Phase 4 Flood | Rain, Wind, Rising Snoqualmie River - AGAIN

UPDATE | December 8th, 6:30PM

The City of Snoqualmie said the Snoqualmie River has reached a phase 4 flood level, with the sum of the forks at 38,500 cfs as of 6:15PM and more steady, heavy rain forecast overnight.

Road Closures

SE Mill Pond Road is closed from State Route 202 to the Meadowbrook Bridge
SE Reinig Road from 396^th Drive to the Meadowbrook Bridge
Also closed, Three Forks Off-Leash Dog Park on SE Park Street

Do not drive past barricades for your safety and the safety of Public Works crews. You can sign up for the Snoqualmie Emergency Alert System at www.bit.ly/SnoqualmieEAS.

Help Move the Christmas Trees

The Snoqualmie Valley Venturing Crew’s Christmas Tree lot is located in the Kimball Creek area and they are preparing for flood waters to possibly cover the lot’s location at the corner of Snoqualmie Parkway and Railroad Ave.

They are looking for community members to help move 250 trees into a truck provided by Littlejohn Logging at 7PM tonight. The trees are heavy and it is wet and super muddy. Volunteers are advised to wear rain gear and gloves.

Snoqualmie Valley Venturing Crew members loading Christmas trees into truck and away from possible overnight flood waters.

UPDATE | December 8, 2015 – 4:30PM

The City of Snoqualmie said the Snoqualmie River is predicted to rise to 52,333 cfs by Wednesday, December 9th at 4AM and stay at that level until 10AM Wednesday, but all roads and bridges were open as of Tuesday evening at 4:30PM.

The city does not expect flooding of greater downtown Snoqualmie, but says there may be more backflow into Kimball Creek than the recent flood because of the longer-term, high flood level lasting several hours. (4AM to 10AM).

Sign up for the City’s Emergency Alert System in case evacuation notices are issued. Sand and sandbags are available at the King Street parking lot at the corner of Railroad Ave SE and SE King Street for residents. (Please bring a shovel).

Snoqualmie River rising toward Sandy Cove Park in downtown Snoqualmie, 4:15PM, 12/8/15.

UPDATE | December 8, 2015 – 3PM

The National Weather Service upped the Flood Watch for the Snoqualmie River to a Flood Warning this afternoon

The City of North Bend announced that Mt Si Blvd was partially closed due to flooding between Arby’s Restaurant located at 705 SW Mt Si Blvd and the Safeway Gas Station at 460 SW Mt Si Blvd. They said businesses are open and to please use caution when traveling through this area.

Both North Bend and Snoqualmie’s Offices of Emergency Management are monitoring conditions.

The City of Snoqualmie said residents should expect some road closures are during this latest flood event – and encouraged residents to temporarily park vehicles outside areas where there are common road closures.

Sand and sandbags are available at the King Street parking lot at the corner of Railroad Ave SE and SE King Street for residents. (Please bring a shovel).

As of about 3PM the Snoqualmie River was at a phase 3 flood level, running at about 31,000 cfs. 38,000 is considered a phase 4 flood event

Steady and sometimes steady rain is expected throughout the night and into Wednesday morning.

You can monitor King County Road Closures HERE.

ORIGINAL STORY

Are you ready to see Snoqualmie Falls running strong again? Here we go AGAIN.

After a little break Monday evening, December 7, 2015, the rain ramped up overnight and according to weather forecasters, is expected to stay steady, sometimes heavy, through possibly Wednesday morning.

The jet stream has dipped south bringing the words “Pineapple Express” back into the forecast – meaning it’s tapped into warmer air and tropical moisture. Freezing levels are also up, which means it’ll rain in the mountains and melt that new snow into our rivers. 3-7 inches are predicted in the Cascades by Wednesday.

So you guessed it. That means the Snoqualmie River will be on the rise once again. In fact, as of Tuesday morning, King County was predicting the river could crest higher than in any previous storms over the past month – at near 50,000 cfs near the Falls Wednesday morning and later Wednesday evening it could crest at around 60,000 cfs near Carnation.

A Flood Watch is in place for the Snoqualmie River and a Flood Warning was issued for the Tolt River near Carnation.

And it’s not just lots of rain – it’ll be windy, too. A Wind Advisory was issued, running through Tuesday afternoon. Oh, and the National Weather Service says all the rain of late, and with this latest storm, is making steep hills unstable and warns of an increased risk of mudslides.

By later this week the temperatures cool and freezing levels rise, with snow returning to the Cascades and just our typical rainy season in the lowlands.

King County updates (lowers and raises) Flood Forecasts as storms develop. This story will be updated as needed.