[Seattle Conservative]

LOL!

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A "Pineapple Express" winter storm brought the threat of floods and mudslides to northwest Oregon on Monday, and authorities restricted or closed some roads.

The National Weather Service said rainfall could top 10 inches in the Nehalem River basin by Tuesday morning and warned of flooding. The river runs southwest out of the Coast Range to Nehalem Bay.

In Clatsop County, officials made plans to have a dump truck pick up ballots for Tuesday's election in case of flooding.

County Clerk Nicole Williams urged voters south of Seaside, where travel on U.S. 101 was restricted, to take their ballots south, to Cannon Beach, for example, rather than try to make it through high water to drive to drop-off points to the north.

http://www.katu.com/news/4572802.html

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Western Washington Braces For Record Flooding

POSTED: 7:25 am PST November 3, 2006 UPDATED: 5:15 pm PST November 6, 2006

SEATTLE -- Heavy rains and winds from a Pacific storm lashed Western Washington on Monday, with the National Weather Service issuing record severity flood warnings for eight rivers. Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency for 18 counties.

A hunter was reported missing in the swollen Cowlitz River in southwest Washington after a riverbank collapsed beneath his vehicle.

Residents of low-lying areas near rivers and streams were encouraged to move to higher ground, as some rivers were expected to surpass flood stage by more than 10 feet, including the Snohomish River near Monroe and the Skykomish River near Gold Bar, northeast of Seattle.

The warm, moisture-heavy storm that came onshore during the weekend would continue over the region through Wednesday, the weather service said, with intense rainfall predicted through Tuesday in some areas.

A number of rivers jumped their banks Monday, including the Snohomish and Skykomish. The weather service said water was expected to cover farms, flood some rural homes and close many roads, and was not expected to recede in some areas until Friday.

"This will likely be the most flooding we've seen in a decade, and perhaps the biggest in November since 1990," said KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Chief Meteorologist Andy Wappler, who added that a "tropical connection" was at work.

http://www.kirotv.com/weather/10233246/detail.html

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NOAA Map

http://www.weather.gov/largemap.php

[geopyg]

i just got an email from the King County Republicans with the following ("write your votes on a peice of paper and mail them in" - I hope it doesn't turn into a fiasco!):

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If you happen to be in an area that is completely cut off from the outside world – such as a home right in the bottom of a river valley, surrounded by water and unable to reach ANY polling place, then King County has informed us that they will be accepting late “Flood Ballots”. You should call 206-296-VOTE for instructions, but essentially they will ask you to write out your votes on a piece of paper (or go to the county web site for a list of all the races you can vote on, print it out, and clearly mark it), put it in an envelope, put that envelope inside another envelope, write the explanation of why you’re voting late on the outer envelope, and mail it as early as possible but WITHIN 7 DAYS. The ballot will be treated as a provisional challenged ballot, and will go before the canvassing board before being duplicated onto a real ballot and counted. Such “Flood Ballots” will only be accepted from people who can prove that they were physically cut off and unable to get to their polling place, so if you can get to ANY polling place and vote a provisional ballot, that would be preferred and help insure that your vote is counted.

Please pass along this information to anyone you know who wants to vote but is concerned about being unable to do so. Thanks!