A Brief Break From The Rain -- But High Water, Deep Mud Continue To Plague Region

As Western Washington faces the aftermath of mud, swirling flood waters and rain-saturated hillsides, the sun finally re-appeared today, on this, the first day of spring 1997.

After days of drenching rain, the sky began clearing early today and tomorrow is expected to be partly sunny.

The sunbreak will be brief, however, because "rain likely" is the forecast for Saturday, and Sunday is expected to be mostly cloudy with scattered showers.

As the weather warmed late this morning, Burlington Northern Santa Fe reopened railroad tracks that it had closed yesterday because of 10 small mudslides between Seattle and Edmonds.

The soggy weather the past two days pushed buildings from foundations and chased residents from homes in many parts of Western Washington.

In Seattle, 36 mudslides were reported Tuesday night and yesterday.

In King County, 34 roads were entirely or partially closed due to water or slides. In Seattle, portions of Dexter Place along the 2300 block of Aurora Avenue North, Portage Bay Place East, Perkins Lane West and the 9700 block of Rainier Avenue South remained closed overnight.

With almost 21 inches of rain reported at the Wynoochee River measuring station near Aberdeen, widespread flooding in Grays Harbor County forced an estimated 150 families from their homes by last night. Twenty people were rescued from their homes by boat.

On Lower Queen Anne in Seattle last night, a mudslide hit the

yard of a day-care center on Elliott Avenue West below Kinnear Park, destroying a children's climbing structure and a storage shed, and knocking a tree into a power line.

The slide is in the same area where mud buried and killed a 39-year-old homeless man Dec. 6.

A collapsing hillside caused the evacuation of a home in the 600 block of 32nd Avenue East at 10 p.m.

Two people were rescued after their canoe flipped where the Raging River meets the Snoqualmie River. One person was treated for hypothermia. Neither of them was wearing a life jacket.

In Mukilteo, the crackling and crashing of trees tumbling down the muddy hillside quickened the steps of Possession Lane residents yesterday as they abandoned their homes for the second time in three months.

"We're not staying here tonight. Last night was enough," said Kim Glasgow, who in December lost a combination guesthouse and garage along with five cars.

This time it was his elderly neighbors, Arvid and Elsie Franzen, whose house was knocked off its foundation by an avalanche, just north of Picnic Point County Park just before 6 a.m.

In Bremerton, Northlake Way was closed after a bridge was destroyed by raging flood waters. The road bears a "fair amount of traffic," but alternative routes were available, said Michele Laboda, spokeswoman for the Kitsap County Department of Emergency Management. "It's not expected to cause major traffic hassles," she said.

Gov. Gary Locke yesterday declared seven counties - Grays Harbor, Kitsap, Mason, Jefferson, Clallam, Lewis and Pacific - in a state of emergency and authorized use of state resources, including the National Guard, to deal with flooding.

Meanwhile, King, Thurston and Whatcom counties, and the cities of Seattle and Snoqualmie activated emergency operations centers.

Four shelters were set up in Western Washington, including two in Grays Harbor County at Montesano and Copalis Crossing and two in Mason County, at Shelton and the Skokomish Valley.

In Seattle, most homeowners evacuated from Perkins Lane West Tuesday night were allowed to return to their homes by last night. One of the 18 homes evacuated was posted with a red tag, barring entry, and yellow tags were placed on two indicating residents couldn't stay the night.

In the Beacon Hill neighborhood, Chanrong Kim had a rude awakening yesterday morning. At 2:30 a.m., his bedroom shook and was bathed in bright light as power lines snapped next door when a wall of mud slammed into his home at 1917 17th Ave. S.

Responding to the screams of his three young stepchildren, Kim rushed to their bedroom at the south side of the home and saw that a 5-foot wall of mud had just broken the wall behind their pillows.

"They were frightened," Kim said of the children, ages 6, 8 and 9.

The wall of mud was created when water-soaked soil far up a steep hill above the home broke loose, uprooting trees and carrying them almost a block down the east side of Beacon Hill, stopping after it shoved a neighboring home into the street.

Just before dark yesterday afternoon, neighbors walked to the wide swath cut by the slide and yelled down, "It's still moving." Muddy brown water ran from under the small home.

Police "come and tell us to leave. Engineers come and say stay over there," Kim said last night, pointing to the home's north end. "If we have to leave, I don't know where we go.

"I have insurance, but I don't know if it covers," Kim said. He bought the house 10 years ago and has enlarged and remodeled it.

Oudone Phirakhong of Skyway owns a tiny one-bedroom home next door. The home, which was to be rented soon, was damaged by the same slide. Phirakhong's home now sits at an angle across the sidewalk, with one corner in the street, a sort of plug holding back the mud and debris.

The house was not insured and Phirakhong does not know what he can do to recover his investment, let alone move it from where it sits.

Elsewhere in the region:

Eastside:

-- Part of 140th Avenue Northeast in Juanita was washed away near Helen Keller School and students who usually walk through the area had to be bused out.

-- In Bellevue, residents of three homes evacuated after mudslides were warned yesterday to stay away. The slide on Southeast Shoreland Drive, north of Chism Beach Park, was triggered by a collapse on a steeply sloping yard.

-- Homeowners in slide-prone areas of East King County were warned to remain on the alert because there may be a repetition of what happened last winter. Slides continued there long after the rainy weather moved on.

-- The Tolt River crested at 8 a.m. yesterday and dropped slowly in the afternoon. Still, the water rose high enough to trap a group of residents in the San Succi neighborhood along the river. The water flowed over 353rd Avenue Northeast, the only road leading in and out of San Succi, and stranded residents.

Far more roads are under water than is normal for this time of year, said Rochelle Ogershok of the King County Public Works Department.

Bainbridge Island:

-- Authorities closed off Rolling Bay Walk yesterday morning after a mudslide Tuesday night severely damaged a house next to the site of a January slide that pushed a home into Puget Sound, killing the four members of the Cantrell-Herren family. Two doors away, another home was completely knocked off its foundation. A third house was also damaged.

-- Power had not been restored last night to about a dozen homes on the southern tip of the island after a mudslide early Tuesday caused a tree to fall on a transformer and knocked out power to several homes on South Beach Drive. The slide also blocked access to the homes, and spilled onto a 90-year-old boat-and-potting shed, causing its walls to buckle.

-- Rockaway Beach Road was closed yesterday after an estimated 200-foot section of bank fell onto the roadway, leaving approximately 20 feet of mud and debris. No homes were damaged and no one was injured.

-- Most mudslides and flooding occurred in the county's east-central and south regions, and on Bainbridge Island. At least 35 homes remained evacuated last night. J.W. Dickinson Road between Lake Flora and Lake Helena Roads remained closed last night, and Northlake Way was closed indefinitely.

South Kitsap County:

-- A home along Port Orchard's Beach Drive was knocked from its foundation by moving mud and was destroyed. Another house was damaged.

-- Thirteen homes were evacuated at Prospect Point, where landslides have caused problems before. Two houses were damaged.

-- Residents at Cisco Road and Wilson Creek Road were allowed to return home yesterday afternoon after five homes were evacuated yesterday morning due to mudslides and flooding.

Information from Seattle Times staff reporters Diane Brooks, Louis T. Corsaletti, Janet I-Chin Tu, Dee Norton, Peyton Whitely, and the Associated Press is included in this report.