Hundreds of National Guard soldiers were deployed to stack sandbags Thursday morning to hold back fierce floodwaters that forced more than 100,000 people in western Washington to evacuate.

Several days of heavy rain pushed waterways in the region to record levels, creating potentially deadly conditions along a series of rivers and tributaries between Tacoma, Washington, and the U.S.-Canada border.

Officials were especially concerned about the Skagit and Snohomish rivers, which were rising Thursday and expected to crest at record levels by Friday. But it could be days before the full extent of damage was known. Leaders in the Skagit Valley, roughly halfway between Seattle and the Canadian border, ordered everyone within the 100-year flood plain to evacuate.

“You can stand downtown here a

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