Northwest residents urged to stay alert as storms roll in

Flooding concerns remain after rain earlier this month

Weather officials urged Northwest residents to remain alert Sunday as more rain was predicted to fall in an area with lingering water from extreme weather earlier this month.

“There’s some good news and some pending news,” said Steve Reedy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

The weather service on Saturday warned that flooding was possible through Sunday in northwestern Washington, but an atmospheric river — a huge plume of moisture extending over the Pacific and into the Northwest — moved farther north into Canada than expected overnight.

“The impacts weren’t quite as bad as we were anticipating during the overnight period,” Reedy said.

After a respite, rain reentered the area later Sunday, which could cause some “nuisance flooding,” he said.

“The flooding isn’t going to be quite as bad as we were expecting 24 hours ago, but it still looks like some rivers up there could get into minor, maybe even moderate flooding,” Reedy said.

The big question was how some communities, which had heavy damage from the previous storm, would fare.

People in the small communities of Sumas and Everson in northwestern Washington were asked to evacuate voluntarily Saturday night, The Bellingham Herald reported. Both towns near the Canadian border had extreme flooding from the previous storm.

The Nooksack River topped Main Street in Everson on Sunday afternoon, Everson Mayor John Perry told The Associated Press.

Perry was hopeful flooding wouldn’t end up being as dramatic as anticipated, but the uncertainty of the bottom of the river from the last flood made him nervous.

“I think we’re overprepared right now,” he said. “We’re monitoring it very carefully.”

The rain slowed down later in the day and Main Street’s flooding was about a foot deep, he said.

“At this point, it appears things are stable and there’s no cause for alarm,” Perry said.

Sumas resident Duane DeWaard said his garage flooded a couple of inches during the last flood. He put sandbags at the garage doors and braced for more rain to come Sunday. “Sumas, so far, is doing OK,” he said. November has been wet for northwestern Washington. Bellingham recorded 11.64 inches at midnight Sunday — a record for the month, the weather service said.