Lewis County can finally breathe easily. The worst of the storm and flooding has passed it by, along with the rest of Western Washington, according to the National Weather Service. "The heaviest rainfall is over with," Doug McDonnal, meteorologist for the NWS, said late Thursday night. "We're not expecting any more hydrologic precipitation, just waiting for the water that's already on the ground to run its course." The area saw a significant amount of rainfall, but not as much as expected. This in turn caused most river levels in Lewis County to be slightly lower than the dramatic level predicted. "The main river at Chehalis crested at 72.5 feet,"McDonnal said. "That's obviously still a major flood, but we had it coming in a foot higher than that." Now that the heavy rains are gone, Lewis County is expected to stay dry most of Friday until sometime Saturday afternoon. "A weak ridge will come down from British Columbia with possible light showers Saturday morning," McDonnal said. "It will then bring widespread precipitation Saturday night." He added that the precipitation will most likely not affect river levels, and that the rain should be the last the county sees for a few days. "Once that system moves through, the ridge offshore will position itself and we'll have relatively benign weather in the middle of next week," McDonnal said. Marqise Allen: (360) 807-8237
