Water that crested over the Chehalis River banks flows down Florida Avenue in Chehalis on Tuesday afternoon.
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.
A grain silo is surrounded by water from the Chehalis River on Tuesday afternoon in Chehalis.
Cows stand in a partially flooded field along Tietzel Road in Centralia on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. Three straight days of hard rain caused the road adjacent to the field was covered with water making it nearly impassable.
The greater Lewis County area will be out of flood stage by Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle.
NWS Meteorologist Jay Albrecht said the Chehalis River near Centralia is forecast to crest about one foot below minor flood stage at 63.76 feet at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
As of Tuesday evening, the river was flowing at 63.45 feet near Centralia, which can spill water into nearby pasture lands around the Twin Cities.
Albrecht said the Chehalis River at Grand Mound will also crest Wednesday morning when waters reach minor flood stage at 15.16 feet. The river at Grand Mound ran at 14.63 feet Tuesday evening and will continue to drop below flood stage by Wednesday night.
High water already crested at the Chehalis River near Doty at 3 p.m. Monday afternoon at 18.37 feet, which is the fourth-highest mark recorded in history.
The high water mark broke 18.36 feet recorded in Jan. 20 1972, according to NWS, which is lower than the all-time record of 31.31 feet on Dec. 3, 2007.
The Newaukum River near Chehalis crested in minor flood stage at 11.64 feet early Tuesday morning, and is expected to drop to 7 feet by Wednesday night.
The Skookumchuck River has yet to reach flood stage this season.
The city of Centralia declared a state of emergency Monday night, allowing for the sandbag locations and the opening of the Emergency Operations Center.
Centralia Police Chief Bob Berg, who manages the Emergency Operations Center, said the sandbag locations and emergency center closed down Tuesday evening once the Chehalis River near Centralia was projected to crest below flood stage.
Berg said he fielded a few phones calls and helped a couple people who stopped into the sangbang locations, but overall the response became a dry run for future potential emergencies.
Patrol Commander Steve Aust, of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, said the county emergency management scaled back their response as well on Tuesday.
“Fortunately it was a non-event,” Aust said.
Albrecht said the NWS is forecasting insignificant rainfall, under one inch, until Thursday afternoon. No heavy rain is in the long-term forecast.
“That should allow the rivers to recede nicely,” Albrecht said.
