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Slides block Interstate 90, other roads, rail lines in Washington state
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[link to seattletimes.nwsource.com]
Monday, January 30, 2006
Interstate 90 was temporarily closed because of avalanches, mudslides snarled rail traffic between Portland, and Vancouver, B.C., and flood warnings were issued for much of western Washington state early today.
Landslides also closed two lesser state highways and hampered traffic on others in the latest round of transportation snarls in an unusually wet winter even for a region well-known for drippy weather.
The National Weather Service issued flood warnings today for the Chehalis, Skookumchuck, Satsop, Skokomish and Deschutes rivers, and an urban and small-stream flood advisories were in effect for the lowlands around Puget Sound and in southwest Washington. Severe flooding was not expected.
A heavy snow warning was issued for the Cascade Range above 2,500 feet elevation, including all highway passes, through tonight.
Earlier this month Olympia set a record with 35 consecutive days of measurable rainfall, two days more than the old mark set in 1953, and Seattle came within six days of its rainy-day record of 27, also set in 1933.
I-90, the state's main east-west artery, was closed at 5:40 p.m. PST Sunday because of two snow slides, at Milepost 51, a few miles west of 3,022-foot Snoqualmie Pass, and the other east of the pass at Milepost 58. A 72-mile stretch of highway was closed until about 10:30 a.m. today.
U.S. 2 to the north remained open but was subject to intermittent closures for avalanche control. Less heavily traveled U.S. 12 to the south also was open.
About four mudslides overnight north of Seattle blocked trains on one of two sets of tracks, halting Amtrak passenger service and Sounder commuter trains between Seattle and Everett, Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad spokesman Gus Melonas said.
Freight trains were operating on the unaffected line, but passenger and commuter rail service cannot resume before Wednesday morning trains under a 48-hour minimum slide closure restriction, Sound Transit and Amtrak officials said.
For Amtrak, the closure halted Seattle-Bellingham and Seattle-Vancouver, B.C, Empire Builder trains that normally run between Seattle and Chicago were operating normally east of Everett.
Four other slides, including one that covered both sets of tracks for a time, occurred overnight in the Nisqually and Steilacoom areas south of Tacoma, Melonas said.
Commuter train service between Seattle and Tacoma remained in operation, and freight train service was set to resume as debris was removed from the tracks in the Nisqually area before daybreak, he added.
Buses were used to carry commuter and Amtrak passengers around the slide areas.
Rail traffic has been disrupted repeatedly this month by mudslides along the steep slopes lining Puget Sound north and south of Seattle.
Elsewhere, a mudslide early today closed Washington 302 east of Washington 3 near the north end of Case Inlet in Mason County, and a landslide closed Washington 166 in Port Orchard.
Other slides resulted in lane closures on Interstate 5 north of the Nisqually River and Washington 507 near Bucoda in south Thurston County.
Peace
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