Welcome to Skagit County
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Date:
October 21, 2003 STATE ROUTE 20 CLOSED AT HAMILTON, STATE ROUTE 530 CLOSED BETWEEN ROCKPORT AND DARRINGTON State Route 20 is closed at Hamilton, and also near Marblemount and Newhalem. State Route 530 is closed between Rockport and Darrington. Numerous roads throughout Skagit County are closed. Plans are underway to move farm animals to high ground. The National Guard is staged at Marblemount and Hamilton to help with evacuation. Also 15 Search and Rescue personnel are stationed at Hamilton. 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 Tuesday morning. At 3:20 AM Tuesday morning, the gauge at Concrete read 40.55 feet. The 3:20 AM gauge reading for Mount Vernon is 28.51 feet. The National Weather Service has revised its forecast for the Skagit crest in Mount Vernon to 38 feet at 8:00 PM Tuesday evening. Flood stage in Mount Vernon is 28 feet. City officials are 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. Volunteers to sandbag are asked to report to the Mount Vernon Fire Hall on South 2nd Street in Downtown Mount Vernon at 8:00 AM Tuesday. Volunteers are also asked to report to the Conway Fire Station 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. Sandbagging will also take place at the Skagit County Courthouse. No volunteers are requested. Shelters are open at the following locations: · Marblemount
Community Hall, 60055 SR 20; phone 360-873-4432. Skagit County
Sheriff’s Office is notifying residents upriver in eastern areas
of Skagit County of possible evacuation. Those areas include: Personnel from the Whidbey Naval Air Station are 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. |