Flooding at and around Harvey Field [Credit: Meg Godlewski]
Key Takeaways:
Washington state experienced widespread flooding from atmospheric rivers, impacting communities and several local airports, prompting a declared statewide emergency.
While surrounding areas flooded and road access was severely hampered, major airport facilities like Harvey Field, Auburn Municipal, and Renton Municipal generally sustained minimal direct damage, with pilots proactively moving aircraft to higher ground.
Despite some water receding, flooding persists in parts of the region, and continued rainfall and strong winds are keeping residents and pilots on high alert.
It has been a tense week for people living in Washington state, where back-to-back atmospheric rivers have drenched the region, overloading rivers, breaching levees, and triggering massive flooding in communities and around local airports.
The water has begun to recede in some areas, but not so much in others. And there is more rain in the forecast.
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Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.