Northbound lanes of Interstate 5 near the Iowa Street interchange in Bellingham are open as of 3 p.m. Sunday, following a landslide early this morning that covered the roadway with 2,000 cubic yards of debris.
Northbound lanes were closed for nine hours as a result of the incident, while the left southbound lane was closed until around noon after the landslide pushed a concrete median into southbound lanes.
The state Department of Transportation geotechnical team onsite today did an initial assessment of the hillside and confirmed that the road was safe for travel, said WDOT spokesperson RB McKeon.
FINAL UPDATE 255PM: All NB lanes of I-5 in @CityofBhamWA are OPEN following a 5AM slide. Our maintenance crews & geotechnical engineers worked with @CityofBhamWA, @wastatepatrol, local first responders & tow to clear 2000 cubic yards of debris & get I-5 back open. https://t.co/RSKxXvwonK pic.twitter.com/qApG9ZAjZe
— WSDOT North (@wsdot_north) October 27, 2024
By 1 p.m., a specialty tow truck removed a semi-truck that was stuck in earthen debris near a large concrete retaining wall, according to a post from WDOT on social media platform X.
“When we have big rains like this please don’t drive through standing water,” McKeon said, noting the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s standard advice: “Turn around, don’t drown.”
Medical aid, a Department of Transportation Incident Response Team, the State Patrol and Bellingham Police were on the scene at 6:16 a.m., Washington State Patrol reported.
During the closure, crews diverted traffic off at Lakeway Drive and around Iowa Street, before getting back on I-5 at Sunset Drive.
In a post on X, National Weather Service Seattle noted Bellingham International Airport hit its record rainfall for Oct. 27, accumulating 1.75 inches within two hours Sunday morning — for a total of 2.08 inches so far. Today is BLI’s second wettest October day ever, NWS said, the first being 2.46 inches of rain on Oct. 16, 2003.
“Lots of leaves on the ground from recent wind storms plus torrential downpours resulted in lots of clogged flood drains,” said Riley Grant, the communications manager for Bellingham Public Works.
Crews have been out since early this morning clearing debris.
The north end of the city is looking “pretty good” though there are a few hot spots, confirmed Grant. The I-5 off-ramp at the intersection of Iowa and Moore streets is expected to remain closed for a while.
Grant gave a shoutout to the on-the-ground public works employees who are clearing drains and getting water off the streets.
“We have on-call staff who are available 24/7 to respond to these kinds of incidents and they’re amazing,” Grant said.
Report roadway flooding to SeeClickFix, which is monitored by public works.
A winter weather advisory is set to go into effect at 5 p.m. today for Eastern Whatcom County with total snow accumulations of 5–10 inches.
This includes Mt. Baker Ski area and West slopes of the North Cascades, as well as passes, above 4,000 feet.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is made available.
