A flood watch remains in effect for Southwest Washington and northwest Oregon as moisture from an atmospheric river drenches the region.
Forecasters expected strong wind gusts to knock over trees and cause power outages. Luckily, as of 6:50 a.m. Clark Public Utilities was reporting that only five of its customers were without power. A total of 330 customers recently had power restored, according to the utility’s outage map. High winds and heavy rains knocked out power to 17,000 people in northwestern Oregon. Portland General Electric says it’s trying to restore power on Tuesday in Portland and surrounding areas amid rainfall and wind gusts.
Vancouver residents should expect rain to continue through 10 a.m. followed by bursts of intense showers, according to the weather service. The rainfall here will total between half an inch to three quarters of an inch for the day.
The atmospheric river is carrying moisture from the tropics into the area, said Amanda Bowen, a meteorologist with the weather service in Portland. “When we get these events, moisture coming from places where it’s wet year-round, around the equator, we get a lot of rain.”
Officials at the weather service, headquartered across the Columbia River in Portland, haven’t heard from weather watchers in Clark County. As far as they know, there are no flooding issues in the county, or at minimum, no serious issues have been reported, Bowen said.
The flood watch remains in place until Wednesday afternoon, but weather in Vancouver may settle down by tonight. Minor flooding is still possible.
“In addition to river and creek flooding, widespread urban flooding is possible in the Northern Willamette Valley and Portland Metro Area. In these areas, there may be water entering underground portions of buildings and parking garages as well as multiple feet of water in flood-prone paved areas such as low or dipping freeway ramps,” the weather service said.
The rain totals in Vancouver and elsewhere in the county should be similar to communities to the south, but the winds in Portland’s suburbs have been much stronger, said Bowen.
“There are stronger winds moving south, in some of the suburbs, but Clark County appears to have avoided damaging winds,” she said.
The winds are currently characterized as “breezy, with a west-southwest wind 17 to 22 mph decreasing to 11 to 16 mph in the afternoon,” according to Vancouver’s forecast.
Conditions on interstates 5 and 205 are far from ideal, with traffic picking up earlier than usual. The Washington State Department of Transportation is reporting a couple issues on one of the freeways during the morning commute.
A crash in the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 near the bridge around 5:51 a.m. temporarily blocked the left lane of traffic, according to WSDOT. A disabled vehicle in the southbound lanes near the onramp to Vancouver’s Main Street caused another short delay. Traffic was backed up onto state Highway 500 and onto side streets in downtown because of slowing on I5.
Emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian indicated there was at least one other non-injury crash on the 2600 block of Northeast Minnehaha Street.
Traffic maps showed vehicles on Interstate 205 backing up to the Salmon Creek area around 8 a.m. Traffic on Interstate 5 was slowing to about the 99th Street exits.
To the north, Puget Sound Energy says that about 3,400 customers on Tuesday are starting the day without power. The National Weather Service says it measured wind gusts along the coast at 62 mph. Officials say that southwest Washington and the Olympic Peninsula have an increased risk of flooding.
Correction: The above article incorrectly reported that Pacific Gas and Electric was reporting outages in Portland. Portland General Electric is the utility serving the city.
