>http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/emergencyinfo/

This is useful! Damned useful!

>Interstate 5, Chehalis area: Closed
>southbound MP 88-76 and northbound from MP 68-88
>due to flooding. Ramps at Exit 72 are also closed in both directions. No
>detours available at this time.

The TV stations here had earlier reported I5 opening, but recently
retracted with the information you give above. Additionally, they
are quoted Washington State Police as saying it will be closed for
"several days". They are making no claims one way or the other
regarding the future availability of detours.

There are over 700 announced highway closures in Oregon. Three
pages of city street closures in Portland. Mudslides are a
big problem along with high water, perhaps even more of a
problem - a mudslide also has I84 closed up the Gorge, and will
keep it closed "at least four days" - it's still sliding (or was
late last night, anyway).

The Willamette is supposed to peak at just under 29 feet, exactly
(almost) the top of the seawall protecting downtown. You folks
mightn't know the history of the seawall. It was built after
the famous Vanport flood of 1948 which destroyed a worker's
town erected during the war (for the Kaiser Shipyards). The
whole area is now a big park, horse race track, auto track (the
Indy Car race is held there), soccer fields, etc - several square
miles. It also was the last time downtown was flooded. They built
the seawall exactly high enough to stop such a flood, and in a
very uncanny demonstration of precision and good luck, both the
famous 1964 and this flood have risen right to the top, without
breaching it significantly.

If the river had reached its predicted height of 31 feet, much of
downtown would've been flooded as parts of it are several feet
lower than the seawall and bordering park. Parts of Old Town,
bordering downtown just north of Burnside Avenue, do have a foot
or two of water in them.

My webserver is very close to where this is all happening. I've
been dubbing it the "web-footed server".
- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>