Welcome to Skagit County

Date: October 21, 2003
Time: 12:05 A.M.
From: Skagit County Public Works

CREST PREDICTIONS MOVED UP TO TUESDAY, 8:00 AM AT CONCRETE, 8:00 PM AT MOUNT VERNON

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED IN MOUNT VERNON FOR DIKE DISTRICT 3, 17, AND 22

Volunteers for Dike District 22 are asked to report to the Conway Fire Station at 8:00 AM. Volunteers for Dike District 3 are asked to report to the Mount Vernon Fire Hall on South 2nd Street in Downtown Mount Vernon at 8:00 AM. Dike District 17 needs volunteers for sandbagging at their headquarters on Stewart Road in Mount Vernon, near the Cottontree Inn at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday morning.

The National Guard is staged at Marblemount and Hamilton to help with evacuation. Also 15 Search and Rescue personnel are stationed at Hamilton.

State Route 20, just west of Marblemount at Milepost 101 is closed due to water on the roadway.

The National Weather Service is continuing to forecast serious flooding for the Skagit River system. The Skagit and its tributaries have been rising rapidly in the eastern, upriver portion of Skagit County. The prediction is that the river will reach 42 feet at Concrete at 8:00 AM tomorrow morning. At 12:00 AM Tuesday morning, the gauge at Concrete read 38.12 feet.

The 12:00 AM gauge reading for Mount Vernon is 27.15 feet. The National Weather Service has revised its forecast for the Skagit crest in Mount Vernon to 38 feet at 8:00 PM tomorrow evening. Flood stage in Mount Vernon is 28 feet. City officials are tentatively planning to begin sandbagging of the downtown revetment, a paved parking facility adjacent to the river in downtown Mount Vernon, at 8:00 AM Tuesday morning.

Emergency evacuation is underway in the Hamilton area. The American Red Cross has opened a third shelter for people displaced by high water. The third shelter location is the:
· Marblemount Community Hall, 60055 SR 20; phone 360-873-4432.
Earlier today shelters were opened at the following locations:
· Grassmere Fire Hall, 4288 Hwy 20, Concrete; phone 360-853-8361 and
· Hamilton 1st Baptist Church, 797 Hamilton Cemetery Rd.; ph. 360-826-3307.

Skagit County Sheriff’s Office is notifying residents upriver in eastern areas of Skagit County of Possible evacuation. Those areas include:
· Cascade River Road
· Fish hatchery area near Marblemount
· Thunderbird Lane
· Capehorn area
· Crowfoot area near Concrete

Personnel from the Whidbey Naval Air Station are now sandbagging around the Anacortes Water Treatment Plant. The Riverbend Road is closed.

County officials and work crews continue to monitor the situation closely and take appropriate actions as necessary. Additional news releases will be issued as new information warrants.