We are seeing the effects
of all that rain that has come down,
plus the high tide.
Several areas are dealing with major
flooding including South Seattle Sky King,
showing us standing water flowing
on the streets of the industrial
district and forcing people
out of some local businesses.
KING5, Julie Kellon joins us
live with how things are looking
there from the ground. Julie.
Christine, right now,
parts of this industrial area right off
the Duwamish waterway are underwater.
This road is closed for close from 2nd Ave.
to 8th Ave. and N Kenyon area.
You can see some crews are out here.
They're actually putting down
some more sandbags right now.
And even in the past 20 minutes,
we have started to see
some of this water recede.
But just earlier we did see a
couple cars stuck in the water that
are going to have to be towed.
Seattle Fire Department says they
did get a water rescue call for
a father and son in the vehicle.
When they got there,
the water was halfway up the car.
Fire crews were able to open the
door and both got out safely.
Crews also responded to a call from
a welding business just a couple of
streets up where I am right now on 4th Ave.
who reported 2 feet of water
inside with their power source
underwater and things were steaming.
Once crews arrived that water had receded,
that emergency was over.
All of these businesses are
impacted right now.
We have seen people that are
inside working just waiting to
get out since they essentially.
We can't leave because of the water
and we talked with one business
owner who says this is really
just a combination of issues.
They've had a storm sewer problem in
this neighborhood where a high tide
combined with a lot of rain or snow
melting would back up the storm sewers,
which we're grabbing gravity
feeding into the Duwamish.
So again, right here for a second Ave. to
8th Ave. the North Kingman area,
those roads are closed right now.
We've been checking in with S dot
to get an update on road closures
throughout the area and we'll be
continuing to keep our eyes on conditions
as they change throughout the day.
So we'll bring you
the very latest
back to you, Christine.
All right, Julie, thank you very much.
And farther north in the city,
Seattle City Light is reporting about 4000
customers are without power in the North,
Queen Anne and Magnolia areas.
They're still looking into a cause
this we're going to check in with
Christopher Nunley in just a moment.
First, take a look at this.
In Everett.
West Marine View Drive is temporarily
closed due to high water.
These are photos from police showing
what drivers are now facing.
Streets around the city
are looking like rivers.
Rising creeks are causing
flooding all over the North End.
The city of Mountlake Terrace is
telling people to be careful and
watch out for standing water.
It has St.
crews out evaluating those conditions.
And in Olympia,
the fire department says to avoid
going downtown if possible.
High tide is causing flooding
concerns and capital.
Lake is rising.
You can see the boardwalk downtown is
inundated with that floodwater well.
The King Tide paired with today's area
of low pressure are causing flooding
for some people in Des Moines today.
King Fives Connor board is live
at Whalers Village condominiums
in Des Moines where people are
dealing with flooding.
So Connor,
what are you seeing there right now?
Right now I'm in the parking lot of the
condominiums and it's looking a lot more
like a pond than a parking lot right now.
You can see some of these cars were
pushed out of their parking spots by
the floodwaters and these cars also,
some of them have water inside of them.
But people here say this is actually
a much better scene than this morning
now that some of the water has receded.
People were out helping each other today
as we saw multiple people moving their
cars and scooping water out of the cars.
Luckily, we're told that water did not get
into any of the actual condos, the flooding.
It's just in the parking lot.
People here say they see an extremely
high tide about once a winter,
but that this one was one of the worst.
There were
a couple people trying to push a car,
so I ran out here to help do that.
And then a couple of the vehicles over here,
people are starting to try and move them
or like, don't turn them on, don't turn
them on, just put them in neutral and
just trying to
do what we can to help the situation.
Despite flooded cars here at the complex,
people we talked to say they're just thankful
they have neighbors who are willing to
step up and help each other when needed.
And like I said, people say the water
has already gone down significantly
and they're just hoping that the water
keeps receding throughout the day so
people can get more of their cars out.
Reporting in Des Moines,
Connor board, KING5 News Christopher
Nunley is tracking this storm from
the first Alert Weather Center.
Christopher that water
was rising very quickly.
It really was a combinations
of combination of factors.
Really led to this flood event
today for coastal parts of
Washington and around Puget Sound.
So we are in just an
astronomically high tide period.
And then when you factor in that area of
low pressure that is approaching the coast,
you had those winds kind of
piling up some of the waters.
And let's face it,
the water levels continue
to rise with climate change.
That was the perfect recipe to lead to
the flooding that we saw across the area.
And it came just at the time of that
peak tide earlier this morning.
Good news.
Is the tides continue to lower right now and
around 2:30 we're gonna see that low tide.
So the water should continue to recede.
But there is a coastal flood advisory
in effect for this green shaded
area for Puget Sound until 1:00 PM.
So we have about another 50 minutes of this
coastal flood advisory before that expires.
We will see a second higher
tide around 7:12 this evening,
but this one is forecast to be about 3
feet lower than what we saw this morning.
But again,
a few areas could see some.
Minor flooding later on this evening
once we get that second high tide coastal
flood warning out along the coast.
This continues until 10:00 PM.
This is where we're going to see some
significant flooding continued throughout
the afternoon into the evening hours.
Tides could be one to two feet
higher than normal along with
some large waves that could not
only cause that water inundation,
but that possibility of some coastal
erosion as we have some very large waves,
but that area of low pressure that
is actually working its way onshore.
Now we're also tracking that potential.
For some flooding due to the rain
that we're gonna pick up,
we're gonna go into more detail
about this freshwater flood risk
and some strong winds that are gonna
move in that could be damaging over
the next few hours.
We'll have details on that coming
up here in just a few minutes.
The Red Cross has opened a shelter
in Bellingham because of flooding.
It opened last night at
Cordata Presbyterian Church.
The flooding threat comes
from a mix of that King tide,
the wind blowing onshore,
and of course the heavy rain showers.
This same flooding threat
is up and down the coast.
This video here shows the king.
And yesterday in Ocean shores,
wind gusts could reach up to
70 mph there later on today.
And with all of the freezing temperatures,
wind and rain over the last week,
your home has probably taken a beating.
We are definitely seeing
changes in weather patterns,
and we're seeing winter start earlier
and be wetter and colder now,
whether that's related to climate change
or La Nina Winter or what have you,
it's like if you're the homeowner who
suffers damage, you probably don't
care that much about all that stuff.
You're just trying to figure
out how to get your.
Your home repaired and livable,
the Northwest Insurance Council says
with the wind gusts we expect to see,
keep your eye on your trees.
As wet as the ground is,
these are the perfect conditions
for falling trees and branches
to break while the prep time the
best time rather to prep your
houses in the fall during a storm.
The advice from insurance
companies is to act fast,
whether that's after you lose
power or if a tree falls on your
home after days of extreme winter
weather across much of the country.
Southwest Airlines now.
Says it will operate at 1/3 of its
schedule for the next several days.
The move is an effort by Southwest
to clear up that backlog of stranded
passengers from forced cancellations
of nearly 3000 flights on Monday alone.
While other airlines have also
struggled with cancellations and
delays from the winter storm,
Southwest cancelled flights were
10 times higher than those of
other airlines like Delta.
Travel headaches continue
today at Seatac Airport,
FlightAware reports 79 flight cancellations.
More than 100 delays in and out of
Seattle Nationwide 4400 flights
have already been cancelled today,
and most of the cancellations at Seatac
are either from Alaska or Southwest.
In all,
it is estimated 17,000 flights have been
canceled nationwide since last week.
So why is it still such a big problem?
Amy Kylie reports on the factors
behind the air travel mess.
We're
trying to fly home, but that's
not looking like it's happening.
Many US air travelers are
in for another rough day.
FlightAware says Southwest had
cancelled about 60% of today's
flights before the day even started.
It cancelled roughly 70% of yesterday's and.
1st and beyond, here's what's
happening according to the company
obviously facing some operational challenges
this evening with Winter Storm Elliott,
that has kind of moved on to include some
some challenges with our flight crews.
The phone systems that the
company uses is just not working.
They're just not manned with enough
manpower in order to give the scheduling
changes to flight attendants.
Southwest isn't the only airline
that's been canceling flights and the
weather's been affecting airports too.
Buffalo Niagara.
International says it'll remain closed today.
Pittsburgh's Airport is sending
its snow equipment to help.
We've been hit with a Blizzard,
none that the likes of Buffalo has seen
with those high winds and snow amounts.
It's snowing again today in parts of the US,
and the National Weather Service has
issued several winter storm warnings.
Some travelers are trying to make
the best out of the situation.
Go back home, hang out with the
pops for a couple more days.
You know, call my boss.
Tell him I'm sorry I made me,
Kylie reporting.