Update: I-5 closed both ways south of Bellingham overnight as 3 cars caught in mudslide
Update: Both directions of I-5 in Bellingham will remain closed overnight due to flooding and active slides threatening the highway. Northbound, the freeway will be closed at Nulle Road, milepost 246, and southbound at North Lake Samish, milepost 244, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. “We will reassess in the AM,” according to a WSDOT tweet.
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Three cars were trapped in a mudslide Monday afternoon along northbound Interstate 5 in Whatcom County south of Bellingham.
“Thankfully, no serious injuries,” Washington State Patrol Trooper Rocky Oliphant tweeted.
Oliphant later told The Bellingham Herald that one person involved in the mudslide did suffer some difficulty breathing and had knee pain due to the deployment of their vehicle’s airbag.
Emergency responders were called shortly after 1:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 15, to northbound I-5 near milepost 245 for the report of the mudslide.
“Whatcom County — I-5 at milepost 245 we have a mudslide blocking all NB lanes. A tree is also in the road. Hearing vehicles were struck. Have not heard the extent of injuries yet,” Trooper Rocky Oliphant tweeted at 1:45 p.m.
The Washington State Patrol is recommending responding fire units come from the south, according to emergency broadcasts at the time, as the freeway is “completely blocked with debris.”
“This will likely be a long closure. No ETA to open,” Oliphant wrote.
Approximately 250 to 300 feet of the freeway is buried beneath 6 inches of mud, with a number of trees and other debris on top, Oliphant told The Herald.
The Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted that it had “no ETA” for reopening the freeway.
“Please follow posted signage and directions from WSP and crews who will move traffic as soon as it is safe to do so,” the tweet read.
With State Routes 9 and 11 also both closed due to the storm, Oliphant tweeted there “not really much of a detour available for this closure.”
“Still no ETA for opening. .... Expect significant delays if you need to get through the area,” he wrote at 3:31 p.m. “If you don’t need to get through the area, stay home.”
It is the third time Monday’s weather has forced closures of I-5 south of Bellingham. The freeway was closed in both directions shortly after 1 a.m., when trees came down across both sides of the freeway near milepost 246, hitting one car. Northbound lanes were closed again near Nulle Road at approximately 9 a.m., for another mudslide.
This story was originally published November 15, 2021 at 1:47 PM.
