Kittitas-trophe

ELLENSBURG, Wash. -- Residents throughout Kittitas County are finding some normalcy after what may have been the worst flooding in two decades.

The Yakima River near Horlick crested early Thursday afternoon after reaching about 39 feet -- more than 10 feet above average -- and was expected to drop to below flood levels near Horlick by Friday morning.

"We are stable. We are holding our own," Kittitas County Undersheriff Clayton Myers said. "We are still in the rescue phase. We don't anticipate transitioning to recovery for a day or two."

Forecasters predict a week of dry weather ahead. Still, the flooding that began Wednesday left its mark.

County emergency crews evacuated dozens of residents who live near the river and closed about 20 roads near Ellensburg.

Families built walls of sandbags around homes. About 100 semi-trucks and other vehicles waited off exits and lined Interstate 90, as Snoqualmie Pass was closed for a second day.

In parking lots, families of stranded travelers pretended they were on vacation, while residents driving along Canyon Road slowed to gawk at the choppy brown water that enveloped homes along the riverbanks.

At Perkins Restaurant & Bakery off of U.S. Highway 97, Rick Haberman and about 20 of his employees loaded tables, booths, wood paneling and soaked carpeting into pickups outside. He said it was the first time in his 25 years of owning the restaurant that floodwaters reached inside.

"The more we can get out of here, the better we are," he told the cleanup crew.

Other local business owners lent him storage space, fans and dehumidifiers to dry out his furniture before mold could set in.

Not far away at Vic Hawk's home on Dolarway Road, a half-dozen men in overalls and long-sleeved flannel shirts filling sandbags all morning were in a light mood.

"Waterfront property for sale," one man called out, as Hawk's 8-year-old grandson plodded through a foot-deep pond that had formed in front of the house.

It was worse near Teanaway, where Wednesday's heavy rain caused mudslides that brought down fast, heavy water mixed with trees, silt and 100-pound rocks.

"We never got much sleep, not any of us," said Jesse Geiger, 54, eyeing the loud stream of water that blocked out a 30-yard-section of Red Bridge Road and slammed silt into his neighbor's garage.

Throughout Wednesday and Thursday, Geiger and his neighbors built and rebuilt barriers around a stream that wasn't there a day earlier.

"I still can hardly believe it," Geiger said. "It's not going to be a small fix to divert that much water."

In Cle Elum, snow was piled about 5 feet high along the main roads. It was streaked with brown dirt and white snow, which was starting to melt away.

Students there got a break from school because of power failures and washed-out roads. A handful could be found playing arcade games in Sahara Pizza -- complaining about being bored and having to shovel out flooded basements a day earlier.

It was eerily quiet in town, said the shop's owner, Clifford Knapp. Even though some shipments were coming in late, pizza orders from nearby hotels were up, and one employee had been stuck "on the other side" of the mountain.

"She's been there since Tuesday," he said, looking confused. "Halfway though the morning or was it halfway through the day?
I don't remember. That was too many days ago."