Rain-swollen Swiftcurrent Creek flows over the Many Glacier Hotel access bridge on Nov. 7 in Glacier National Park, Mont.

Major storm damage at Glacier National Park
Slides cut off parts of Going-to-the-Sun Road; rain broke records

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. - Heavy rain that caused extensive damage to Going-to-the-Sun Road last week was unprecedented in Glacier National Park weather records, a park spokesman says.

From Nov. 2 through Nov. 7, 11 inches of rain was recorded at an automated weather station on Glacier's Flattop Mountain, and on Nov. 7 alone, 8.5 inches of rain fell, Ranger Matt Graves said.

And all of that moisture came down on a foot of snow which had an additional 2 inches of water content.

The result was widespread flooding, severe damage to the popular Going-to-the-Sun Road in several locations due to slides, and damage to Many Glacier Hotel.

"It seems pretty clear this was an historic event," Graves said. "These kinds of rainfall totals haven't been recorded at the Flattop station, and it's been in place since 1979. ... The most we've had in a single day there was 3 inches, and this exceeds that by threefold."

A cost estimate of the damage has not been determined, officials said.

However, the park is seeking emergency funding to repair Going-to-the-Sun Road, where crews planned to work over the Veterans Day weekend, Superintendent Mick Holm said Friday.

"Our intention is to get everything done that we can ... before the weather drives us off the mountain," Holm said.

Graves said it is believed that similar amounts of rain fell east of the Continental Divide in the Many Glacier Valley, where Swiftcurrent Lake rose well above its normal level, flooding the lower floor of Many Glacier Hotel.

The hotel was inaccessible for a time because of water flowing over the access road.

"Early reports are that there was about 6 inches of water on the ground floor," Graves said.

Strong storm brings heavy snow to Northwest

SEATTLE (AP) — Road crews kept the most-heavily traveled highways open through the Washington Cascades as a strong Pacific storm system dumped snow in the mountains and buffeted much of the state with high winds.
Interstate 90 and U.S. Highways 2, 12 and 97 remained opened throughout the storm Sunday and early Monday. Traction tires were required on U.S. 2 over Stevens Pass and recommended on U.S. 97 over Blewett Pass and over U.S. 12 over White Pass, the state Transportation Department reported.

However, the department closed the North Cascades Highway for the winter. The highway — State Route 20 — was temporarily closed on Thursday due to a culvert failure and buckled pavement about nine miles west of Newhalem. The department said it decided to close the highway for the season because there was more than three feet of snow in the avalanche chutes above the highway, and the forecast called for more snow and rain.

On Monday morning, wind gusts of more than 50 mph dropped several large trees onto homes in Spokane's South Hill neighborhood. No injuries were reported, but power lines were cut throughout the Spokane region. Wind gusts of 54 mph were recorded at Spokane International Airport on Monday morning, and sustained winds of nearly 30 mph rocked the city.

About 12,000 electric customers in the Spokane area lost power Monday.

In Olympia, classes were canceled for the day at The Evergreen State College, after winds knocked down power lines and cut electricity to the campus. School spokesman Anthony Sermonti said a tree fell on a car and another fell on a building, but no one was injured.

A semitrailer truck was knocked over on Highway 195 on the border of Spokane and Stevens counties. A tree was also down on Interstate 90 near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Officials in Coeur d'Alene reported downed trees were blocking some roads in the city.

Schools throughout the Spokane area and in the Palouse were either closed or opening late because of the winds.

Up to a foot of snow had fallen in some areas of Cascades' western slopes by midday Sunday, adding to the accumulation that began at higher elevations following warm rainstorms that caused major flooding last week.

"We've seen some significant snowfalls already, but this will definitely be a significant addition," said Dennis D'Amico, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service's Seattle office.

A low-pressure system moving onshore brought winds gusting to 40 mph early Monday in Tacoma and Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. The strongest blasts were gusts of 58 mph in Spokane and at the Hanford nuclear reservation.

Minor flooding was reported Sunday along the Cowlitz River near Toledo because of water released from Mayfield Dam. D'Amico said similar flooding was likely in parts of Pierce County following a controlled release of water at Mud Mountain Dam on the White River around midnight.

East of Mount Rainier, heavy snowfall and the threat of avalanches resulted in closure of Chinook and Cayuse passes on State Routes 410 and 123, respectively, until spring.

"Once it gets to a point where it's too dangerous for our own maintenance crews to clear the roadway, we go ahead and close it," said Mike Westbay, a state Transportation Department spokesman.

Westbay said the seasonal closure of Chinook Pass was the earliest since 1994. He did not have records for Cayuse Pass.

Windy weather Sunday in Seattle resulted in cancellation of the annual Head of the Lake Regatta, billed as the largest fall rowing competition west of the Mississippi River. Officials said it was the first time the event been called off in its 26-year history.

Winds churned up 2- to 5-foot swells in the starting area in Lakes Washington and Union, making conditions unsafe for rowing, regatta director Ben Porter said.

Floods in Kenya kill 10 people, uproot 60,000

MOMBASSA, Kenya, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Twelve people have died and more than 60,000 have been forced from their homes after heavy rains in Kenya caused massive flooding, government officials and aid workers said on Monday.

Ten people died in the southeastern coastal region, and two refugees in Kenya's northeastern Dadaab camps drowned.

"The situation has been difficult for several days now," Tourism Minister Morris Dzoro, whose constituency is in the affected coastal area, told Reuters.

Many students sitting their national high school exams have been cut off from their schools and examination centres because of the floods.

"The floods are yet to subside and life is difficult in the affected areas. We are using one chopper to transport food, examinations and students," Dzoro said.

Fearing landslides, many in Kwale district of the coastal region have moved to higher ground, while major roads have been blocked due to weeks of downpour in the region's Kilifi district.

"We have 60,000 people stranded on higher ground and (major) roads are still inaccessible," Coast Provincial Commissioner, Ernest Munyi, told Reuters.

"We are appealing for help in terms of food, medical attention and transportation. The government continues to mobilise available resources to get help to the affected," he added.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said a pregnant woman and a child had died in Dadaab, which houses more than 150,000 mainly Somali refugees in three camps, and more than 12,000 people had lost their shelters.

"Two deaths by drowning were reported and considerable damage caused, especially in shelter, where many structures have collapsed or have been washed away," Eddie Gedalof, UNHCR's acting representative in Kenya, said in a statement.

Heavy rains have been pounding the region, bringing misery and death to parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan and Eritrea.

Snowstorm delays special legislative session in Alaska

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A heavy snowstorm in Juneau has postponed a special legislative session on state benefits for same-sex partners that was scheduled to begin Monday afternoon.
Only about a dozen out of a total of 60 lawmakers were in the capital city before the storm shut down the Juneau airport Monday morning.

The special session was called by Gov. Frank Murkowski to discuss court-ordered benefits for same-sex partners of state employees and retirees.

About nine legislators and Lt. Gov. Loren Leman, arriving from Anchorage and Fairbanks, overflew Juneau and landed in Sitka, about 90 miles southwest of the Capitol.

Among them was Rep. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, stranded with her husband, Rep. Tom Anderson, and their nine-month-old baby.

The National Weather Service predicts heavy snowfall in Juneau through Tuesday. More snow is expected every day through Sunday.

Rep. John Coghill, R-North Pole, was also in Sitka. He said several lawmakers were considering getting on the ferry Tuesday morning but he was hoping the skies would clear in time to avoid an eight hour boat ride to Juneau.

"It really throws a monkey wrench in the works, but you take things as you can," he said.

Wind kills power, topples large sign

GREAT FALLS (AP) — High wind Monday caused a number of power outages in Montana and toppled a 7-foot sign at the Flying J Truck Stop here.
"We have had outages across the board due to wind," said Brandy Powers, a NorthWestern Energy spokeswoman. "As we're getting one fixed, there's another area that's popping up."

A storm punched the Great Falls area with sustained winds of 43 mph, gusting to 53 mph, the National Weather Service said. The sign at the truck stop fell late Monday morning.

Elsewhere in the state, wind speeds included 68 mph south of Cascade and southeast of East Glacier.

The winds "actually fall within the normal parameters for us," said meteorologist Jerome Saucier of the National Weather Service. "It's the time of the year we get them like that."

Gusts of at least 50 mph were reported at Havre, Cut Bank and Lewistown. Butte clocked 47-mph wind.

Powers said NorthWestern crews working to restore electrical service, in some cases because wind-snapped tree limbs fell into power lines, could hear the wind whistling at higher elevations.

More floods are possible

Another round of warm, wet weather is forecast to bring flooding back to Snohomish County on Wednesday.

Still, forecasters don't think the storm, which should hit this evening, will cause a repeat of last week's widespread damage.

They do predict pastures and farmland could flood again if rivers creep up to predicted levels.

"It looks to be a minor flooding event, if rivers do flood," said Dennis D'Amico, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "It will not be to the same degree as to what people have just seen."

Last week, raging rivers flooded low-lying areas in Snohomish County causing evacuations and, so far, about $3.5 million in damage.

The coming storm is different in two important ways, D'Amico said.

There will be less rain. The freezing level is expected to rise to 8,000 feet. That isn't as high as last week, D'Amico said. It still is high enough to melt snow from every local mountain, including Stevens Pass, except the top of 10,541-foot Glacier Peak.

Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management officials are making preparations.

"We're of course concerned again," deputy director Chris Badger said Monday.

In 1990, the second in a pair of back-to-back November storms punched through saturated levees, causing some of the worst flooding the region has experienced.

The county's emergency operations center remains open, Badger said. Crews are restocking mobile command centers, checking communication systems and taking stock of available sandbags.

As preparations get under way for the next storm, officials on Monday were still trying to tally last week's damage.

So far, people have reported about $3.5 million in damage to homes and property, Badger said.

Damage to roads is likely several million dollars more, she said.

On Thursday, teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the U.S. Small Business Administration are scheduled to join state and local emergency management officials touring flood-damaged areas in Snohomish County.

Results from the assessments will be sent to Gov. Chris Gregoire, said Rob Harper, a spokesman for the Washington Emergency Management Division.

In turn, the governor is expected to ask President Bush for federal disaster relief, Badger said.

Riverside communities such as Snohomish were hit particularly hard last week.

The Snohomish River is forecast to approach flood stage at Snohomish on Thursday. The city is bracing for more damage, Snohomish city manager Larry Bauman.

He said it's probably too late for the city to do much to fortify the river's banks before this next storm. There's little more to do than worry.

Last week, Bauman said he didn't sleep well at all. This week, the height of the river may dictate his slumber.

"It remains to be seen how high the water gets and how poor my sleep gets," he said.