Midday on Monday, the surface of the Cowlitz River at Randle sat at 6 feet of elevation.
Just after 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, it had reached 20 feet.
The National Weather Service extended a Flood Warning for the Cowlitz at Randle until Thursday afternoon. At 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, the river in East Lewis County hit 21.31 feet, just inches from the 22-foot threshold for the “major” flooding category. Per the weather service’s Wednesday morning update, “the river is nearing its crest now and (is) expected to fall below flood stage (Thursday) morning and continue falling.”
The flooding prompted the Washington Department of Transportation to close U.S. Highway 12 between mileposts 115 and 116 at Chilcoat Avenue and Kehoe Road in Randle. State Route 131, which runs south from downtown Randle, was closed to traffic in both directions at 8:24 p.m. on Tuesday.
At this stage, according to Lewis County Emergency Management’s Ross McDowell, the biggest impact from Cowlitz River flooding is traffic. So far, residents and businesses have not reported structures taking on floodwaters, McDowell said.
“Where they’re at they’re at moderate flood, which means a lot of the fields are going to be completely filled with water,” McDowell said.
Crews from the Department of Transportation, Lewis County and the Randle Fire Department are on standby in the area, McDowell said.
With a break in the rain on Wednesday morning, he and other responders are optimistic that the flooding will improve from here on.
