Receding waters reveal damage

Steve Body spent Thursday poking at the walls and floors of VinElla, this town’s first fine-wine shop, trying to assess the storm damage.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do,” said an exhausted Body, 55, as he packed up boxes and disassembled wine racks in this suburb northeast of Seattle. As receding floodwaters reveal the destruction from near-record wind and rain that hit western Washington and Oregon this week, Body fears his business may never recover.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said damage to the storm-affected areas, including eight Washington counties, was expected to exceed $1 billion. On Thursday she asked President Bush to declare the region a disaster area.

The storm -- which began Saturday and continued through Monday -- killed eight people, shut down power to tens of thousands and closed some of the region’s busiest roads. Heavy flooding from rain-swollen rivers continued through the week.

A 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 south of Olympia had been closed because of floodwaters, cutting off the major artery connecting Seattle and Portland. Officials on Thursday night reopened one lane in both directions for freight traffic only near Centralia, Wash. The freeway was not expected to open to passenger vehicles until sometime today.

The Chehalis River, whose waters overran I-5, was still above flood level. Hundreds of residents -- mainly in Lewis and Grays Harbor counties -- remained at Red Cross and community shelters, said Robin Dildine-Gwin, spokeswoman for the Washington Emergency Management Division.

“In most places we’re no longer plucking people out of rivers, thankfully,” Dildine-Gwin said. The emphasis had shifted to providing emergency relief to flood victims and “going door-to-door doing damage estimates,” she said.

In Centralia, much of the downtown remained underwater. Emergency officials were hopeful that improving weather over the weekend would allow the floodwaters to recede or evaporate.

While state officials dealt with evacuees and power outages in the hardest-hit areas, much of the rest of the region -- including heavily populated King and Pierce counties -- was finishing its cleanup efforts. “Now it’s on to picking up the mud and crud,” said Steve Clark, public works director for the city of Burien.

Burien, south of Seattle, reported two significant mudslides that damaged homes along the Puget Sound waterfront. Residents were evacuated, and no one was injured.

State officials said that although there was no official tally, the number of homes destroyed or damaged would probably number in the thousands.

For Body, the storm may have destroyed a dream come true.

After working as a chef for 30 years and saving money to pursue his passion, Body opened VinElla with his wife, Judye Allman, in 2005.

From the shop’s back window, they could see the gently moving waters of Little Bear Creek. The view of the water, about 25 feet away, had been a highlight of the store.

When the creek overran its banks last weekend, “our parking lot turned into a lake, complete with whitecaps,” Body said. When the water receded, the couple -- with the help of friends and loyal customers -- began picking through what remained of their shop.

“As far as the future, we just don’t know yet,” Body said. “We’ll know more on Saturday, when we pull up the floors and see what’s underneath.”

tomas.alex.tizon@latimes.com