Washington Hit by 5 Trillion Gallons of Rain and 62 Inches of Mountain Snow

State Declares Emergency as Rivers Shatter Records

Starting December 8, 2025, Washington State became the bullseye for one of the strongest atmospheric rivers in Pacific Northwest history.

The storm dumped nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain in a single week, enough to fill more than 18,000 Empire State Buildings.

Rivers across western Washington shattered all-time flood records.

Mountain peaks got buried under up to 62 inches of snow. And before it was over, 100,000 people would be told to leave their homes.

The first death came a week later, but the crisis is far from finished.

100,000 Residents Ordered to Evacuate

Governor Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency on December 10 and deployed more than 300 National Guard members across western Washington.

The Snohomish River, Skagit River, Cedar River, and Nooksack River all broke their all-time flood records on December 11.

Skagit County alone issued evacuation orders to 75,000 residents living in the 100-year floodplain.

Officials warned that levees could be overtopped at any moment, and told residents that if they received an evacuation order, their lives depended on following it.

Category 5 Atmospheric River Hits State

Meteorologists rated the storm as Category 5 on the atmospheric river intensity scale, indicating an extreme risk of widespread flooding.

Some areas received more than a foot of rain in just a few days.

Mount Rainier recorded 21 inches. Forecasters said the moisture kept reloading because a high-pressure ridge off California blocked the storms from moving south.

Instead, wave after wave of rain hammered the same areas for days. One meteorologist said the three-week rainfall total could reach 20 to 30 inches.

Mountains Get Buried Under 62 Inches

While the lowlands flooded, the highest peaks got hammered with snow.

Mount Baker was forecast to receive up to 62 inches, and Glacier Peak expected 56 inches through mid-December.

But the snow line stayed unusually high, rising above 7,000 feet.

That meant rain fell at elevations that would normally get snow, melting existing snowpack and adding even more water to already swollen rivers.

Yakima hit 72 degrees on December 10, a record high for the date, while the mountains above drowned in precipitation.

Burlington Evacuated in Middle of Night

At 3 AM on December 12, Skagit County ordered all 11,000 residents of Burlington to evacuate immediately.

National Guard troops went door-to-door to deliver the warning. The Gages Slough had overwhelmed the city, and water was spilling into homes.

One family with a week-old infant had been staying at a hotel and returned to find murky floodwaters reaching halfway up their first floor.

By late morning, officials lifted the order for part of the city, but warned that the danger was not over.

Helicopters Rescue Families From Rooftops

In Sumas, near the Canadian border, floodwaters reached 15 feet in some areas.

Helicopters rescued two families from rooftops on December 11 after their homes became completely surrounded.

Local farmers with tractors joined volunteer firefighters, the Coast Guard, and Border Patrol in rescue efforts.

Two houses in nearby Welcome collapsed and washed into the Nooksack River after erosion undercut their foundations.

No one was inside at the time. The mayor said much of the town had been devastated.

20 Highways Close Across 11 Counties

The flooding shut down more than 20 highways across 11 Washington counties. A mudslide covered Interstate 90 near North Bend with debris.

A 50-mile stretch of US Route 2 closed between Index and Coles Corner after multiple landslides. Most routes east from the Pacific Northwest became impassable.

Amtrak suspended trains between Seattle and Vancouver. The Sumas border crossing closed to commercial traffic so residents could use roads to evacuate.

Some towns, like Randle, became completely isolated.

Skagit River Smashes 35-Year Record

The Skagit River crested at 37. 7 feet near Mount Vernon just after midnight on December 12, surpassing the previous record set in November 1990 by several inches.

The river drains a wide swath of the Cascade Range before winding through broad farmlands and tulip fields on its way to Puget Sound.

Cities like Burlington and Mount Vernon sit on that delta, making them especially vulnerable. A downtown flood wall completed in 2018 helped protect Mount Vernon, but the surrounding floodplain was underwater.

Storm System Traced to Indonesia

Meteorologists said the extreme weather began with tropical cyclones near Indonesia two weeks earlier.

That coincided with the Madden Julian Oscillation, a natural weather pattern that was the strongest for this time of year in decades. The pattern sent waves of moisture and energy across the Pacific toward the Americas.

A high-pressure ridge off California pushed the system north, while unusual warmth over Russia and cold over Alaska further funneled the moisture.

Washington took the direct hit.

Trump Administration Approves Emergency Aid

On December 12, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called Governor Ferguson to confirm that President Trump had signed the state’s request for an emergency declaration.

The approval allows FEMA to provide equipment and federal assistance, with the federal government covering 75% of emergency costs.

Ferguson had worried the request might be denied after the Trump administration rejected Washington’s request for aid following a devastating bomb cyclone late in 2024.

This time, help was approved within two days.

Second Levee Fails Near Seattle Airport

Just as floodwaters began to recede, the Desimone levee on the Green River breached on December 15, triggering flash flood warnings for more than 45,000 people near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Crews worked through the night to repair the damage.

The next morning, levees along the White River in Pacific also failed, forcing about 1,300 more people to evacuate.

The National Guard deployed again to assist with water rescues. Officials said the soil was so saturated that more failures remained possible.

First Death Reported as Storms Continue

Early on December 16, a 33-year-old man drove past road closure signs and into floodwaters in Snohomish County.

His vehicle ended up fully submerged in a ditch filled with about six feet of water. Rescue swimmers pulled him out and performed CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officials warned that more rain was on the way through Christmas week, and some rivers could return to major flood stage.

The recovery will take weeks, and the cost will run into the millions. Washington is not out of the woods yet.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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