Flooding Update 12/15/2025 @ 9:51 AM:

Thankfully, the weekend was pretty quiet for Sumner’s crews. The White River is still running very high, and it’s up against the Hesco wall we added north of 16th Street last week, but we’re not seeing any major impacts, like our neighbors to the north are experiencing from the Green River. We did share a pump and sandbags with City of Auburn to try to help them out. We did keep sandbags in reserve, watching the forecast this week.

We have decided to keep the Stewart Road Bridge closed as the water is just below the bridge and running fast with a lot of debris, and by debris, we mean entire logs. We know it’s a pain to have that route closed, but we’re going to remain on the side of caution.

We’re not completely done. More rain and high wind are in the forecast. While we hope to not experience a repeat of last week or new problems, the chance of more flooding, trees down and landslides remains.

Status at This Time:

The Stewart Road Bridge is closed until further notice.
The full length of the Sumner Link Trail is closed.
State Street and Houston Road are back open as normal.
Check with WSDOT about the status of SR 167 north of Sumner in Auburn and Kent.

You can read more about potential flooding, how to report storm damage and resources available on our website here:

https://sumnerwa.gov/potential-flooding/

Field crews will be working through the weekend to keep an eye on the White River and our areas of concern while the Corps continues to release high flows to draw down the water being held by Mud Mountain Dam. We’re scaling back the full Sumner Emergency Operations Center to get some rest. If anything changes or becomes a problem, we’ll return and respond again.

Unfortunately, the weather forecast includes more rain early next week. We’ll be back Monday to assess what’s needed, including if we can reopen Stewart Road Bridge next week. In general, we hope we don’t have a repeat of this past week. Thank you for your vigilance through this difficult week and have a good weekend.

Photo: Public Works continues to add a wall of Hescoes to further protect against the White River.

Unfortunately, Stewart Road Bridge in Sumner will remain closed through the weekend at least. Levels on the White River remain too high to safely reopen this route this weekend. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the new bridge will span the river higher than the old one.

Good morning, Sumner! A recap from through the night so you don’t have to doom scroll:
– No more active evacuation levels in Sumner. They were lifted last night for Rainier Manor, Rivergrove neighborhood & the 29th St neighborhood.
– Houston Rd, State St, and Stewart Rd Bridge remain closed.
– The Puyallup River is going down (yay!); the White River will still rise today with localized impacts, so stay alert and keep checking for updates.
– Sandbags are still available. We’re good for bags and volunteers – thank you to all who offered.
More info: www.sumnerwa.gov