Unlike the last two years, popular recreation areas in Western Washington have escaped serious damage from this week’s heavy rain.

Mount Rainier National Park and Gifford Pinchot National Forest were devastated by flooding in 2007. Last year, flooding hit Olympic National Park.

Here’s the status this week:

MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK

Park officials closed the Nisqually entrance Wednesday night and will meet this morning to decide whether it’s safe to reopen the lone winter entrance to the park.

Within the park, Tahoma and Kautz creeks were rising Wednesday but still were within their banks, spokeswoman Donna Rahier said. The Kautz area has been a source of concern since the creek changed its course in the November 2006 flood and again in November.

Park staffers also were monitoring the Nisqually River, which was forecast to crest at 13.3 feet early this morning. That would be 0.2 feet higher than the record level set during the 2006 flood.

The condition of the road from Longmire to Paradise was unknown.

“We haven’t had anyone above Longmire, so we don’t know if there have been any slides,” Rahier said. “If the extreme avalanche conditions stabilize, they’ll get up there to clear the road.”

“Right now we’re OK, but it can change in a heartbeat,” Rahier added.

OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK

Nearly a foot of rain fell in some areas along the coast, causing some washouts and sending water over other roads. The Quinault River valley has received at least 11 inches of rain since the storm started.

The only problem area was on the Hoh Valley Road on Jefferson County land outside the park, where there have been some major washouts, said the park’s chief ranger, Kevin Hendricks.

“We’re doing OK. We’ve gotten a lot of rain and some wind,” Hendricks said. “But we have no injuries and no structural damage so far.”

SKI AREAS

The six Cascade ski areas were closed Wednesday, and at least three – Mount Baker, Stevens Pass and Mission Ridge – will be closed today. Crystal Mountain, The Summit at Snoqualmie and White Pass had not announced plans Wednesday.

There was a massive slide at the Hyak ski area along Interstate 90 east of Snoqualmie Pass.

Snow, soil, trees and rock about 100 yards wide slid to the bottom of a slope at The Summit at Snoqualmie area, damaging several recreational homes. Images showed the slide took the snow all the way down to the dirt.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640

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