SEATTLE -- As heavy rain continued to fall throughout Western Washington on Friday, morning drivers were greeted with crashes, brake lights and flooded roads as they made their way toward work.

The biggest backups were on southbound Interstate 5 heading into Seattle, where a semi truck crashed and spilled about 50 gallons of diesel about 3 a.m. near the Convention Center.

Troopers had to shut down all southbound lanes of the main line while crews worked to clear the wreck and clean up the spilled fuel.

By about 7 a.m., three lanes were back open, but traffic was backed up for miles.

On Highway 16 near Gorst, a ruptured natural gas line forced troopers to shut down the highway for several hours, and in Kent firefighters had to rescue a man who tried to drive through a flooded road and got stuck.

Kent Fire Department Captain Kyle Ohashi said the driver stayed on the hood of the vehicle in the 22000 block of 76th Avenue South until rescue crews were able to reach him.

Throughout the region, heavy rains have caused slick roads and in some areas deep pools of water are covering streets.

The pouring rain is the result of the "Pineapple Express" weather pattern, named for the storms' origins near Hawaii.

The jet stream has dipped far to the south and tapped into that warm, tropical moisture. It will shuttle that moisture our way in the form of a series of rapid-fire storms.

Rain will continue to fall through most of the day Friday before starting to taper off in the evening. Read more from meteorolgist Scott Sistek.