The National Weather Service has issued a flood warnings Tuesday for the following Western Washington rivers:
Stillaguamish at Arlington in Snohomish County; Tolt near Carnation in King County; Snoqualmie near the falls in King County; and the Puyallup River near Orting in Pierce County.
The NWS has not issued any flood warnings for the Green River. Flows at the Green River near Auburn were at 2,020 cubic feet per second at 12:45 p.m. Alerts are not sent out about the Green River until it reaches 5,000 cubic feet per second.
Heavy rain started Tuesday morning in the Central Cascades and will continue into Wednesday morning, according to the NWS. As much as 4 to 7 inches of rain is predicted in the Cascades with the snow level rising to 7,000 feet Tuesday. That means most of the precipitation will fall as rain and run off into the rivers to cause flooding.
The King County Flood Warning Center opened at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to monitor flows on the Tolt River as rainfall brought the river up to a Phase II flood alert level.
As of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the Tolt River was flowing at 3,600 cubic feet per second, slightly higher than the Phase II flood alert threshold of 3,500 CFS for that river. Typically, only minor flooding in low-lying areas along the Tolt River would be expected at this flow, with the potential for water over a few roads.
Flood Warning Center staff will monitor stream gages and weather reports, and will provide updated information on river conditions as necessary. Real-time river level information is available online at http://www.kingcounty.gov/flood.
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