4-Inch Rains Cause Floods, Mud Slides in Washington State

A storm dumped more than four inches of rain on western Washington state, causing floods and mud slides and leaving one man critically injured and another missing and feared drowned, authorities said Sunday.

Roads and bridges throughout the western part of the state were washed out. The mayor of Redmond, an east Seattle suburb, declared a state of emergency Saturday, but the waters began to recede Sunday and “we undeclared the emergency,” Redmond Fire Chief Frank Mallquest said. “Everything is pretty well receding back.”

A 25-year-old Kirkland, Wash., man who was critically injured when he was trapped in his home by a mud slide Saturday night underwent surgery Sunday.

A pickup truck flipped off a bridge into Seattle’s Lake Washington in the heavy rain on Saturday, and the driver, identified as Wayne L. Hopkins, 25, was missing and feared drowned, police said.

A mud slide north of Seattle covered 150 feet of the Burlington Northern rail line, and two Amtrak trains had to be rerouted, Dan Engstrom, Amtrak crew base supervisor, said.

In addition to the Seattle area, some of the worst of the flooding occurred on the Olympic Peninsula, west of Puget Sound. About 40 homes were evacuated along the Elwha River, Dungeness River, Morse Creek and McDonald Creek.