The Northwest: From Drizzle To Deluge

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Residents of the drizzly Pacific Northwest are accustomed to wet weather, but the floods that struck western Oregon and Washington last week were something else. In one 24-hour period, 6 in. of rain fell in Oregon and 4.5 in. in Washington, causing rivers to overflow their banks, driving thousands from their homes and closing highway I-5 for three days. At least three people were killed.

People waded through waist-high water in the streets of Tillamook, Ore., and Governor Neil Goldschmidt declared a state of emergency. "There were old people who have lived here all their lives saying they'd never seen anything like it," said Robert Berg, public works director in Washington's Lewis County. "This is right up there with Mount St. Helens."