Flood — Mason, Washington

2007-12-03 to 2007-12-05 · near Potlatch, Mason, Washington

Event narrative

The Skokomish at Potlatch reach a record flood stage of 18.12 feet. Two bridges were washed away, one over the Tahuya River and one over Finch creek. All schools in the county were closed monday. Several roads were closed and a few people were evacuated from their homes. A man was swept away in the Tahuya river.

Wider weather episode

Record flooding occurred on the Chehalis, Skokomish, and Elwha Rivers. In addition to the record flooding, major flooding occurred on the Bogachiel River. Flooding also occurred on the Nooksack, Skagit, Stillaguamish, SF Stillaguamish, Snohomish, Skykomish, Snoqualmie, Puyallup, Deschutes, Nisqually, Skookumchuck, Dungeness Rivers and Issaquah Creek. Significant and damaging urban and small stream flooding occurred in Snohomish, King, Lewis, Thurston, Mason, and Kitsap counties, as 3 to 8 inches of rain fell over the area with the exception of 10 to 20 inches in the Willapa Hills and southern Olympic mountain areas. At least 130 people had to be rescued by helicopter. Two men died as a result of river flooding - one near Winlock in Lewis county and another along the Tahuya river in Mason county. A landslide hit a house and buried a man in his sleep near Hoodsport in Mason county.

These events were part of a significant deep Pacific storm system offshore the also initially generated lowland snow in western Washington and later created strong winds in primarily the coastal region and avalanches in the Cascades.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.3990, -123.1500)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 66626. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.