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Date:
October 21, 2003 PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLOSED IN CONCRETE, BURLINGTON-EDISON, LA CONNER, MOUNT VERNON, SEDRO-WOOLLEY AND CONWAY AS SAFETY PRECAUTION Public schools in the Burlington-Edison, La Conner, Mount Vernon, Conway, Concrete, and Sedro-Woolley are closed today as a safety precaution. Anacortes Schools are open. All out of district activities and transportation will also be cancelled in La Conner. This flood is equaling or exceeding the flood events of 1990 and 1995. People living in the flood plain are encouraged to move their records to a safe area. 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 42.5 feet at Concrete at 8:00 AM Tuesday morning. At 7:30 AM Tuesday morning, the gauge at Concrete read 41.86 feet. The 7:30 AM gauge reading for Mount Vernon is 29.57 feet. The National Weather Service has revised its forecast for the Skagit crest in Mount Vernon to 38 feet at 7:00 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. 50 Volunteers are requested to report immediately to 1317 S. Anacortes Street in Burlington help Dike District 12 with sandbagging. Volunteers are also asked to report immediately to the downtown Mount Vernon Fire Hall on South 2nd Street and to the Conway Fire Station. 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. All volunteers should come with appropriate footwear, rain gear and gloves. Shelters are open at the following locations:
Personnel from the Whidbey Naval Air Station have sandbagged 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.
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