Cleanup begins as floods relent
CENTRALIA, Wash. -- Dodging tires, furniture and geysers of water, Bert Carver paddled a borrowed plastic boat through the murky streets of a defeated neighborhood.
After surveying his wife's submerged car and the high-water mark at his first-floor windows, Carver glumly pointed out the "For Sale" sign still hanging in front of his newly remodeled house.
"Honey, it's bad," neighbor Sandra Lund called from her front door. "It's real bad."
Residents confronted similar scenes across the region on Wednesday as floodwaters from a deadly wave of storms finally relented, leaving a terrible mess behind.
At least three people were killed directly by the storm and its aftermath of fallen trees, downed power lines and bursting rivers, authorities said.
A pair of mountain hikers were killed in an avalanche after the snow pack took on heavy rain. An elderly man was missing after he was believed to have fallen into a raging creek behind his house in rural Winlock.
Officials said two more men died in Grays Harbor County: one in Aberdeen who was hit by a falling tree, and a man in Montesano who apparently relied on oxygen equipment that stopped working after electricity was lost.
And the worst wasn't over for many people. Close to the coast, thousands remained without electricity, and some towns were still unreachable, officials said.
Damage could be in the billions of dollars, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Wednesday. She said she was pushing to deliver a damage estimate to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and expected a presidential emergency declaration that could speed delivery of food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies.
"On a human level, it's pretty devastating," the governor said Wednesday. "It's amazing what Mother Nature can do, but she can't take away the human spirit."
At least 300 people had been rescued by helicopters from the Navy, Coast Guard, National Guard and other agencies, and flights continued in what Gregoire described as the state's largest aerial search-and-rescue operation in a decade.
"Those folks who are literally homeless today still have a spirit in them," Gregoire said. "They are determined to get back to their homes and get their lives back together again."
The governor also ordered a plane to deliver food and emergency supplies to the high school in Pe Ell, about 25 miles to the west, because the roads were blocked by water.
"It's hard to comprehend 5- to 10-feet under until you see those houses," Gregoire said.
The governor also flew to the water's edge on Interstate 5, which has been shut down since Monday at Centralia because of flooding. On the edge of downtown Centralia, waist-high water the color of chocolate milk covered streets as police used small boats to get to houses in flooded neighborhoods.
At one point Tuesday, officials said a three-mile section of the road was under as much as 10 feet of water from the surging Chehalis River.
The interstate, which is the main north-south route between Portland, Ore., and Seattle, was expected to be closed at least through the weekend, officials said.
With I-5 closed, state officials were recommending a lengthy detour - Interstate 90 across the Cascade mountains and down U.S. 97 through central Washington to the Oregon border - a route that roughly doubles the three-hour trip from Seattle to Portland.
David Dye, Washington state's deputy transportation secretary, said workers were cleaning up lots of debris - "garbage, tires, dead rats everywhere" - while they waited for the water to recede
By Wednesday, residents who survived the drenching rain and howling wind were also hoping for the muddy brown waters to recede so they could return home and see what was left.
Carol Kamhout fled her home with her two children and her four nieces and nephews. Now, sitting at the Salvation Army, she can help but imagine the worst-case scenario.
Kamhout is one of thousands who will not only have to replace her entire household, but will first have to see if she can salvage the house itself.
"I just wonder what I'm going to do, how I'm going to take care of them and where I'm going to go and how is bad my house, because we haven't even been able to see our house yet," she said.
Others were looking for the lost. In the Lewis County town of Winlock, a dive team planned to spend Wednesday searching normally tiny Wallers Creek for Richard Hiatt, 81, believed to have been swept away when a bank gave out from underneath him.
"It happened so quickly," daughter-in-law Sharon Hiatt said Tuesday as searches continued. "That's the only possibility, that he fell into the creek."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the Chehalis River crested at nearly 75 feet, breaking the previous record set during the 1996 floods.
As they stood with neighbors on the waters' edge near their homes Wednesday, Brad Tegge and his girlfriend, Patricia Murray, wondered what would come next.
Their interior of their home didn't appear to be damaged by the flood, but the chocolate-brown water had formed an imposing moat to keep them out.
Like many others, Tegge and Murray evacuated before sunrise Tuesday, taking their children with them. "It's been pure hell," Tegge said.
Now, they wonder how they will get back to work: both Wal-Mart, where Tegge works, and McDonald's, where Murray works, were closed because of the flood.
"We don't know how long we're going to be out of work, or even if we're going to be paid," Murray said. "We've got bills to pay."
And their problems reach beyond the standing floodwater. Officials are warning residents in flooded areas of contaminated water, and many in the region still remain in the dark -- 27,000 in Grays Harbor County alone.
Another boat launched into the streets as they spoke, taking someone back home to pick up diabetes medication. Retiree Sandra Burlow, who also dodged flood damage to her home, was among those who remained thankful that they had escaped the worst.
"We're all in pretty good spirits," she said. "What can you do?"
Road Closure Information:
Grays Harbor County road closures
Jefferson County road closures