Flooding evacuations: Evacuation orders in place in parts of Washington and Oregon as several rivers forecast to flood

A second round of heavy rain from an atmospheric river is pounding parts of Washington and creating serious flooding. Several rivers in Washington are forecast to hit major flood stage through Friday as heavy rain drains into the waterways.

Washington’s Skagit River is expected to rise at least 6 feet above its previous record due to heavy rain and flooding, Gov. Bob Ferguson said. “It’s a critical, critical situation and truly historic in the more than 100 years we’ve been tracking our river systems,” Ferguson told CNN on Wednesday.

Officials in Washington are encouraging about 100,000 people to evacuate. Mr Ferguson said on X: “We anticipate potentially 100,000 Washingtonians facing evacuation orders. The situation is fluid and changing all the time. We expect rivers to hit historic levels as early as 4 a.m. tomorrow, lasting into Friday morning.

“Keep your phone on tonight, and make sure emergency alerts are on in your settings”. The City of Mount Vernon, Washington, and upriver communities were told to evacuate to higher ground.

In addition to the evacuation order for Mount Vernon, Hamilton, Rockport, Marblemount and Concrete are being asked “to evacuate to high ground as soon as possible,” Ferguson said on X. City offices and the Library Commons in Mount Vernon will be closed Thursday and Friday, according to the city. They encouraged businesses in the floodplain to close during the flooding event.