dot.help Lewis County Flood Blog

“I-5 to Open to All Traffic by Noon Today”

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:26:05 +0000

“Interstate 5 will open for all traffic with two lanes going both north and south through Lewis County at about noon today, according to a statement made shortly after 9 a.m. by a spokesperson from the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The interstate will completely close at 9:30 a.m. today to all crews to reset the 12,000-pound median barriers that were pushed around from the raging floodwaters either late Monday or early Tuesday morning.

After the medians are reset and some road sweeping is completed, transportation officials will open the interstate.

The closure shut off all traffic on the major north-south transportation corridor for almost three days.

I-5 usually has about 54,000 vehicles pass on it through the Twin Cities each day. Of those, about 10,000 are semi trucks. Those trucks were at first routed through Eastern Washington. WSDOT estimated for each day I-5 is closed, it costs trucking firms about $4 million.

Thursday afternoon, I-5 opened up one-lane each way to semi trucks.”

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I-5 Open To All Traffic from Exit 77 Southward

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 07:13:36 +0000

via [The Chronicle Online]

“The 20-mile closure of Interstate 5 continues to shrink as at 8:20 Thursday evening it opened to all southbound traffic starting at the on ramp at state Route 6 at milepost 77.

Earlier at about 6:10 p.m., Washington State Department of Transportation officials opened up one lane both north and south on I-5 to freight traffic only (trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds).

I-5 remains closed to all vehicles except large trucks both north and south between Grand Mound and U.S. Highway 12 south of Chehalis, except for the new opening of southbound I-5 at state Route 6..”

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School Closures for Friday, Dec. 7

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 04:46:23 +0000

pugetinfo.net posts closure/delay updates for the following Lewis County schools:

Boistfort - Closed; staff will meet Friday. UPDATE (For Fri. Dec 7th) Alert Posted: Thu. 6th, 04:01 PM
Centralia - Two hour late start-no am preschool,no visions, growing together or CAPS program -buses on flood routes UPDATE (For Fri. Dec 7th) Alert Posted: Thu. 6th, 11:28 AM
Chehalis - 2 hour late start - no am preschool, no visions, no growing together - buses on flood routes UPDATE (For Fri. Dec 7th) Alert Posted: Thu. 6th, 11:30 AM

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Wal-Mart to Open Monday - Home Depot Operating from Parking Lot Saturday

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:59:47 +0000

via [The Chronicle Online]

“The Chehalis Wal-Mart Supercenter plans to be open Monday, corporate representatives stated Thursday afternoon. The neighboring Home Depot, just north of the retail giant, is aiming to have materials for sale in the store parking lot on Saturday.

“We hope to be open Monday,” said Jennifer Spall, Wal-Mart’s Public Affairs Manager for Washington.

Crews are cleaning the interior of the store, she said, which took on up to a foot of water in some places.

Home Depot manager Brian Sperber said his store will be open Saturday with goods for sale in the parking lot, to help local flood victims start cleaning and repairing their homes. The store still had silt and mud on the floor as of Thursday afternoon.”

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I-5 To Open One Lane Each Way for Freight Trucks Thurs. Night

admin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 01:57:14 +0000

via [The Chronicle Online]

The following was released by the Washington Department of Transportation at about 4:57 p.m. Thursday:

“CHEHALIS — WSDOT crews are now setting up traffic control to allow commercial vehicles over 10,000 GVW to travel on I-5 from milepost 68 to 88 starting sometime between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. tonight. Crews were able to get the lanes open because receding flood waters on I-5 in Chehalis revealed fewer problems than anticipated. (more…)

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Over 600 Photos in the Flood Gallery So Far

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:46:09 +0000

We now have over 600 photos taken throughout the past in our flood gallery at flood.dothelp.net/gallery

These images cover much of the Chehalis area such as I-5 including exits 77 and 79 as well as the outlying areas that felt the full force of the flooding.

Feel free to register at the Gallery and upload your own photos.

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I-5 Closure to Continue Into Weekend

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:57:05 +0000

via [The Chronicle Online]

“The 20-mile Interstate 5 closure between Grand Mound and the area south of Chehalis will continue at least into the weekend, according to a Washington State Department of Transportation engineer.”

Read the rest of the article by Michael Wagar here.

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Gold Street Opened to Traffic in Both Directions

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:46:21 +0000

via [The Chronicle Online]

Although I-5 remains closed, there is now a more direct alternative route between Centralia and Chehalis.

“Gold Street and National Avenue, normally a two-lane, one-way road, was opened to two-lane traffic around 4 p.m.”

Earlier today traffic was very heavy but it has seemed to die down as we get later into the night.

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New Gallery: William - Dec. 5th

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:13:32 +0000

Many of these images show the serious damage that has been inflicted in the outskirts of Chehalis.

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New Gallery: Jessica

admin — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:11:53 +0000

Tons of pictures around Chehalis and Boistfort valley.

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