Mount Vernon, Wash. ? Volunteers stacked sandbags as the Skagit River rose toward an expected major flood crest Tuesday night, following the second torrential rainstorm in the Pacific Northwest in less than a week.

“I’ve never seen it like this,” said Handy Booth, a building inspector in the farm town of Mount Vernon, as he prepared to help build a milelong wall of sandbags 6 feet high and 6 feet deep on Main Street, between the river and downtown.

Running thick with mud, logs and debris, the Skagit was forecast to crest in Mount Vernon, 55 miles north of Seattle, at 38 feet — 10 feet above flood stage and about half a foot higher than the town’s record set in 1990. Twenty rivers flooded in western Washington in 1990, displacing thousands of people and doing $160 million in damage.

The Skagit County Public Works Department was evacuating homes Tuesday in low-lying areas, including parts of Mount Vernon, Fir Island near Conway and Gages Slough east of Burlington. Businesses were urged to close early.

Flood warnings were posted Tuesday along seven rivers in western Washington, down from 11 on Monday, when record rains fell on ground already saturated by a storm last Thursday, blamed for one death.

Rainfall eased considerably Tuesday, following Monday’s deluge in which Seattle-Tacoma International Airport recorded a record for the date of 5.02 inches. Records elsewhere included 7.2 inches at Shelton and 5.39 at Hoquiam.

Upstream from Mount Vernon near Concrete, the river crested early Tuesday at 42.2 feet — 14.2 feet above flood stage. The night before, residents of areas near Concrete and Marblemount were evacuated, said spokesman Ric Boge with the county Public Works Department.

East of Concrete in Hamilton, Judy Alkire and her husband were among about 120 residents who moved their recreational vehicles to higher ground in a church parking lot. “It’s only the second time in four days,” she said cheerfully. “If you want to live in God’s country, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

In Mount Vernon, residents also scrambled to sandbag the courthouse, shops and the barriers that protect against high water on the Skagit.

Volunteers scramble to pile sandbags to hold back the rising Skagit River, behind them, in Mount Vernon, Wash. Emergency officials, fearing record floodwaters, on Tuesday organized volunteers to sandbag the levees through this northwest Washington city.

“I used to be a meat wrapper, and I thought I was in good shape, but I guess not,” Donna Nelson, 48, a college student said, taking a quick break.

Rick Moreland, owner of Rick’s Just-a-Bite restaurant, grew so frustrated hearing all the flood news he turned off his radio. “I’m scared. I’m worried about what’s going to happen,” he said. “But I feel we’ve done everything we can. It’s out of our hands.”

Moreland, 42, moved four refrigerators, an ice machine and food into friends’ homes and planned to wait out the flooding at his trailer home in Burlington, which also was threatened.