The King County Flood Warning Center will stay open through the weekend as the National Weather Service is predicting the Snoqualmie River will crest at Snoqualmie Falls tonight at midnight and at Carnation at 8 a.m. Saturday. The Snoqualmie River is in a Phase III flood alert and moderate flooding is occurring in the upper and lower Snoqualmie Valley around Snoqualmie, North Bend and Fall City. Expected heavy rain Saturday could cause a second crest on Sunday.

Snoqualmie Falls will crest at 25,000 cubic feet per second at midnight tonight. A flow at the falls of 20,000 cfs is considered flood stage. Yesterday the mean flow at Snoqualmie Falls was 835 cfs. Heavy rain had increased the flow at the falls to 13,000 cfs by noon today. By comparison, during the last major in February 1996, the flow over Snoqualmie Falls was 51,700 cfs.

The Mill Pond Road SE and SE Reinig Road are closed at Snoqualmie. For the latest on-line road closure information long onto the King County Department of Transportation Web site: http://www.metrokc.gov/go/alerts/roads/webpost.cfm. Motorists are advised to not drive around barricades. Driving into floodwaters is the number one cause of death during floods.

The Snoqualmie River is expected to crest at 55 feet at Carnation at 8 a.m. Saturday, one foot above flood stage.

The weather service is predicting heavy rain Saturday. It is expected river flows will increase Saturday night and we could see a second crest Sunday.

Snoqualmie Valley citizens wanting specific river information can call the King County Flood Warning Center at 1-800-945-9263.

Updated: November 13, 1998