SEATTLE — Flooding in parts of Washington state have disrupted the Seattle section of Amtrak’s Empire Builder, as well as Amtrak Cascades service.
Both Cascades round trips between Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia, have been canceled today and tomorrow (Dec. 11-12) “due to the anticipated flooding of the Skagit River through Mount Vernon,” Amtrak said on its Amtrak Alerts website. No substitute transportation will be offered. Wednesday afternoon’s Seattle-Vancouver section of train No. 518 was also canceled.
The Empire Builder scheduled to depart Seattle on Wednesday evening instead originated in Spokane, Wash., with buses operating between Seattle and Spokane. That train ended up departing from Spokane at 6:27 a.m. today, more than five hours late, and as of 1:30 p.m. CT was more than six hours behind schedule when it departed Libby, Mont. Westbound train No. 7 was also replaced by buses for the Spokane-Seattle portion of its trip; bus substitutions are also planned for No. 8 today and tomorrow, according to Amtrak’s website and social media posts.
The Portland section of the Builder continues to operate.
Flooding led Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson to declare a state of emergency on Wednesday, Dec. 10. Today, officials have called for evacuations in Skagit County, north of Seattle, with ABC News reporting up to 100,000 people could be facing evacuation orders. The Snohomish, Snoqualmie, Skagit, and Cedar rivers have reached or may reach record high-water levels.
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