Looking south down the Interstate 5 corridor, the Chehalis river spills into the low-lying fields between Centralia and Chehalis in December 2015.
The rain is falling, but so are the rivers.
The National Weather Service in Seattle told The Chronicle Thursday rivers in Lewis County — including the Cowlitz, Chehalis, Newaukum and Skookumchuck, which have all crested — will continue to fall, even with the rain.
“The rainfall we’re expecting, looking at today, is going to be lighter than received recently,” said Ni Cushmeer, meteorologist.
The Chehalis River at Grand Mound was expected to crest at 16.84 feet in moderate flood stage at about 10 this morning before levels begin to fall.
The current system is colder than the one that moved in earlier this week, Cushmeer said, so the South Cascades will be getting snow, not rain. The snow won’t add to the rivers like the rain did, which is good news for the Cowlitz River.
The rain in the lower elevations will not be enough to bring water levels back up, she said.
While the Cowlitz at Packwood has dropped below flood stage, at Randle at 7 a.m. today it was recorded at 20.97 feet in moderate flood stage.
The Chehalis at Centralia was still in minor flood stage at 7 a.m. at 66.22 feet. The Skookumchuck at Bucoda was at 14.33 feet in minor flood stage at 6:45 a.m. All other area gauges are not in flood stage.
Cushmeer said Lewis County may get a break from the rain on Friday before a new system arrives on Saturday.
