How much rain will cause Green River to flood?
By GEORGE TIBBITS Associated Press Writer It seems like a simple question: How much rain has to fall, and for how long, to cause the Green River to flood? Actually, like most things concerning the weather, the answer is far from easy. But a group of meteorologists is taking a stab at it. The National Weather Service, with help from other agencies, will crunch numbers from rainfall and river records to try to determine how much rain under what conditions could increase the flood risk for the Green River Valley south of Seattle. With problems at the Howard Hanson Dam limiting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s ability to prevent the river from flooding this winter, it has become an important, if difficult, question. “That’s a tough one because storms, you know, aren’t one point – they’re a variety of conditions,” says Larry Schick, a meteorologist with the corps’ Seattle District. “But they’re going to give it a try.” Land on one side of the flood-control dam in the Cascade foothills was
