Snohomish County Search and Rescue bring Pauline Lindsey, center, to safety via Hovercraft on Jordan Rd in Granite Falls, WA, after she got trapped in her house by the rapidly rising waters of the Stillaguamish River.

Evacuations were under way Monday night in the Puyallup River valley towns of Orting, Sumner and rural Puyallup, while the entire town of Sultan along the Skykomish River was under about a foot or more of water. The town of Snoqualmie also was under an emergency evacuation order after several residents had to be rescued from their homes.

Along the Skagit River, a state of civil emergency was issued for the city of Mount Vernon as attempts to sandbag the river appeared to be failing late Monday night despite the efforts of hundreds of volunteers.

National Guardsmen were dispatched to rescue some northwest Washington residents believed cut off by rising waters, but help came too late for 20-year-old Seattle elk hunter Andy McDonald, who drowned when a riverbank gave way and his truck plunged into the swollen Cowlitz River south of Mount Rainier.

Monday was the third rainiest day on record locally, with 3.29 inches falling at Sea-Tac. Intense rainfall is expected to continue today in some areas. The National Weather Service said the region is facing the biggest flood threat in recent memory.

"Our No. 1 priority right now is to make sure that we are securing the safety of our citizens," Gov. Chris Gregoire said, urging residents to heed evacuation warnings.

More than 700 state Department of Transportation workers were on duty, trying to clear the nearly 20 state highways in Western Washington that experienced closures Monday -- and it looked as if closures would continue at least through this morning.

Highways closed in King County included state Route 410 at Mud Mountain, U.S. 2 at Index and Skykomish, state Route 202 near Redmond and Fall City and state Route 203 near Fall City and Monroe. Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass was restricted Monday night by debris that had fallen over a portion of the roadway.

Election officials worried that continued flooding might close some polling places today, particularly in hard-hit rural areas, and at least six school districts moved to close schools or delay bus service today.

The Cowlitz, Snohomish, Skagit and Skykomish were among rivers in the region expected to exceed flood stages -- most by more than 10 feet. In King County, flood warnings were issued for the Snoqualmie and Tolt rivers and for Issaquah Creek.

Between 50 and 100 people were displaced from apartments at the base of James Hill in Kent, and the Red Cross temporarily turned the Kent Commons had into a shelter, at least for one night. Some apartments had more than a foot of water in them, Kent Fire Department captain Kyle Ohashi said.

King County estimated 60 households in the North Bend area were evacuated after more than 2 feet of floodwaters topped the Reif Road levee on the south fork of the Snoqualmie River.

The Snoqualmie and Tolt rivers and Issaquah Creek are at phase 4 flood alert because of "significant flooding," according to a release from the office of King County Executive Ron Sims.

Stanwood residents and those living in low-lying areas of Snohomish also were urged to evacuate Monday evening because Snohomish County was anticipating "severe flooding in all of the Snohomish County major river basins," according to a release from the office of County Executive Aaron Reardon.

The Red Cross set up shelters at Granite Falls Middle School, Monroe First Congregational Church, Stanwood High School, Sultan Hillcrest Baptist Church and Arlington Haller Middle School.

The National Weather Service said dikes along the Snohomish River most likely will see overtopping early this morning. Nearly all rivers in Western Washington were at or exceeding flood levels Monday evening.

Emergency workers partially evacuated a hospital in Sedro-Woolley, airlifting patients to Harborview Medical Center.

Several schools and school districts planned to close today, including Peninsula High School in Pierce County; Mount Vernon Christian School, Conway School District, La Conner School District and Sedro-Woolley School District in Skagit County; and the Carnation and White Pass school districts. Bus service was expected to be delayed in Darrington and limited for Montesano schools.

Mount Rainier and Olympic national parks closed roads and some park entrances and sent staffers home early as rivers heavy with debris roared down narrow mountain canyons.

"We want to prevent visitors from getting trapped inside the park," Superintendent Dave Uberagua said. At Rainier, 7 inches of rain fell Sunday. Monday was expected to bring 10 inches more.

At first, most of the damage was concentrated in rural areas with only minor initial flooding in Seattle -- but getting to Monday night's Seahawks game was a rite of passage for thousands of fans.

Brenda Greimer of Buckley and her friend Patty Greenwood of Auburn survived a white-knuckle drive from Pierce County to Qwest Field for the nationally televised game. Heavy rain turned state Route 167 into a high-speed water slide.

"I was hydroplaning; it was very scary," Greimer said. "But I'll do that for a free ticket."

Flooding in Seattle was contained mostly to city streets and parking lots, and in some places sandbags were used to keep rising water from driveways, front doors and basements. A large mudslide closed four blocks of South Spokane Street.

By early evening, 260 residents had called Seattle Public Utilities, largely to report minor flooding, said Andy Ryan, a department spokesman. "Our phones have been ringing pretty steadily," he said.

In West Seattle, crews delivered 30 sandbags to residents at two locations along Longfellow Creek.

At the University Village shopping center, persistent rain proved to be a challenge for the drainage pumps under the parking lot at Office Depot.

Two feet of standing water covered a sloped entrance to the parking lot. By midafternoon, the water rose to within a foot of the receiving dock.

"Gravity is not working for us," store manager Curtis Warren said.

Early on, some neighborhoods appeared better off than in past storms. In Madison Valley, for example, heavy rains deposited by past storms sometimes sent sewer and rainwater surging back through the plumbing and into homes.

Seattle Public Utilities recently bought four of the homes that had been damaged, demolishing one of them and giving three others to Habitat for Humanity for relocating. The lots were turned into a pond that can hold 1.3 million gallons of storm water.

More work is under way to keep houses from flooding, but it is not complete, utility officials said. They didn't expect Madison Valley sewer lines to back up with this storm, but were pumping water out of the pond to reduce the risk.

Projects elsewhere in the city to control the storm-water runoff through natural means -- grassy ditches that hold rainwater so it soaks into the ground and trees and plants that help catch the downpour -- were working well Monday afternoon, city officials said.

Elsewhere, the news was dire.

The National Guard was sent late Monday to eastern Skagit County in northwest Washington to rescue an unknown number of people who did not heed an evacuation recommendation before floodwaters blocked their escape route from several small towns near Concrete.

In 2003, flooding near Concrete caused $17 million in property damage and 3,400 households were evacuated. The weather service warned county officials to expect worse conditions than the 2003 flood.

U.S. 2 seven miles east of Skykomish will most likely be closed today because of a 1,000-pound mudslide that covered the road, coupled with the flooding downriver in Sultan.

The highway was under 3 feet of water, and crews would not be able to get to the area until daylight, according to a Seattle Department of Transportation release.

An elderly couple about four miles east of La Push had to be rescued by helicopter when waters from the Bogachiel River flooded their home, and about 200 to 225 elk hunters were evacuated Monday from 60 to 70 hunting camps near the Cowlitz River in the Packwood area.

Record flooding was expected on the Snoqualmie River near Carnation, the Skykomish River near Gold Bar, the Snohomish River in the town of Snohomish, the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River at Arlington, the South Fork of the Stillaguamish near Granite Falls, the Carbon River near Fairfax, the Skagit River near Mount Vernon and the Cowlitz near Packwood and Randle.

Besides King County, the governor's emergency proclamation covers Chelan, Clallam, Clark, Cowlitz, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, Lewis, Mason, Okanogan, Pacific, Pierce, Skagit, Snohomish, Thurston, Wahkiakum and Whatcom counties.

P-I reporters Brad Wong, Chris McGann, Lisa Stiffler, and John Iwasaki contributed to this report, which includes information from The Associated Press. P-I reporter Mike Lewis can be reached at 206-448-8140 or mikelewis@seattlepi.com.