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This is what the town of Hamilton looked like, earlier in the week when the Skagit River crested. AP PHOTO

Porches and yards were piled high with sodden-looking piles of furniture, bedding and carpets.

We wondered if those items had been deliberately placed on the roof or had floated there during the flood on Monday. These houses had been underwater right up to the roofline.

As a pair of young fellows were carrying armloads of sodden and ruined carpets out of this house, we could see that some things at least had been taken to the second floor and saved.