Donald Trump issued an expedited emergency declaration that opened FEMA assistance as multiple atmospheric rivers dumped record rainfall across western Washington, forcing about 1,000 residents to evacuate, inundating towns and pushing floodwaters and mudslides into British Columbia.Bob Ferguson said the flooding could be historic while emergency crews rescued residents such as Eddie Wicks and his wife from a Snoqualmie River farm and King County deputies carried people and animals by boat, with Kara Underwood reporting hundreds of evacuated horses, chickens and goats in Snohomish County.Researchers including Charlotte Milne and the USGS blamed climate change for intensifying atmospheric rivers and urged faster, coordinated cross‑border upgrades like the Nooksack‑Sumas Initiative as the Midwest braced for an Arctic blast that brought bitter cold to the central US; Associated Press photos showed Haji Higa and Lydia Heglin wading through floodwaters in Burlington.