Massive storm swamps Seattle

In neighborhoods throughout Seattle, where residents normally hunker down to watch weather disasters unfold on television from rural areas miles away, nature took a destructive spin through the city.

See a map of all the road closures

By midday Monday, families had evacuated their homes, bewildered grandmothers were watching basement water levels rise and government officials were forced to acknowledge that their municipal systems had been pushed over the brink by near-record levels of rainfall. It was the second-wettest day since Seattle started keeping such records.

"It felt like we were on the Titanic," said Randy Carter, who awoke at 4 a.m. Monday to lights from utility trucks and the realization that his apartment in the Jackson Greens complex in North Seattle was flooded to evacuation levels with 3 feet of water.

The wind- and rainstorm caused at least two deaths south of Olympia and prompted Gov. Chris Gregoire to issue a state of emergency. Four Western Washington emergency shelters were opened Monday evening by the Red Cross.

In Seattle, where rescue crews were forced to carry people from hard-hit homes in the Northgate area and then shelter them on Metro buses, Mayor Greg Nickels said flatly that the city's infrastructure had been unable to cope with the deluge.

"The systems that this city was built around -- the draining systems, the transportation systems -- simply were not built to handle this kind of rainfall," he said.

By late afternoon Monday, nearly 6 billion gallons of rain -- the rough equivalent of six Green Lakes -- had fallen.

Four apartment buildings, housing some 50 people and their pets near Midvale Avenue North and North 107th Street were evacuated and another four were similarly affected, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said.

"The flooding is up to 10 feet deep in some areas," she said.

In one building, the parking garage was almost completely under water, cars were nearly floating with rain up to their windshields and firefighters were carrying residents out.

Nick Pealy, deputy director of Seattle Public Utilities, said the area's wastewater pump, like most others, was "working fine." The problem, he surmised, was simply "too much water" for the system.

Ruth Paslay, fighting to hold back tears as she pointed to the deepening pond in her basement, was beyond caring about such fine points.

"We'll need a boat to go down there," she told her toddler grandson, watching from upstairs. "My son's tools are floating."

He had gone to the store to buy taller boots because the calf-high pair he normally uses were filling up. Paslay, who has lived in the neighborhood for 45 years, said she had never seen flooding so severe.

By midafternoon, Seattle Public Utilities had received nearly 1,000 calls from customers and had dispatched 31 crews -- some 400 workers -- to handle storm-related problems. The city distributed 2,000 sandbags to residents in Meadowbrook and West Seattle.

Perkins Lane in Magnolia was closed Monday evening by one of several mudslides in the city, and more slides are feared over the next few days.

From Olympia, Gregoire called a state of emergency, authorizing state agencies to assist local governments in their response to the wind and flooding. The storm had caused extensive damage to homes, businesses, public utilities, public facilities and infrastructure throughout the state, she said.

Her actions may help fix roadways -- many of which were closed by Monday afternoon, including several major commuter routes in the Seattle area, almost all roads through Aberdeen and portions of Interstate 5 near Chehalis and Portland. In Chehalis, I-5 will be closed in both directions for the several days.

In Seattle's Madison Valley neighborhood, where floods last year killed one woman, homeowners were scrambling to bail out, although Monday's flooding was not as quite as severe. The city has considered buying 15 properties there because of chronic flooding.

Allen Scribner, who lives near the corner of East John Street and 30th Avenue East, has already sold. On Monday, he bowed his back against the pouring rain and carted a few last belongings from the home where he, his wife and their three children lived until last week.

The recurrent flooding had become simply unbearable, Scribner said, watching as bags and bits of clothing floated through his basement on water that was more than 4 feet deep, and rising.

"That's the highest I've seen it," he said, peering into the dank darkness.

The National Weather Service reported that the heavy rain would give way to on-and-off showers Tuesday. The region should get cooler, drier weather by Thursday.

Still, the damage was done, said Jay Albrecht, a forecaster with the meteorological service. "We've had so much over the last 24 to 36 hours that a lot of the damage is going to be felt for a little while yet."

Urban neighborhoods could be slow to drain, and water that overflowed from riverbanks will take even longer to recede, he said.

Perhaps even more long lasting will be the fallout and cleanup from mudslides that threatened homes and closed roads across the city.

Dick and Pat Rovig were awakened at 7:30 a.m., with news that neighbors were voluntarily evacuating their building at 2400 Eighth Avenue North in Westlake, where a landslide had deposited a foot of mud and debris across the road.

"It's nerve-racking," said Pat Rovig, watching as Seattle transportation crews checked her hillside for stability.

A broken drainpipe was to blame, utility officials said..

In Ballard, a sinkhole opened up, closing a large section of road on Golden Gardens Drive Northwest at View Avenue Northwest, most likely until spring, city officials said.

Early morning mudslides also forced the evacuation of nine homes in Burien, though Tom Anderson, who has lived along Seola Beach Drive for 17 years, would not be budged.

He was awakened Monday morning when a sliding log struck his back deck.

"I felt a thump and I thought, 'Well, this isn't good,' " he said.

Eight houses on Cope Point Road were evacuated and engineers will examine the hillside in coming days to determine when they can return home, said Karen Ferreira, emergency preparedness coordinator for Burien and three other South King County cities.