Wet weather leads to road closures ahead of busy travel day
The day before Thanksgiving may be a major travel day, but Mother Nature was not cooperating.
A slide blocked traffic on U.S. 101 northbound at milepost 174 south of Forks starting at 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. There were closures in both directions on Route 106 near milepost 1 north of Shelton on Wednesday morning due to water over the roadway, while Route 112 was blocked west of Port Angeles starting Tuesday afternoon due to flooding there.
In Lewis County, both directions of Route 131 near Randle were closed starting at about 8 a.m. due to water over the roadway.
Flood warnings and watches were in effect across the region. The National Weather Service recorded moderate flooding on the Skokomish River near Potlatch in Mason County on Wednesday morning.
Flooding is occurring on several area rivers this morning. To track rivers in your area, visit https://t.co/B3iYiZEnao #wawx #waflood pic.twitter.com/hAPRRmUCOP
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 22, 2017
Interstate 5 around Olympia looked clear shortly before 9 a.m. Wednesday. WSDOT had predicted I-5 northbound to Tacoma would see heavy traffic until about 2 p.m. Wednesday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.
Meanwhile, Sea-Tac Airport expected 140,200 travelers to pass through Wednesday.
Are you traveling for Thanksgiving? Security lines at @SeaTacAirport are flowing, but make sure you still give yourself extra time if you're flying out from here. pic.twitter.com/aSOlFGXfyz
— KING5 Photog Jim (@King5unit9) November 22, 2017
Abby Spegman: 360-704-6869, @AbbySpegman
This story was originally published November 22, 2017 at 8:54 AM with the headline "Wet weather leads to road closures ahead of busy travel day."