At least one person has died in Washington as flash flooding continues to hammer parts of the state and force evacuations, officials said.
A 33-year-old male driver was found dead early Tuesday after his vehicle became completely submerged on a flooded roadway in Snohomish County, according to Snohomish County Fire District 4. Crews were called to the scene at around 1:30 a.m.
Investigators say the man appears to have driven past road closure signs into an area that remains underwater. The car left the road and dropped into a lower farmland or ditch area holding roughly six feet of water, the district said in a statement.
“Upon arrival, deputies located the vehicle in the water. Fire Rescue Swimmers made contact with the vehicle and removed the driver from the car,” officials said.
First responders performed lifesaving measures, but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene. No other occupants were found in the vehicle.
Authorities said it is not yet known whether drugs or alcohol played a role. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office will make a formal identification and determine the cause and manner of death.
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Levee breaches trigger flash flood warnings and evacuations
The fatality comes as communities across western Washington face rising rivers, damaged levees, and repeated evacuation orders after days of heavy rain tied to powerful Pacific storm systems.
On Tuesday, an evacuation order and flash flood warning were in effect for Pacific, Washington, after a levee breach on the White River. Local and county officials warned residents in affected areas to move to higher ground and avoid driving through floodwaters as crews worked to shore up defenses.
The new breach follows a separate levee failure in Tukwila on Monday, where a section of the Desimone levee along the Green River gave way, prompting a flash flood warning and evacuation orders for parts of Tukwila and nearby communities in King County.
King County officials said the levee system had been under close watch after earlier damage and emergency stabilization work, but saturated ground and record river levels pushed it past its limits. No injuries were reported in the Tukwila incident, but authorities stressed that the risk remains high as rivers stay swollen and soils remain waterlogged.
The latest incidents are part of a broader flooding crisis across the Pacific Northwest, where an extended atmospheric river event has dumped extraordinary amounts of rain, triggering landslides, road washouts, and widespread river flooding in Washington and neighboring states.
More heavy rain on Tuesday, mountain snow on Wednesday
Forecasters warned that Washington is not in the clear yet. Times of moderate to heavy rain are expected to move through the state on Tuesday, with a broad band of heavy rain and some thunderstorms arriving from late afternoon into the evening, according to the National Weather Service.
The additional rainfall could further stress levees and riverbanks already weakened by days of high water, and officials urged residents in low-lying or flood-prone areas to pay close attention to local alerts and heed evacuation orders.
On Wednesday, the pattern is expected to shift, with snow in the mountains and drier conditions at lower elevations, the National Weather Service said. While that may ease flooding concerns somewhat in valley communities, mountain snowpack and still-high river levels mean the region will likely be dealing with the aftereffects of this storm cycle for days — and in some places, weeks — to come.
Sources:
FOX 13 Seattle – “Person dead after driving car onto flooded roadway in Snohomish, WA”
