Tens of thousands of Washington residents were under evacuation orders Thursday after days of unrelenting heavy rain triggered flooding that overflowed rivers, sent mud sliding onto highways and trapped people in floodwaters. Gov. Bob Ferguson has warned that "lives will be at stake in the coming days."

"The flooding levels we're looking at are potentially historic in nature, so we just want to emphasize how serious the situation is," Ferguson said at a news briefing Thursday, one day after declaring a statewide emergency . "This situation is extremely unpredictable."

Some residents have already been ordered to higher ground as the state sees some of its worst flooding in decades. Skagit County, in a major agricultural region north of Seattle, has ordered everyone within the Ska

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