Flood — Benton, Washington

2011-01-18 to 2011-01-20 · near North Prosser, Benton, Washington

Event narrative

In Benton County, there was minor flooding at the RV park along the river at Benton City and through the rural areas of West Richland. At the higher levels, some water from the river flows through a low bank area and moves overland through a rural subdivision and then rejoins the main river channel. Homes are built up so water does not enter them, but there was 60,000 dollars in damages to roads and outbuildings.

Wider weather episode

A large Pacific weather system became established in mid January that produced copious amounts of rainfall with unseasonably warm conditions in parts of Washington. The heavy rainfall combined with snowmelt caused rapid runoff with 4 rivers and 7 different warning points reaching flood stage. Flood warnings were first issued on the morning of January 15 and the last flood warning ended on January 21st.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.2275, -119.7524)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 273420. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.