12/06/2007

By CURT WOODWARD  / Associated Press

Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday formally requested a White House emergency declaration to trigger help for thousands of homeowners and businesses in southwestern Washington starting the messy, discouraging job of cleaning up from the worst flooding in a decade.

The initial request, backed up by video taken during the governor's aerial tours of the flooded regions in the past three days, will apply to Grays Harbor and Lewis counties. Other counties will be added as initial damage assessments are tallied.

The fast-track request, funneled through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will trigger money for temporary lodging, rental assistance, money for home repairs and crisis counseling and small-business loans.

The state also plans to offer disaster unemployment checks and food stamps.

A storm Monday battered Oregon and Washington with heavy rains and high winds, close on the heels of another severe weather system on Sunday. Four deaths have been blamed in Washington on the bad weather and related power outages, and one person has been reported missing. In addition, two hikers were found dead after an avalanche in the snow- and rain-soaked Cascade Range.

Floodwaters were draining from southwestern Washington state Thursday, as rescue and evacuation work ended and lights were coming back on in thousands of homes and businesses.

"We will get through this," the governor told reporters.

Authorities in Lewis, Pacific and Grays Harbor counties were going door-to-door Thursday in areas without electricity, especially remote locations where the lights likely won't come on for days. They were checking on the elderly and those who might be in distress, said Aberdeen police Sgt. C.J. Chastain, a spokesman in Grays Harbor County's emergency operations center.

A man in Mason County died Monday night when he a building was hit by a mudslide. Two people died earlier in Grays Harbor County: one in Aberdeen who was hit by a falling tree, and another in Montesano who apparently relied on oxygen equipment that stopped working after electricity was lost. On Wednesday, a candle ignited a fire that killed an elderly woman near Seaview on the Long Beach Peninsula, said Bryan W. Harrison, administrative officer for Pacific County.

In rural Winlock, police continued looking for Richard Hiatt, 81, who vanished after the collapse of a creek bank near his house.

State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said road crews were fixing Interstate 5, closed since Monday at Centralia, about 30 miles south of the state capital in Olympia, and hoped to reopen one lane of the freeway to truck traffic Thursday night.

The closure halted traffic between Portland, Ore., and Seattle on a stretch of freeway that normally carries about 54,000 vehicles a day. High water prevented the use of nearby detours, with some trucks heading as far east as Yakima to get around the blockage.

As of midday Thursday, about three-quarters of a mile of I-5 was still under water, state Transportation Department officials said. Crews had repaired 100 feet of damaged pavement and filled in a large sinkhole near Chehalis.

Some sections of U.S. 12 and U.S. 101 reopened in Grays Harbor County. Multiple mudslides were keeping portions of U.S. 101 closed along Hood Canal in Mason and Jefferson counties, although one temporary lane has been opened for emergency crews, the DOT said.

Amtrak service resumed Thursday between Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia.

The governor said about 640 people were still in shelters, 33,000 customers without power, 18,900 without safe drinking water, and about 15 roads were still closed. Fourteen water system were shut down and people using nine others were told to boil the water. Nearly 400 National Guard members were deployed.

Gregoire called it the largest mobilization of state and volunteer relief efforts since the state helped Gulf Coast victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The economic cost impact on families and businesses was still being tallied, the governor said, but damages were likely to reach into the billions of dollars.

Gregoire said the cascade of weather — snow followed by high winds and then torrential rains — made it impossible to prepare any faster. She said she's been satisfied with FEMA's response.

Cooler, drier weather helped.

"Mother Nature is still cooperating — it's not dumping gallons of rain," Grays Harbor County emergency spokeswoman Lynn O'Conner said.

Gregoire said she would lead a tour of storm damage Saturday with Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Rep. Norm Dicks, all D-Wash., to enlist their help in gaining federal aid.

By the time helicopter rescue operations ended Wednesday evening, at least 300 people had been taken to safety in what Gregoire described as the state's largest aerial search-and-rescue operation in a decade.

"Those folks who are literally homeless today still have a spirit in them," the governor said. "They are determined to get back to their homes and get their lives back together again."

___

AP Writers David Ammons and Rachel La Corte in Olympia, and Tim Klass and Doug Esser in Seattle contributed to this report.