Time is running out. All eyes are on the rising Skagit River right now. It's
cresting in Mount Vernon. The tense waiting game begins as this threatens to
be a record-breaking night of flooding. Now first for local news,
Como 4 News. Good evening. The Skagit River is quickly rising in Mount Vernon
right now and it's close to cresting. There's a live look at the river. It's
already eight feet above flood stage. This isn't the worst of it. The river is
expected to rise another foot or two. When that happens, the river could reach
a record 38 feet deep. The overflow of water threatens to cause major flooding
in Mount Vernon. We have live Team Fort coverage tonight. Michelle Esteban and
Kevin Arisa reporting on the flooding threat in Mount Vernon. Jennifer Parker
is live in Conway where a critical bridge is weakening from a logjam and
Steve Poole is tracking conditions from our storm center. We start with Michelle
who has the latest in Mount Vernon. Well we just got off the phone Dan with the
Army Corps of Engineers and they tell me that right now this Skagit River is at
35.9 feet. Take a look at it. It is moving quickly but there is new
information to report. This river was expected to crest at 38 feet. The new
forecast says it's going to crest sooner at 37.4 feet. Now we've got what we
consider the best spot for you. We're on the rooftop of a law firm and from here
you can see the river, the sandbags, people watching. We've got curiosity
seekers, homeowners, business owners all here to see the river crest. This is an
interior perimeter wall that we built this morning at seven o'clock and we're
trying to protect in case what the city has put up fails. Joe Mosier has been at
it for 16 hours. The first sandbag went down at 7 a.m. and he'll be here at his
Mount Vernon Main Street law firm when the river crests. Make my living here.
I'm a lawyer and this is where I make my living and we got to have an office. We
got to have client files that are protected. You can almost walk across
the river on the snag. His partner Mike Winslow is equally adamant about waiting and
watching. We've really done a lot to fix it up, make it very comfortable for our
clients and our other attorneys and so we have a lot invested here and we
really want to take care of it and protect it. Right now it's a storage
facility. Mike and Joe are concerned but also at ease. They're flood veterans of
sorts. The photos on their law firm walls are a reminder of the 95 flood. The
Skagit crested at 38 and a half feet, just slightly higher than what's
forecasted this year. Got that little detail taken care of. All the furniture,
some of which are antiques, are three feet up from ground level but all of the
client files and other important legal documents are being packed away and
stored on the second floor. Like all other Mount Vernon businesses and
homeowners, they're doing what they can but we don't know. We don't know what's
gonna happen next. You know there's nothing here that's so dear to us that
we're gonna risk anything. It's got six foot base. They've done all they can with
a water pump on standby. It's time to wait. From the rooftop of their law firm
they can see what's coming and just hope the forecasters are right. Now a live
look again here in Mount Vernon and one thing to tell you it's been very
difficult to gauge the water level because the gauges haven't been working
according to the Army Corps of Engineers. They've actually had to come
out here by hand. The sandbags you're looking at that is thanks to 1800
volunteers who built this wall of sandbags. Now some folks who live along
the river have been evacuated. Those folks can go to a various number of
places tonight, mainly the high school as well as Skagit Valley College. But we do
want to emphasize we've been talking a lot about how so many people want to
come out and see this river crest. What they really want to see though is this
water recede. Reporting live in Mount Vernon, I'm Michelle Esteban. Back to you.
Alright thank you Michelle. Hundreds of volunteers answered the call this
morning to build that big sandbag wall in Mount Vernon. And now it's drawing a
crowd of hundreds more to see if it will really work. Como Force Kevin Reese is
also live tonight in Mount Vernon with that part of our coverage. Kevin? Yes
hundreds did help build this wall today and those more hundreds are here to see
if it will actually work. As you can see there is a great deal of water behind
the wall and just a few inches on this side so it is indeed working. But this
wall has become the star attraction here in Mount Vernon with hundreds here to
see if it will actually help keep the river in its place. It's gonna be the
courtyard cafe if it's here tomorrow. Mark Iverson says that because the
courtyard cafe is the only building on the wrong side of the sandbags. The fire
department decided that his building under renovation would have to survive
with plastic and a few sandbags on its own as it has since the 1940s. Not being
you know included in the barricade here or the dyke or whatever they're gonna
call it. Yeah yeah. It's kind of out there on its own so we'll see tomorrow how much
damage there is. For everyone else along the sandbag wall this has become a
spectator sport. Watching the water wondering if the wall will hold. Tim
Hilt brought his entire family all the way from Arlington. They've been here for
hours. Yeah yeah yeah we were down here before this water was in here. Yeah they're
getting tired. The volunteers who built this wall are also tired and hungry but
still here waiting to see if they'll have to add more sandbags as the night
goes on. You think it's gonna work? I think so I think it should. There's a lot of local
support and effort to build it to keep the water out. This is the Skagit River
flowing underneath the West Side Bridge in the heart of Mount Vernon, a bridge
closed to the general public tonight. They allowed us access long enough to
explain this is where they do not want the public to be because of the danger
the river poses and the threat of another logjam here. But as far as the
sandbag wall is concerned the Army Corps of Engineers says it's working. So
you're predicting good things here? Very good things. Yeah. Nice dry feet. Nice dry
feet for everyone except Mark Iverson and his much too waterfront cafe. And it's
been a variety of things and hopefully if it's still here tomorrow it's gonna
be a restaurant. But other than that restaurant everything here is okay. The
wall does seem to be working and it looks like everyone here in Mount Vernon
if this is the height of it will be able to escape the damage that other people,
hundreds of other people, did not get to escape further upriver. Live in Mount
Vernon, Kevin Reese, Como 4 News. Thanks for the update Kevin. Just south of Mount
Vernon, the threatened town of Conway and Fur Island. Homes and businesses there
are also in harm's way. Como 4's Jennifer Parker is live there with the
latest. Jennifer? Kathy, Dan, we're here in Conway where there are thousands of
sandbags ready to go take a look at them but all people can do here now is wait
and see what this river is going to do.
It's as high as I've ever seen. Piles of sand, a hundred shovels and even more
helping hands. Almost chaotic at times with forklifts going one way and trucks
going another. There are people here that have been here 12 hours so that's a lot of
help. It's great. And even the smallest of neighbors help any way they can. The
water here in Conway is still a few feet from spilling over but at dusk it's
still early. This part of the Skagit River will reach its highest point
around midnight. The biggest concern the trees piled up against the bridge that
connects Conway to Fur Island. You could hear pretty pretty loud vibration, big
bang, I mean it you know and a vibration on the bridge. It's creating some real
problems that we weren't anticipating. Like what? The water backing up in areas
where it usually wouldn't back up. The crane to lift the logs is late. Everyone
here can only hope it gets here in time. The day fades away. People continue to
work in the silhouette of night. Bring some more pallets over there for me. It's
getting really real in the nighttime as it gets higher and higher. Perfect.
Perfect. Finally the crane arrives to relieve the struggling bridge from tons
of pressure. The work here never stops. Know what? We need one around that
corner. People of every age from every walk of life, some here for the first
time. Others have stared down the banks of this flooding river before. All say
it's the worst it's ever been. River's a wonderful thing but it's when it gets
too high it can cause problems.
There are voluntary evacuations for Fur Island. The shelter is set up here at
Conway Elementary. Reporting live in Conway, Jennifer Parker, Comel 4 News.
Thanks for that update Jennifer. A couple thousand people upstream along the
Skagit River are evacuated from their homes tonight and this is why. Here's a
look at Hamilton today. The river crested there at a record high level.
Homes are flooded and streets are underwater. One couple we spotted got to
their house by canoe. They say the water inside their home is waist deep. People
in Burlington had no choice but to leave. The water started creeping up last night
but today one couple's house was surrounded. I don't know you know if I'm
going to work in the next couple days I'm gonna come home and find you know
mud in my my house or what exactly is gonna happen. Students volunteered to
build a half-mile sandbag wall along highway 20. The hope is to divert the
water into a nearby slough. It's not just homes that are evacuated. A hospital in
Cedro Woolley was cleared out today. 17 patients and 80 staff members from
United General Hospital were moved to nearby Skagit Valley Hospital. So what
can we expect to happen along the Skagit River in the hours to come? Steve
Poole is tracking the river conditions and joins us with an update. Steve what a
day. It's been an amazing day but the good news right now is we got this break
throughout today that's allowed us to sort of improve the situation or at
least keep it from getting any worse. Let me give you a rundown on the rivers and
these are the main rivers that we still have concerns about. First of all there's
the Skokomish. At this point it has crested and is beginning to fall. That's
the only problem river remaining there on the Olympic Peninsula. Now to the
north the Nooksack is crested and is beginning to fall. The Skagit River is
cresting right about now. The Stillaguamish River is crested and is
falling and at this point the Snoqualmie River and the Skikomish have all get
both crested and are falling and now we've got the Snoholmish which of course
the sky and the Snoqualmie join together to make the Snoholmish and that has
crested and is now beginning to fall. So we've seen a lot of signs of improvement
there. Now having said all that there is another system on the way more rainfall.
In fact it's the same system it's coming back at us and I'll explain how that's
going to work coming up and let you know how that might impact the rivers too in
the weather forecast in about 10 minutes back to you. Alright thank you Steve.
Another big problem area in Snoholmish County that's still a Guamish River did
crest. It has started falling as Steve said but not before flooding out farmland
near Stanwood. Some farms are completely under water others sit like islands in
the middle of huge lakes. A big concern was moving livestock and farm equipment
to higher ground. And a view from above shows just how widespread this flooding
is. This is a look at the Sylvanna area. The overflowing still Guamish River cut
off the town today from the rest of Snoholmish County and in Everett a log
jam is clogging the E.B. Slough. Mixed in with the logs well there are a lot of
pumpkins there. Floodwater washed away hundreds of pumpkins from local
patches along the Snoholmish River. Crews struggled most of the day trying to
clear away logs that got caught on a bridge on Highway 2. There's still
concern along the rivers to the south. The two main rivers we're watching right
now in Mason County are the Skokomish near Shelton and the Tehuya near
Belfair. The raging water of the Tehuya and its creeks washed out to who you
River Drive. It's the only way into and out of Tehuya for 250 families. They're
now virtually cut off from the rest of the world. The news is better along the
Skokomish River. The water is receding and people are able to drive on Skokomish
Valley Road. Now this story sure isn't over yet so we'll stay on top of these
fall floods for the latest conditions and weather reports. Turn to Como 4 News,
Como 1000 News on the radio and online at ComoTV dot com. Neighbors are shocked
to hear who is under arrest tonight in connection with the death of his own
17 year old daughter. Ahead, the man's linked to a local school. The strike is
over and Marysville teachers will be back in class tomorrow. How they vowed
to shake up the school board. And the man who survived a wild ride over Niagara
Falls without a barrel. See what happened to him next.
Here's another live look at the Skagit River in Mount Vernon. At least how that
river is creeping up into the city. These are roads. Normally the river is
spilled over the banks tonight. The river is expected to crest very soon at
nearly 37.4 ft. That's not quite as bad as expected, but still well above flood
stage. Neighbors and business owners along the Skagit are seeing the worst
flooding in the area from yesterday's record breaking rainfall. 11,000
students in Marysville are getting ready for the first day of school.
Classes begin tomorrow. 600 teachers voted in Everett last night to obey a
judge's order and return to work. The teachers have been on strike since
September 2nd, making this the longest teacher strike in state history and the
longest in the country this year. The union says it will campaign to defeat
three current school board members in next month's election, hoping a shake up
would lead to a new superintendent. A bash on Island man is under arrest in
connection with the murder of his own 17 year old daughter. The medical
examiner says 17 year old Shauna Jones was strangled yesterday on bash on
Island. Her body was found inside the apartment she shared with her father,
Tom Wynn. Shauna was a senior at bash on High. Her father worked as a
custodian at the middle school there. This is just gonna be horrible on the
schools. It's gonna be devastating because a lot of the kids, of course,
they know the you know, they know her father, the custodian and wonder what
the heck has gone on here. Neighbors say the two are often argued over the
girl's choice of friends and activities. Prosecutors have 30 days to decide if
they will seek the death penalty against this man, John Morimoto. He pleaded not
guilty today to charges of killing a Kent couple and trying to kill their
eight year old daughter. This is video of Morimoto from a previous court
appearance. He's accused of stabbing and killing Michael and Michelle fan and
badly wounding young Cindy fan. Prosecutors say Morimoto attacked the
family to rob them. The judge who returned a two year old boy to his
parents only to have the boy die now says his decision was a mistake. The
Grant County Superior Court judge allowed Rafael Gomez to return home even
though he had been taken away several times with broken bones, burns and cuts.
The judge says social workers supported the reunion. So far no charges are filed
in the boy's death, but they might be when the final autopsy report is finished.
A man who took a daring plunge over Niagara Falls and survived landed in
jail. Witnesses say Kirk Jones went headfirst down the 180 foot waterfall
yesterday. Seven minutes later he popped back up, pulled himself onto the nearby
rocks. Police immediately arrested Jones. He faces fines up to ten thousand
dollars. Jones' brother in Michigan couldn't believe he went through with the
stunt. He says it was a long way down. He said the water wasn't that cold. I thought it'd be
freezing. His brother says Jones wanted to break a record and he did. Jones is
the first known person to go over Niagara Falls without any devices and the
keyword there is survive. Yeah and I heard he had a friend with him who
actually videotaped. The police arrested him too and have confiscated the videotape.
Now whether or not they're gonna release that, I don't know, but if we get our hands on it, we'll show it to you.
He was floating down the river like waving at people and you know smiling.
Don't you think you'd have a little angst, you know, just before? Maybe just a little bit?
Probably did. He won't admit to it now though. So we've got more rain coming. Yeah we do. It's gonna take a while to get here so our break is gonna continue.
Now we've got an interesting new thing I want to throw into the mix tonight. Take a look at this
Department of Transportation camera. I-5 down near 200th. How about that? That's what you're gonna encounter for your morning commute for an awful lot of folks.
The fog is back. Now not really a surprise when you consider how much rainfall we've had.
The dew points are fairly high and if you're watching earlier I mentioned that we were gonna potentially have that problem
and yeah it's getting foggy at SeaTac too so you might have to check your flight in the morning.
57 degrees north wind at 72995 steady barometer. You can see how much rain we've received since midnight, 0.4.
So we add that on to everything else. 5.02 in case you didn't hear for a total in Seattle yesterday.
I say that like it's just nothing. That's gigantic obviously. 65 and 57 is our normal.
Today is what we accomplished. 58 and 45 is normal for this time of year. Alright let's get right to it.
This is the system that actually caused all of our problems. It's still out there but it's changing quite a bit here.
It tended to back off a little bit. That's why we got this break today.
Now it's still gonna come on through but not with the same sort of intensity or causing the same type of problems that we had in the last 24 hours.
So I don't want you to be overly concerned about it. Having said that, the rain is gonna come back and that's gonna make pulses go up a little bit
especially in the river valleys. I can understand that. I think it'll slide on through.
It might hold the rivers at a certain level but once it gets through we'll continue to drop.
We've got temperatures overnight in the mid 50s to the upper 50s.
That fog as I mentioned forming on the east side and the west side.
That upper 50s will be the way we start off our day pretty much.
And then in the afternoon we'll go to the mid 60s. It's actually gonna start out dry with areas of fog.
And then we'll go to the rainfall which should show up later in the day and into the afternoon.
We've got mid 60s in the central Puget Sound Basin. Also mid 60s on the east side and in the foothills.
64 in Issaquah, 66 in North Bend.
For everyone living to the north, yes the rain will return but it shouldn't be around too awfully long.
Through tomorrow night and then we'll turn to showers in the north and everywhere else in western Washington along the coast.
We've got temperatures in the 60s as you see. 66 in Portland and 65 in Olympia and yeah the rain comes back there too.
In the mountains we've got a snow level 9000 feet so rain in the cascades and then east of the mountains.
Highs in the 70s, no rain, pretty pleasant.
Alright, let's pull this together for you. Areas of fog tonight, mild tomorrow.
We're gonna start things off for you in the morning obviously with mostly cloudy skies and spots of fog.
And then the rain returns in the afternoon. Alright, here's your extended forecast.
Your weekend always in view. And of course the thing to note here is that we're headed towards more dry weather.
As opposed to more wet weather. That's a good thing.
That is good. Thank you.
A Seattle Mariner receives quite an honor tonight before game three of the World Series.
In the game heavy rain didn't bother the fish but something sure did come unraveled in the ninth inning.
Eric is next to show us what happened.
You can't help but be a little bit nervous when your daughter's out there on the highway.
My best friend Jessica and I are taking a trip to visit three colleges.
All you can really do is make sure the car is in good shape and then have confidence in the daughter that you raised.
Before we left on our trip my dad and I took the car to Walmart for new tires and stuff.
She's got new Goodyear tires and a new Everstart battery so her mom and I feel pretty good about it.
It's my first time to be on a trip without my parents and it's gonna be a lot of fun.
It's her first time to be on a trip without us and it's no fun at all.
Get cozy at Sky High's new bench seating. Enjoy!
Um, there's no room.
Come on, slam, don't be shy.
I'm okay. I'm good. I'm good.
Okay. Fast down. Fast down. Fast it down. Here!
At Alaska Airlines, low fares don't come at your expense. That's the spirit of Alaska.
Here's the deal. If you can keep winning, you can keep playing. Simple as that.
Weeknights at 730 on Como 4.
They thought they had a lot of rain in that World Series game and they don't have anything on what we've had here.
Nothing on us, no, but there was still plenty of it. Maybe it's happening in both corners.
After splitting two games in New York, the World Series moves south to Florida for Game 3 tonight.
The Marlins got on the scoreboard right away. Bottom of the first, Miguel Cabrera slaps a hit through the right side of the infield.
That scored Juan Pierre, the speedster from third. One-nothing Marlins.
Dan Lewis's favorite musician, Yanni, was excited. He had great seats for this one.
Josh Beckett got the start for the Marlins. He loaded the bases in the fourth.
Then walked Jorge Posada. This is ball four coming up here.
That would tie the game at one apiece. Other than that, Beckett was lights out.
Bottom of the fifth, the rain came and I mean it was pouring. They delayed play.
Kathy says that's nothing. We've seen a lot worse than that. They delayed play for about half an hour.
In the seventh, still tied at one. Dantro rolls, pitching to Hideki Matsui. Runners on the corners, Matsui rips one to left.
Derek Jeter scored. He had three hits on the night. The Yanks took a 2-1 lead.
In the ninth, Aaron Boone showed some of that pop that made him a hero in the Red Sox series.
A home run, just a second hit of the series, but he made it count.
The Yanks took a 3-1 lead. And then the guy that caught the ball, he was a Yankee fan.
He was excited, so he kissed that baby out of the way.
Later in the ninth, Bernie Williams would add a three-run homer to straightaway center field.
The Yanks win it 6-1. They now lead the series two games to one.
Now before the game, our own Jamie Moyer was honored with one of the most prestigious awards in all of sports, the Roberto Clemente Award.
It is given to a ball player who excels on the field, but also in the community.
Jamie and his wife Karen started the Moyer Foundation three years ago.
Since then, they've raised $3 million for local charities and organizations.
What an honor for Jamie and Karen. The Roberto Clemente Award is a very, very big deal.
Matt Kegel dislocated his shoulder in Saturday's win over Stanford.
Then he had somebody pop it back into place, and he went out and finished the game.
Despite a little soreness, Kegel has been practicing this week.
There's been some question whether or not he'll play Saturday against Oregon State, but Bill Dover was very clear today.
He says, yes, Kegel will play at quarterback against OSU.
Don't go to bed yet. The kids are still ahead.
A fella named Kegan is tearing up the Micro Soccer League, but the Puyallup Geckos have a secret weapon of their own.
The little heroes are next.
It's fun. It's fun. It's festive. An event you don't want to miss.
The Tacoma Holiday Food and Gift Festival. Holiday gift shopping, tasty gourmet foods, live entertainment.
See you at the Tacoma Holiday Food and Gift Festival on This Week in the Tacoma Dome.
Ollie, Frazier, Russell and Chamberlain, Magic and Bird to the list of great rivalries.
We can now add the names Kegan and Ellen. It's the latest episode of The Little Heroes.
Everybody will get a chance to play.
It's a big, big game today. The Saints in purple against the Geckos.
And what exactly is a Gecko?
Like a duck. Like a duck.
Oh, that makes sense. Brittany thinks her teammate Kegan is just swell.
I like him. Oh, really? Yeah.
How come? Because he's my favorite one in the team.
Brittany's warming up. She's going to show off for Kegan a little bit.
Whoops! Down goes Brittany. She's stunned. Crawls up to her feet, wipes off her hands and then gives a great big old grin.
I failed. Game time and Kegan is everywhere.
Angie's on the breakaway. She's going to score but Kegan swoops in and saves the day at the last second.
The Geckos with a corner kick. Kegan takes it, bolts downfield, boots it home for the goal. He's good and modest too.
The people try to get the ball for me but I'm too great and they don't get it away from me.
Oh! Way to go! Woohoo!
Brittany's ready for the second half. Watch the fabulous Brittany Fanny Wiggle.
The Geckos must stop Kegan.
Let's go Geckos! Stop, stop, stop!
So Ellen takes the field. She's the Kegan eliminator. Kegan's going to score.
Ellen sneaks it in front of him and will not allow the goal. Kegan on the loose. Ellen thrills him again.
Kegan breaks away. Ellen heads him off at the pass.
It's late in the game now. All tied up. Ellen with the ball. Kegan boots it away.
Kegan takes off. Watch this. Ellen chasing him down. It's a duel to the finish.
She cuts him off. He kicks the ball. She falls. He falls. He scores!
Oh what a finish! They shake hands. They feed their faces. It's this week's episode of...
The All-End with feeding their faces.
Thank you for joining us. Have a great night. We'll see you tomorrow.