Second levee fails in Washington, forcing more evacuations, as atmospheric river renews flood threat

By Meteorologists Mary Gilbert, Chris Dolce

(CNN) — A second levee failed just outside of Seattle as rivers once again surge from more atmospheric river-fueled rain, setting off deadly flooding in parts of western Washington.

Precautionary evacuations were ordered for around 1,300 people in Pacific, Washington, Tuesday morning due to the levee breach along the White River, King County emergency management told CNN. The river hit major flood stage, the most severe level, Monday morning, but has since fallen.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for part of the city, located nearly 30 miles south of Seattle. It said barriers called HESCOs were failing along the river and leaking water.

Crews were “en route with sand to mitigate the area,” King County emergency management said.

About 40 miles north, a man died after driving into floodwater in Snohomish County earlier Tuesday morning.

These latest flooding incidents follow a breach on the Desimone levee near the city of Tukwila along the Green River early Monday afternoon, just east of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in western Washington.

The levee is meant to reduce flood risks to more than 30,000 people in Tukwila, Kent and Renton. A flash flood warning was issued for more than 45,000 people in the affected area.

As of Monday evening, crews had contained the flood threat along the Green River and completed a temporary repair to the levee. The National Weather Service canceled the flash flood warning just after 5:00 p.m. local time.

Last week, crews installed an “emergency flood fighting measure” called a seepage blanket to “help stabilize” the important levee, according to the King County Department of Natural Resources.

The Green River near Tukwila has risen about 15 feet over the past week because of multiple rounds of torrential rainfall from an earlier atmospheric river. When the levee breached, the river’s water level was just under 22 feet – higher than it’s been in the past 60 years.

Days of heavy rain and historic flooding from last week’s atmospheric river has left soil soaked and rivers swollen across western Washington.

Now, some already-swollen rivers are rising again. All of Skagit County located within the 100-year floodplain is under an evacuation warning on Tuesday with the Skagit River forecast to surge back to major flood stage in the coming days. The same area was ordered to evacuate last week after the river hit record high levels.

Some areas are also at risk of landslides given the incredibly soggy soil. Evacuation orders and warnings are in place Tuesday for portions of the town of Concrete, also in Skagit County, due to landslides.

Atmospheric river turns deadly

In Snohomish, Washington, a 33-year-old man drove past closed road signs, into a flooded roadway and ended up fully-submerged in his vehicle in a ditch filled with about 6 feet of floodwater, according to a news release from the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.

Snohomish fire and rescue crews were dispatched to the scene at around 1:30 a.m. PT Tuesday, the news release stated.

Rescue swimmers removed the man from the vehicle and immediately began CPR, but he was pronounced dead on scene. The incident is under investigation and it is currently unknown whether drugs or alcohol were contributing factors, according to the sheriff’s office.

More rain is coming

Monday’s storm drenched parts of Washington, Oregon and far northwestern California yet again.

A second, colder atmospheric river will bring periods of additional rain on late Tuesday through Wednesday, keeping rivers elevated and slowing recovery from last week’s flooding. It will also usher in stronger winds that could down trees and power lines.

A third storm is likely to hit the region Thursday. More rain, wind and high elevation snow is likely from the Pacific Northwest to Northern California through the end of the week.

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CNN’s Andy Rose, Ritu Prasad and Eric Zerkel and CNN Meteorologists Briana Waxman and Brandon Miller contributed to this report.