Rivers across the North Olympic Peninsula that rose quickly on Monday had fallen just as rapidly by midday Tuesday, leaving residents from LaPush to Duckabush both impressed and relieved.
The Queets and Bogachiel rivers were the No. 1 and No. 2 fastest-flowing rivers in Washington on Tuesday, said Bob Martin, Clallam County’s emergency management director.
Following Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proclamation of an emergency Monday, Clallam County’s commissioners likewise declared an emergency Tuesday morning.
“This resolution will put us in line for FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] money should we need it,” Martin said.
The West End was hit hardest by Monday’s floodwaters, with a few homes inundated in and near LaPush.
“It’s amazing how quick the water comes up,” said Brian Thurston, controller for the Quileute Tribe, which has its reservation in LaPush.
He saw the Bogachiel cover 5 feet of LaPush Road on Monday afternoon — and about 20 minutes later a hundred yards of roadway were under water.
But by Tuesday afternoon, the Peninsula’s rivers had all receded below flood levels.
And roads that had closed in Clallam and Jefferson counties, except for some inside Olympic National Park, were open.
After the Hoh River peaked at about 5:30 p.m. Monday, it pulled back fast, said Bob Hamlin, program manager for Jefferson County’s Emergency Management Department.
“The road crews could see it dropping,” he said.
“We haven’t had a snow. So this time, there was no snow melt. That sustains the runoff,” creating higher volumes of water — and at this relatively early point in the season, the rivers rose and fell quickly with only rain feeding them.
Out at the Quileute Reservation on the Pacific Ocean, however, the scene stayed dramatic Tuesday.
“There are a lot of waves crashing. It’s muddy, mocha-looking water,” Thurston said.
“Logs are going by with seagulls on them.”
‘Dodged a bullet’
Monday’s storms rattled residents around the Duckabush and Dosewallips rivers, but “we pretty much dodged a bullet,” said Dennis Crawford, Jefferson county’s Emergency Management Department education coordinator.
The Dosewallips and Duckabush rivers swelled almost to the point of overflowing their banks, but as rainfall lessened Tuesday, that threat receded.
But on the Lower Hoh Reservation in East Jefferson county, the Hoh River did come over its banks, and sandbag efforts got under way Monday and Tuesday to prevent further flooding, said Hamlin.
The Hoh rose to a peak of 55,000 cubic feet per second, close to the 10-year record of 60,000 cubic feet per second.
Floodwater entered a couple of homes, Hamlin added, but he considered the damage minimal.
Olympic Corrections Center inmates were filling sandbags Tuesday to prepare for another deluge, though the flood risk has subsided for the time being, he said.
