Oregon Public Broadcasting

The rain has tapered off, but record flooding continues across Western Washington State. Interstate 5 remains closed near Chehalis. Also shut down are the three Cascade Mountain passes – including Snoqualmie pass on I-90.

Secretary of Transportation Paula Hammond says the situation is even worse than the floods of December 2007 when I-5 last shut down.

Paula Hammond: “First and foremost it’s this loss of access for our economy and for our freight movement and citizens. We have college students still trying to get back to college.”

Hammond says having I-5 closed is costing $4 million a day. In addition, about 7000 trucks cross the Cascades daily. They’re now forced to wait or take a more than 400 mile detour.

The primary goal is to get one mountain pass and I-5 reopened as soon as possible.