Downtown Olympia saw record tide levels Tuesday morning

OLYMPIA — Some roads in downtown Olympia were closed off due to flooding caused by a combination of record-breaking king tides in Puget Sound and rain.

Sections of Fourth Avenue, Water Street, Columbia Street and State Avenue, near Capitol Lake and Heritage Park, were closed Tuesday. Sandbag materials are available for use by downtown businesses near the Olympia Center at 222 Columbia St. NW, as well as at 625 Columbia St. SW.

Crews were asking people to be careful as they commuted and did business around the downtown area and near Capitol Lake, which had been steadily rising throughout the morning. Then marine waters came over the shoreline and began filling the streets. Water resources director Eric Christensen said some buildings were sandbagged, but water got into some anyway.

Christensen said the city didn’t anticipate having to respond to flooding at all. The predicted high tide level was 16.6 feet, but low barometric pressure led to tides reaching 18.4 feet, the highest he has on record. He said the previous record was 17.99 feet, set in 1987.

The state’s Department of Enterprise Services, which manages Capitol Lake, closed the Heritage Park Fifth Avenue walking bridge and it will remain so through Wednesday. The north parking lot off Fifth Avenue is also closed.

It’s possible the Marathon Park parking lot will close, too, according to a news release from DES. And more pedestrian closures might pop up for areas around the lake as conditions change.

Report downtown flooding conditions to Olympia’s Public Works dispatch at 360-753-8333.