At least 20 people and three dogs were rescued from an RV park on the Oregon coast, where an atmospheric river of rain has produced flooding.
The U.S. Coast Guard used two helicopters and one rescue swimmer to pull 12 people to safety Friday morning, the military branch's Pacific Northwest district tweeted.
It said that other agencies rescued eight people, and that about 30 chose to remain.
The rescue happened at Neskowin Creek RV Resort, less than a mile from the coastline. Camper Russ Hiner said on Facebook that he woke up at 6:15 a.m. to the sound of a honking horn and someone running with a flashlight and saying, "Everyone out."
He said he found about 6 or 7 inches of water beneath his rig, drove out, and had to get through about 3 feet of water at the adjacent creek to reach higher ground.
"We are all out of the park and safe and dry," he said.
Undersheriff Matt Kelly of the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office told NBC affiliate KGW of Portland that a bridge to the RV park was at risk of "failure," which contributed to the situation's urgency.
Nearby Otis was also the site of flooding Friday. The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office posted a photo to its Facebook page of a fire truck with floodwater above its wheel wells.
The National Weather Service said the atmospheric river-fueled storm that moved water from the tropical Pacific to the Pacific Northwest was winding down and would likely give the area a break before another storm strikes next week.
The deluge caused flooding from Oregon to Seattle on Friday and prompted officials to close some roads.
"A brief reprieve from the rain will occur early Saturday before a second, stronger atmospheric river reaches the coastline Saturday night, this time delivering 3-5 inches of rain in 24 hours to the region," the service said in a public forecast discussion Friday night.
While it's difficult to connect specific storms to climate change, weather scientists have said that it has increased the intensity of extreme weather events.
