CHEHALIS, Wash. — Floodwater covered roadways and surrounded homes in southwestern Washington as people braced for more heavy rain.
The Chehalis River crested around the Centralia and Chehalis area early Thursday morning. While waters are now receding; the levels are going down slowly.
Whoa, Lake Street has become a lake! I'm talking to people who have to row their way around in Chehalis.See you at 5pm on KIRO 7 News!
Posted by Natasha Chen on Thursday, December 10, 2015
Thursday afternoon the county's emergency operations center and the temporary shelter for evacuees were both deactivated.
But some roadways were still covered by standing water, mostly near Airport Road.
On the east side of I-5, residents along Lake Street used a rowboat to get to and from their homes.
Henry Sanchez said people have been calling him to use his boat.
"Using the boat to get across, you know, the neighbors and all that – to get to work. Work doesn't stop if the rain keeps coming," Sanchez said.
Sanchez may have been able to get to work this way, but a private mail courier could not get through. He said he'd have to mark an explanation on a form of why he couldn't deliver his papers.
"They don't have a check mark for 'act of God.' I really don't know. I don't have that answer yet," Andrew Hendricks said.
The Union Gospel Mission posted a sign on its door, saying waters had seeped inside. They moved their breakfast and lunch service to a parking lot a few blocks away.
Several residents said the worst flood in memory was in 2007, and that these events have become more frequent than they used to be.
"It hasn't been this bad in probably a few years," one neighbor said.
>> Find a full list of road closures, damage reports in Western Washington here
The river is expected to stay at flood stage through Thursday night with more rain expected.
However, it certainly was not as bad as in 2007, when flooding closed a 20 mile- stretch of I-5 for days and flooded homes.
People living an hour east of Chehalis, in Randle, were not as lucky. In some neighborhoods there was waist-deep water. People had to find places to spend the night away from their homes.
In Centralia, flooding from a creek forced people living north of downtown to sandbag their doors.
With water levels still high and more rain expected, neighbors said they may have to double down on the bagging.
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