Jake Hjorten, 28, and Sean Hamilton, 29, both from Chehalis, pull a car through water on Shoreline Avenue in Chehalis on Tuesday afternoon. Water from the Chehalis River crested over its banks and onto the streets adjacent to the river just west of Interstate 5, stranded a number of residents in the low-lying area. Hjorten, who drove, and Hamilton, roommates in a house on Florida Avenue, took several trips through the water on the closed trips to help neighbors in need.
Sean Hamilton attaches a strap to the front of Monica Lopez's car as Jake Hjorten looks on prior to them pulling the car across a water-ridden street in Chehalis on Tuesday afternoon. Hjorten towed Lopez's car down Shoreline Avenue and onto Louisiana Avenue after the Chehalis River flooded much of their neighborhood just west of Interstate-5.
A grain silo is surrounded by water from the Chehalis River on Tuesday afternoon in Chehalis.
R.J. Mohoric, Adna, and his dog, Ruger, look over the edge of a walking bridge along the Willapa Trail on Tuesday afternoon just west of Chehalis. Mohoric, 34, said that he built a fort along the bank of the Chehalis River, near the trestle, and wanted to check to see how it had fared in the heavy rain. As of noon Tuesday, water in the Chehalis had risen to within 8 feet of the bottom of the bridge, leaving Mohoric to sadly speculate that his fort had, indeed, been a casualty of the flood.
As lifetime Lewis County residents, flooding is nothing new to Jake Hjorten, 28, and Sean Hamilton, 29, both currently of Chehalis.
So when they woke up Tuesday morning to see part of their yard and street filled with water, they immediately went to work moving their stuff and helping their neighbors get their cars out of the way of rising floodwaters.
The flooding was not a huge surprise, Hamilton said. He’s has lived off of Northwest Florida Avenue near state Route 6 for the past three years. The houses on his street, which is located in the designated flood zone, are some of the first to flood.
“It’s notorious,” he said. “It’s always the first place that goes under.”
Hamilton said when he came home at about 1 a.m. Tuesday, it had stopped raining and there was no water near the house.
But when his roommate, Hjorten, woke up to go to work at about 6 a.m., Hjorten said he looked outside and saw the water rising around their property and on the street.
“I woke up and was like, ‘oh boy, we’re flooding,’” Hjorten said. “It was coming up so quick.”
Within hours, the portion of the Chehalis River just outside city limits had expanded into the surrounding fields and into their backyard and street.
Between 6 a.m. and 11 a.m. Tuesday, they took a total of seven trips to and from their street, driving slowly in Hjorten’s truck through the water, which was about six to 10 inches deep by early morning.
They moved their electronics, quads and boat off their property, then put all the important furniture on the second floor of their house.
By 8 a.m., they went down the street, knocking on their neighbors’ doors to see if they needed any help moving their vehicles and getting out of the way of the rising water.
Both men helped shuttle a family and their belongings back and forth from their home to Louisiana Avenue, even attaching their cars to the back of the truck and towing them to dry land.
Many of the neighbors either didn’t notice that the streets had flooded overnight or did not understand the severity of the situation, Hamilton said, adding that if the waters were to get any higher, many would likely be unable to drive out of the neighborhood.
“It’s been awhile since it’s been this bad,” Hjorten said, as he drove down their street shortly after noon on Tuesday. Further down their street, the water was so deep that it was completely impassable, even for Hjorten’s truck that was lifted a few feet off the ground.
“Hopefully it won’t get any worse,” he said.
