OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Officials in Lewis County are still scrambling to assist residents stranded when the Chehalis River spilled over its banks Monday afternoon, sending a massive cascade of water into residential areas.

Helicopters have rescued dozens of residents from rooftops, and many communities are cut off from ground transportation.

Two Coast Guard helicopters, one each from Astoria, Ore., and Port Angeles, were used to rescue about 40 people stranded by flooding early Tuesday, mostly from Centralia about 40 miles west to Pe Ell in the coastal hills, Lewis County sheriff's Sgt. Stacy Brown said.

Brown said floodwaters surged over a major river dike just after midnight early Tuesday morning. 

"It put a lot of Centralia underwater," she said. "Some of our main thoroughfares are shut down. Rescue operations are currently in process, trying to get people out of their homes."

Washington State Patrol Chief John R. Batiste said troopers in Mason and Lewis County are now working extended 12-hour shifts, and most of west Lewis County is under water.

"It's a very devastated area," Batiste said. "We were heavily involved with the Lewis County Sheriff's Office rescuing people from flooded neighborhoods."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the Chehalis River crested at nearly 75 feet, breaking the previous record set during the 1996 floods.

Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency Monday following the third in a series of storms that hit hardest on the Olympic Peninsula, Kitsap County and the southwest corner of the state. Rob Harper, a state emergency management spokesman, said at least 73,000 Western Washington residents were without electricity at some point Monday and more than 50,000 were still in the dark Tuesday.

Gregoire toured Lewis County by helicopter Tuesday afternoon and met with with victims seeking shelter at a Chehalis high school.

A high school in the town of Pe Ell serving as a shelter is cut off by flood water, and Gregoire ordered a plane to bring supplies to the roughly 40 people there.

She gave them some words of encouragement and told them it was hard to comprehend how deep the water was until she saw it -- in some neighborhoods, the water was up to the rooflines.

Coast Guard officials in Seattle said the service's helicopters had rescued at least 300 people from areas surrounded by water - in some cases from rooftops.

Four hikers stranded by harsh weather were rescued from the Snoqualmie Pass area in the Cascade Range, officials said. But two hikers were killed and a third injured when they were buried by an avalanche near the pass.

Grays Harbor County sheriff's Detective Ed McGowan and Hoquiam Police Chief Jeff Myers confirmed the deaths of two men, one in Aberdeen who was hit by a falling tree as he was trying to clear another downed tree and one in Montesano who apparently relied on oxygen equipment that stopped operating after electricity was lost.

The state Emergency Management Division says a third man was killed in Mason County Tuesday night when a building was hit by a mudslide.

A fourth person from Winlock is missing and feared drowned. The police chief in the Lewis County town says a dive team will begin combing a creek near the man's home first thing Wednesday.

The 81-year-old was apparently checking an outflow hose on his basement sump pump, which flowed into Wallers Creek, and fell in Monday afternoon. The creek is normally tiny, but it was raging from the storm when it happened. The man's name has not been released.

The National Weather Service said 3 to 6 inches of rain fell across much of Western Washington. The 24-hour rain total for Bremerton was 10.78 inches, meteorologist Chris Burke said Monday evening. The day was the second wettest on record in Seattle with nearly 5 inches of rain in a 24-hour period.

A number of sewage treatment plants were overwhelmed, including one in downtown Olympia, causing millions of raw sewage to be released into Puget Sound. It was the first time in 16 years that all wastewater entering the plant could not be treated.

Water systems also were damaged in some areas, including Montesano, where the reservoir was damaged by falling trees and about 4,700 people were advised to boil their tap water if anything appeared to be amiss.

State Ecology Department officials recommended that people avoid water in Puget Sound and adjacent marine waterways for at least a week after the rains subside.

Mudslides blocked numerous roads and forced an undetermined number of residents to evacuate condominiums, apartments and houses in Seattle, at least nine houses in suburban Burien and several mobile homes in Shelton.

Interstate 5 was closed near Centralia with about 10 feet over the road in some places. The last time flooding closed I-5 at that location was for four days in 1996.

The freeway will remain closed at least through Wednesday. (See alternate routes)

Other than I-5, major road closures from flooding and slides included numerous stretches of U.S. 101 along the coast and the Olympic Peninsula and U.S. 12 east of Aberdeen.

Mudslides halted Amtrak passenger train service between Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia, for a second day Tuesday.

Thousands remained without power Tuesday.  Much of Grays Harbor County on the southern Washington coast was without electricity. A Bonneville Power Administration feeder line to the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area was down, and authorities were hoping to arrange for emergency generators that would enable supermarkets in Aberdeen to reopen Tuesday.

Pacific County PUD says that their entire county was without power with the exception of a small area in Naselle. Lewis County had 1,000 without power, while Mason County had just a few hundred.

Roads leading into the county's population centers were closed or blocked until a patched-together route from Olympia to Ocean Shores was punched through late Monday. Further travel problems were expected as the flood crest moved down the Chehalis River higher and faster than anyone could remember, Myers said.

"Washingtonians have endured quite the weekend," Gregoire said, adding that the flood danger was likely to persist into Thursday. Her emergency declaration put thousands of National Guard troops on standby if local officials need help.

Winds gusted to 81 mph in Hoquiam, next to Aberdeen, early Monday before the National Weather Service line went down. A weather spotter reported winds of 60 mph gusting to 90 mph at 5 a.m. at Clallam Bay on the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula.

The Elwha River on the northern Olympic Peninsula was expected to flood at record levels. Major flooding was predicted on the Tolt and Snoqualmie rivers near Carnation, east of Seattle.

Flood warnings also were issued for numerous other rivers. Rain-saturated soil also increased the risk of landslides, the weather service said.

In Olympia, the rain turned a normally small creek into a roiling, muddy surge of water that tore through a wall at the Ranch House BBQ. Tables and booths were strewn across the street, and a storage shed was pushed about 300 feet away.

Christy Romo, who lives just up the hill from the restaurant, said she could hear the floodwaters coming and started packing before the first floor of her cabin was inundated.

"I knew I wouldn't have much time," Romo said. "I heard a bang, and then saw the water rising quickly."

How You Can Help

You can team up with the KOMO 4 Problem Solvers, KOMO 1000 News Radio, and the Salvation Army to help those hit hardest by Monday’s devastating storm. Bring your donation to the IKEA parking lot in Renton Wednesday, Dec. 5th anytime between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Help us pack a semi full of the food and supplies flood victims need most right now. Needed items are adult clothing, children’s clothing, tools, new blankets, shoes and socks, new toys, cash and gift cards (so families can buy food) and bottled water. 

Road Closure Information:

Clallam County road closures

Grays Harbor County road closures

Jefferson County road closures

King County road closures

Kitsap County road closures

Lewis County road closures

Mason County road closures

Pacific County road closures

Pierce County road closures

Skagit County road closures

Snohomish County road closures

Thurston County road closures

Whatcom County road closures