Fears levees will fail as flood-stricken town braces for more torrential rain

Western Washington state is grappling with unprecedented flooding as residents and emergency services brace for potential levee failures along the swollen Skagit River.

National Guard troops are assisting with widespread evacuations following days of torrential downpours across the Pacific Northwest.

The entire community of Burlington, home to approximately 9,200 people near Puget Sound, was placed under evacuation orders on Friday. This came as the Skagit River reached an all-time high of nearly 11.6 metres (38 feet) at Mount Vernon, just downstream, significantly exceeding major flood stage levels.

"We haven't seen flooding like this ever," stated Karina Shagren, a spokesperson for the state's emergency management division, confirming that no casualties or missing persons had been reported so far.

The broader Skagit River flood plain, a rural area north of Seattle with a population of around 78,000, was already under a Level 3 evacuation notice, urging immediate movement to higher ground.

Across the state, an estimated 100,000 people were subject to evacuation orders. National Guard troops and sheriff's deputies were conducting door-to-door checks, with some seen using inflatable rafts to rescue stranded Burlington residents from the muddy floodwaters.

Despite the rains beginning to subside by Friday, the flood control levees appeared to be holding firm immediately after the river's historic crest. State officials noted this was their first significant test since repairs were carried out following the last major flood in 2021. However, the National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for the river basin downstream, citing the continued risk of levee failures under immense pressure from the high water.

"Extensive flooding of streets, homes and farmland will be possible" should these vital levees and dikes give way, the Weather Service warned.

Such a breach would dramatically worsen the already widespread inundation across much of western Washington state, with aerial footage from CNN depicting communities submerged in deep, brown water, many homes almost entirely covered.

The Burlington-Mount Vernon area in Skagit County remains the epicentre of the extensive flooding, which has been triggered by days of torrential downpours stretching from northern Oregon through western Washington and into British Columbia. South of Skagit County, National Guard personnel were also deployed to deliver food and check on residents cut off by floods in Snohomish County. The deluge has led to the closure of dozens of roads, including key Canadian highways leading to Vancouver, and several sections of the BNSF Railway, a major freight line, were also shut down.

The severe weather was caused by an "atmospheric river" storm, a vast airborne current of dense moisture drawn from the ocean and swept inland earlier in the week, also affecting parts of northern Idaho and western Montana.