Heavy Rain in Washington, December 29 to 31, 1996

Overall, the total damage from the ice/snow/rain storm that lasted from December 26th to the 31st, caused about $315 million in both insured and uninsured damage (in all of WA). Although not all directly caused by the weather (some indirect) the storms claimed 16 lives and sparked a state of emergency in 30 counties. Seattle normally averages 1.44" of precipitation between Dec. 26 and Jan 2nd. This winter it received 8.35" during those eight days. The total number of customers without power at one time was nearly 300,000 and some people went a week without power. The damage affected people for weeks. In Bremerton the bridge that connects the two halves of the city was closed for two weeks. In Seattle the Magnolia bridge had supports wiped out by mudslides and forced evacuations of 85 homes in the area due to mudslides and sinkholes. In Vancouver WA they had 2.85 inches of rain on the 29th which broke their Dec record rainfall with a new total of 13.88 inches.