIOUS ENOUGH TO WARRANT A WARNING.

FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON. FLOOD WATCH MEANS THAT FLOODING IS POSSIBLE BUT NOT OCCURRING. THIS APPLIES TO NEW AREAS OR LOCATIONS NOT ALREADY
COVERED BY A WARNING. MONITOR THE WEATHER AND BE READY TO ACT QUICKLY IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED OR MORE WARNINGS ARE ISSUED..

THE FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES FOR PORTIONS OF WESTERN WASHINGTON, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON:

• GRAYS HARBOR
• KING
• LEWIS
• PIERCE
• THURSTON

HEAVY RAIN ACCOMPANIED BY SNOW LEVELS AROUND 8000 FEET WILL CONTINUE TODAY. RAINFALL WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE TONIGHT AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE AREA...AND THE SNOW LEVEL WILL FALL TO AROUND 4500 FEET LATE TONIGHT. STORM TOTALS OF 1 TO 4 INCHES ARE LIKELY FOR THE WESTERN WASHINGTON LOWLANDS WITH 4 TO 10 INCHES OVER THE MOUNTAINS. A FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR EVERY COUNTY IN WESTERN WASHINGTON.

AT 854 AM PST, ONE TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN HAD FALLEN OVER MUCH OF THE WESTERN WASHINGTON LOWLANDS...WITH LOCALLY MORE THAN 5 INCHES IN THE CASCADES AND OVER 7 INCHES IN THE OLYMPICS. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE HALF TO 1 AND A HALF INCHES ARE LIKELY OVER THE LOWLANDS...WITH ANOTHER 2 TO 4 INCHES OVER THE MOUNTAINS.

A FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS IMMINENT OR HAS BEEN REPORTED. STREAM RISES WILL BE SLOW AND FLASH FLOODING IS NOT EXPECTED.

HOWEVER, ALL INTERESTED PARTIES SHOULD TAKE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS IMMEDIATELY.