CNN Headline: Portland cut off from Seattle by floods

[DrJay]

http://www.cnn.com/

Does this mean everyone in Portland will go through caffeine withdrawal this weekend? Can't the National Guard do something, like fly in a few prefab Starbucks??

[DrJay]

Ok, so they got rid of that headline, but the crisis isn't over.

[Honusonthesound]

This happens pretty much every year. The whole stretch of I-5 around Chehalis suffers massive flooding, not always over-flowing the road, though it is quite common. The various media sources have tons of stock photos of the damage that they can simply trot-out for our viewing pleasure. Homes 'n farms flooded to Biblical proportions, though we seldom hear about 'em unless the freeway goes under water.

It can take a LONG time before the water drains away, during which commercial truckers are re-routed through Eastern Washington at geat expense to them along with loss of their time. You can imagine that these guys hate it! This year, that has been compounded by the fact that some of those roads've been closed due to the snowfall.

This takes place at different times depending upon the year. I got to see it first-hand on a rerturn trip after spending the holidays in So. Cal., though luckily we passed through shortly after I-5 had been re-opened. It was truly an eye-opener.

Come to think of it, I wonder if some of the stuff I recently ordered that is currently tardy isn't sitting on a stranded truck some place...

[rasb]

Not to be overlooked is the fact that the I-5 doesn't just connect Washington and Oregon, but is the major supply route of goods out of Mexico and California not only to the USA Pacific Northwest, but also to Vancouver and British Columbia. The current situation is complicated in that most of the passes over the Mountains have been closed off and on due to snowslides and avalanche concerns, so in some cases, there is no way around.
I heard that 10,000 trucks a day deliver over that stretch of highway. That's a lot of stuff...

[gh]

So if my restaurant in Vancouver tonite is shy on my favorite Añejo, I'll know why!

[Brian]

So if my restaurant in Vancouver tonite is shy on my favorite Añejo, I'll know why!

Actually, they'll be adopting an Italian menue and charging Venice prices.

[rasb]

So if my restaurant in Vancouver tonite is shy on my favorite Añejo, I'll know why!

Actually, they'll be adopting an Italian menue and charging Venice prices.

And a shot or so of "Especial Gold" is out of the question, according to Jose.

[polevaultpower]

By the time this thread was started, most of the highways were reopened, but for over a day there was a period where I-5 was closed south of Olympia, all three mountain passes were closed, and the trains weren't running. Your options were to fly or drive into Canada and take a 700+ mile detour.

Most of these things happen more than once a year, sometimes in combination with each other. Every now and then you get the perfect storm where I-5 is closed, all mountain passes are closed, all trains are stopped, the airport shuts down... but that is rare. At least this time the airport was open, and it seems I-5 reopened earlier than expected.

Had some good flooding here at the Park the night before last. Not quite as bad as last year, but I had trouble sleeping because I could hear the normally dry creekbed behind out trailer roaring down the hill about 10' away from where I was sleeping. Up the hill it was overflowing the culvert which washed out a lot of our road and created a river on the front side of the trailer!