Flood — Wahkiakum, Washington

2015-11-17 to 2015-11-18 · near Pillar Rock, Wahkiakum, Washington

Event narrative

Several roads were closed due to water on the roadways including Covered Bridge Road, Eden Valley Road, Satterland Road, Foster Road, and West End Loop Road. Grays River near Rosburg exceeded flood stage early in the morning on the 17th then exceeded major flood stage in the evening. The river crested at 16.09 feet, and fell below flood stage around 2 pm Wednesday afternoon. Heavy rain also resulted in a small landslide near milepost 2 on Altoona Pillar Rock Road.

Wider weather episode

A very moist frontal system produced heavy rain across the region resulting in flooding. Rain rates of 0.3 to 0.5 inch per hour was observed for several hours at many locations. The flooding was a combination of urban and small stream flooding and river flooding. The coastal rivers were already running high from a moist front that moved through a couple of days prior, and the additional rain was enough to push several of them above flood stage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (46.2649, -123.5726)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 607274. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.