Morning rush hour turned into a commuter’s nightmare this morning after at least 10 reported accidents snarled both freeways and local streets.
There were no immediate reports of accidents involving serious injuries. But almost all local freeways had at least one fender-bender. The result was traffic backed up for miles — and many minutes.
Interstate 5 was backed up from the I-5 bridge to before Northeast 78th Street, and Interstate 205 and Highway 14 were also snarled in spots.
By 9:30 a.m. traffic had started to recover everywhere except on southbound I-5, according to a sweep of traffic cameras operated by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Traffic there remained slow until after 10:30, snarled in part due to a lift of the drawbridge that occurred just after 10 a.m.
One of the worst accidents was a four-car crash on westbound state Highway 14.
The collision partially blocked the left lane of the highway between the nearby Fred Meyer and the City Center exit, according to Washington State Patrol Will Finn.
Emergency personnel extricated one person, though it is not yet known if there are injuries from the crash, Finn said.
Meanwhile, C-Tran buses and C-Van paratransit services were backed up along with other motorists, according to radio traffic monitored by The Columbian.
The culprit was heavy rain, which intensified about 6:30 a.m. Nearly 0.15 of an inch fell in the next three hours, according to a National Weather Service rain gauge at Pearson Field in Vancouver.
