Historic flooding devastates the Pacific Northwest

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered and a statewide emergency declared in Washington as rising rivers unleash destructive flooding.

Transcript

00:00Historic flooding continues to devastate the Pacific Northwest.

00:03Multiple atmospheric rivers have brought more than a foot of rain to Washington and Oregon

00:07this week, resulting in record-breaking floods.

00:10You can see how local rivers have left their banks to flood farmlands, homes and cars.

00:15Residents stranded in vehicles were forced to wade through knee-high water, which often

00:18surged with alarming power.

00:20Washington Governor Bob Ferguson has declared a statewide emergency, emphasizing that lives

00:24are at risk in the coming days.

00:26Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in several communities and hundreds of National

00:30Guard members are being deployed to assist with the crisis.

00:33A brief break with a northern shift in the storm sequence is expected later this week.

00:37However, the storms will move south again, becoming larger and bringing heavy rain from

00:41this weekend into the following week.