Gov. Jay Inslee issued an emergency proclamation on Friday related to January’s extreme winter weather.
Weather events including straight-line winds, ice, extreme cold temperatures and heavy rainfall, coupled with extreme tidal and wave actions along coastal shorelines, resulted in coastal flooding, saturated soils, and landslides in Chelan, Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Douglas, Ferry, Grays Harbor, King, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Okanagan, Pacific, Pend Oreille, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties, according to Inlee’s office.
“These storms caused significant coastal flooding to homes and businesses, road damage, temporary road closures and detours, and extensive damage to public utilities and electrical power systems. The estimated cost to repair the damage to alleviate existing and ongoing impacts exceeds $30 million,” Inslee’s office stated in a news release.
The Washington State Military Department has activated the State Emergency Operations Center to implement emergency response procedures in all impacted counties and is coordinating resources to support local officials in alleviating the immediate impacts.
State agencies and departments are directed to utilize state resources in accordance with the Washington State Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and to “do everything reasonably possible to assist affected political subdivisions in an effort to respond to and recover from the event,” Inslee’s office stated in the news release.
