Catastraphic flooding in Washington state

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090108/ts_alt_afp/usweatherflood_newsmlmmd

SEATTLE, Washington (AFP) – Heavy rain pounded the northwest US state of Washington Thursday, flooding roads, triggering mudslides and leaving millions of residents cut off from the rest of the country.
Melting snow and ice combined with warm torrential rain have combined to leave rivers across the state close to bursting, and forcing 30,000 people to evacuate their homes.
An estimated three million people living along Puget Sound, the coastal inlet where the state's main hub of Seattle is located, were isolated after road and rail links into the area were severed.
The main highway between Seattle and Portland, Oregon, 175 miles to the south, was closed because of flooding 90 miles from Seattle at Chehalis, putting a stop to automobile, truck and bus traffic.
The route is used by 55,000 drivers a day, including 10,000 trucks.
The waters have also stopped all rail traffic, leaving air as the only connection between the cities, authorities said.
Avalanche dangers that accompany the warm rains have closed the only three mountain routes that link Seattle to the eastern half of the state.

Seattle is really being impacted by some of the worst flooding it has ever experienced. I can't help but think that somewhere amid all this devastion, there is at least one guy just like Mike who refuses to believe that the increasingly violent storms we experience has anything to do with manmade activity. As he is airlifted out of his flooded home, he mutters, all this is happening because the MSM won't let charlatans like John Coleman debate Al Gore!

From Union Pacific Railroad:

Quote :

Pacific NW Operations Resume
January 9, 2009 | 04:45 p.m. CST

From the Seattle Times:

Quote :

If Seattle's wet streak — which stood at 26 days Friday — exceeds the previous record of 33 consecutive days, set in 1953, it won't even be a blip in the national weather record books...
Cut hawaii rainfall info....
Seattle had 0.57 of an inch of rain Thursday for a total of 12.41 inches since Dec. 19, when the city started on the path toward its own record, which it could match on Jan. 20 or beat on Jan. 21. Friday, another rainy day, was the 26th successive day of rain.

I'm sorry, I couldn't find "worst flooding ever" anywhere.
You do realize that the Olympic peninsula and the Seattle area are in the worlds only temperate climate rain forest? At least that's what they always told me when I lived there.

I take it back. I did find worst flooding ever regarding seattle.
After reading his blog I get the feeling that the chap at accu-weather thinks that is at least a little over-hyped.
Yes, the flooding is bad, but pointing out every weather event and blaming global warming hurts the cause at least as much as it helps.

Bill B wrote:

From Union Pacific Railroad:

Quote :

Pacific NW Operations Resume
January 9, 2009 | 04:45 p.m. CST

From the Seattle Times:

Quote :

If Seattle's wet streak — which stood at 26 days Friday — exceeds the previous record of 33 consecutive days, set in 1953, it won't even be a blip in the national weather record books...
Cut hawaii rainfall info....
Seattle had 0.57 of an inch of rain Thursday for a total of 12.41 inches since Dec. 19, when the city started on the path toward its own record, which it could match on Jan. 20 or beat on Jan. 21. Friday, another rainy day, was the 26th successive day of rain.

I'm sorry, I couldn't find "worst flooding ever" anywhere.
You do realize that the Olympic peninsula and the Seattle area are in the worlds only temperate climate rain forest? At least that's what they always told me when I lived there.

From the story i just posted.
National Weather Service officials described the flooding as some of the most dramatic in the state's history.
"It's right up there with some of our most memorable flood events," National Weather Service forecaster Doug McDonnal said Thursday.
"The thing that's kind of amazing in the past few years is how many flood episodes we've had."

Bill B wrote:

I take it back. I did find worst flooding ever regarding seattle.
After reading his blog I get the feeling that the chap at accu-weather thinks that is at least a little over-hyped.
Yes, the flooding is bad, but pointing out every weather event and blaming global warming hurts the cause at least as much as it helps.

I volunteered to help with the clean-up after the flooding in Munster. Until you have seen the damage first hand and talked with the victims, it's hard realize just how traumatic flooding like this is. I don't believe it hurts the cause at all. As more people are impacted by these events, it will be easier to convince people to contact our leaders and demand changes in our energy policies.

BigWhiteGuy wrote:

The panhandle of southeast Alaska is also in that zone.

Yeah, IIRC it starts at roughly the Columbia river and extends to roughly Vancouver, B.C., and includes everything west of the Cascades.
Let me tell you, it sucked living there; although the scenery was spectactular.