Severe flooding is expected across western Washington as rivers hit record levels, prompting widespread evacuations and road closures.

Residents packed up and prepared to flee rising rivers in western Washington state Wednesday as a new wave of heavy rain swept into a region still reeling from a heavy storm a day earlier.

Eighteen people were rescued on Tuesday, Dec. 9, from alongside the Yakima and Naches Rivers located near the Cascade Mountains in Washington, according to The Yakima Herald.