FERNDALE, Wash. — Historic flooding hit the town of Ferndale in Whatcom County, with water levels peaking Tuesday morning.
The surging Nooksack River prompted the city to issue a voluntary evacuation for about 10 blocks, mostly near the downtown area, as city officials worried the river would breach a levee.
Even without the breach, the river flooded many homes, businesses and rivers.
“I’ve never seen it this bad. Pretty scary,” said Erik Rasmussen, who grew up in Whatcom County.
The Sunshine Motel in Ferndale was just converted from a Motel 6 last year. One manager said the business had recently completed a remodel.
“We had the biggest flood ever. It came dashing through the back half, coming around here and just flooding everything,” said Donna Forge, the night manager at the Sunshine Hotel.
Clear water marks on the walls showed the first floor of the motel filled with water.
“I said, oh my God, my customers!” Forge said. “A lot of people - the water was up over their beds,” she said.
People’s clothing scattered on the stairwell as guests rushed to escape the sudden flooding.
“Oh, fast! We live in the back half. So it destroyed everything very quickly,” Forge said. When KIRO7 caught up with her on Wednesday, she was staying in a second-floor room to stay dry.
E. Main Street near Hovander Road was closed, covered in about 4 feet of water at the most flooded point.
Tuesday afternoon, someone tried to drive through the closed road.
“He just missed the road blocks and kept going straight,” said Kenny Poplin, who saw the incident. He and about a half-dozen people ran into the water to help push the car out.
At one point the driver was in water so deep, it reached the car windows.
“I was like, ‘Just go, just go!’” Poplin said.
It’s not clear if the driver had a medical issue, but he told police he’s diabetic and appeared to be okay.
On the outskirts of town, some homes were completely surrounded by water.
In the heart of Ferndale, the city requested a voluntary evacuation that would stay in place through Tuesday night, just in case the levee failed.
“I have everything packed up and ready to go if I need,” said Caleb McBride, who lives in an area under the voluntary evacuation.
“I’m not sure that I can get out of Ferndale. I just told my work unless I have a boat I’m not sure I can even make it,” said Erik Rasmussen, who lives outside the evacuation area.
“Flow Motion” is in the Carnation Oxford building. Owner Alyssa Springs rushed to town early Tuesday morning to check on her business.
“This whole area was completely flooded, and I was really shocked because I’ve never seen it anywhere close to that high before in the past,” Springs said. Her signs floated away, but the water spared her shop, a spa and yoga studio.
They had about $30,000 worth of Himalayan salt stored on the ground floor to build a salt cave for theraputic use.
They are okay, but she says some owners of ground-floor businesses kayaked or canoed over, to protect their shops.
“So that’s what everybody is doing - just trying to save their businesses and their homes,” Springs said.
The City of Ferndale said about 100 volunteers worked long hours to fill more than 3,000 sand bags to help bolster the levee.