100 WA National Guard members deploy amid ‘historic flooding,’ rescue efforts
Gov. Bob Ferguson declared a statewide emergency on Wednesday in response to this week’s intense flooding in much of Western Washington.
The emergency declaration allows the state to ask for federal dollars to help cover the cost of flooding response, “which we anticipate will be significant,” Ferguson said at a Dec. 10 news conference.
Ferguson said the state would seek an expedited emergency declaration from the federal government.
“We need the federal government to grant that request,” he told reporters. “This is critical.”
Ferguson said lives would be at risk in the coming days.
Ferguson held the media availability at the State Emergency Operations Center at Camp Murray, a U.S. military installation southwest of Tacoma. He was joined by Adjutant General Gent Welsh, Emergency Management Director Robert Ezelle and Steve Roark, the Olympic region administrator for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT).
His announcement came as rising White and Puyallup rivers prompted East Pierce County roads to close, including state Route 410 in Sumner — the main state highway serving Bonney Lake, Buckley, Sumner and points east, The News Tribune reports. It reopened later in the day. Evacuation orders were in place for parts of Orting.
State officials urged residents to heed evacuation orders amid “historic flooding.”
Ferguson said he’d recently gotten off a call with the National Weather Service. He said that at 2 p.m. Wednesday, he would speak with the Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 10 to ask for an expedited emergency declaration.
“If granted, that emergency allows us life, safety and emergency protective measures and additional federal resources, which will be key for us to address the extremely challenging situation that Washingtonians are facing right now,” he said.
The federal government previously denied Washington’s request for federal aid to help pay for tens of millions of dollars in damage inflicted by the November 2024 bomb cyclone. Asked whether he had concerns about how the feds would respond this time around, Ferguson underscored that lives were at stake.
Federal assistance and resources would help save lives, homes, livestock and property, Ferguson said.
Welsh said that by the end of Wednesday night, more than 100 Washington National Guard members would be helping across communities affected by the flooding. By end of day Thursday, more than 300 members would be ready to aid such public assistance and rescues, he added.
Ezell said that heavy rains were expected to drag on into Wednesday’s evening hours, possibly even intensifying. He said multiple rivers throughout the state were at moderate-to-major flood stage levels, and were set to increase later in the week.
Risks of landslides are elevated throughout the state because of saturated soils, Ezell continued. A number of rivers were expected to hit or surpass record flood levels.
Officials were seeing major impacts along the Cowlitz and Skagit rivers, he said, and in southern Washington, parts of Highway 12 were underwater.
“The town of Randle is currently cut off. We see parts of Packwood cut off, and we’re seeing that situation on a number of rivers across the state, and even on the east side of the Cascades,” he said. “In Pierce County … we see ‘go-now’ orders already being issued for areas in Orting.”
WSDOT was monitoring state highways across Washington, especially on the west side, to tend to rising waters on roads, Roark said. Roadways will be reopened when it’s been deemed safe.
Roark encourages travelers to plan ahead and use the travel information and real-time map on WSDOT’s website and app.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 1:35 PM with the headline "100 WA National Guard members deploy amid ‘historic flooding,’ rescue efforts."
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