Click the image to enlarge / Photo Credit The Oregonian
Some of you may know that I’m from Chehalis, Washington – and you may have heard about Chehalis on the national news the past few days. In 1996 we had a huge flood that completely covered Interstate 5 (I-5). Well it’s happened again. The Chehalis River crested about a foot higher than in 1996 – and the flooding is significantly worse this time. The above photo is less than a mile from where I grew up and where my parents still live. Our house is just off to the left from the middle of the photo. It is high enough that it’s not flooded, but as you can see in these photos, not everyone is so lucky. FEMA has arrived in Chehalis, military helicopters are rescuing people and landing in our high school stadium, people are losing cars, homes and many are simply stranded.
My mom got called into the hospital in Centralia yesterday but wasn’t able to make it home last night. My dad attempted to drive over to Centralia this afternoon to see if he could get to her, and the last I heard, he wasn’t able to get over there – so I’m not exactly sure if she’s still there or at home at this point. Some of the photos are just amazing:
- This is Chehalis flooded
- This is the exit you take to get to my house, about 1 mile from my home, I-5 is completely covered
- A gas station in Chehalis
- The onramp to the freeway
- The Wal-Mart parking lot
You can find more photos at the Washington State Department of Transportation’s Flickr page. Also while browsing photos I ran across the site of Will Langford, who I went to high school with for one year I think. He’s got some great photos up on Flickr here and here. He also links to the Lewis County Flood Blog, which has tons of information to links, news articles and photo. Looks like a great place to gather information about the flooding if you are interested in it. For some other amazing photos, check these out here.
Keep the people of Centralia/Chehalis and all of western Washington in your prayers as they struggle through one of their worst floods.
