The recent stretch of relentless rain caused some flooding in rural Auburn.

The Green River upstream from Auburn flowed at one of its highest levels in recent years, reaching a Phase III flood level Tuesday.

At 8:45 a.m. Tuesday, the Green’s flow in Auburn was 10,400 cubic feet per second (cfs), which can cause some flooding upriver from Auburn and the lower Mill Creek area in the Tukwila and Renton area. That level is slightly lower than previous overnight readings.

The river was expected to crest at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.

Extreme flooding doesn’t occur until the Green’s level reaches 12,000 cfs. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers controls the Green’s flow at the Howard Hanson Dam and monitors levees along the river.

As a precaution, the City of Auburn activated its Emergency Operations Center to Level 1 on Tuesday.

Trained volunteers were ready Tuesday outside River Mobile Home Estates at 3611 I St. NE, which saw some minor flooding because of a nearby wetland.

Sarah Miller, the City’s emergency operations manager, said, however, that there were no major flood concerns in the city.

“There’s the usual water at Isaac Evans Park, the Auburn Golf Course, and a little bit of water coming out of the wetland at River Mobile Estates, but no major problems,” Miller said Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve got full storm drains, but since it’s not raining, that doesn’t cause concern.”

The Corp expects the river to remain at flood stage through Saturday, Miller said.

“There could always be something, but conditions are such that we don’t anticipate anything bad happening. It makes you really appreciate the Howard Hanson Dam,” Miller said.

The swollen White River, meanwhile, was flowing at 6,500 cfs earlier in the week, above flood stage.

“We have seen one issue we were not expecting,” said Mayor Richard Hildreth. “Groundwater is being pushed up by the pressure of the river and causing minor flooding north of Pacific Park. This is also one of the reasons that a few homes north of the park saw water in their crawl spaces. This is something we are looking at, but there may be little we can do this winter to resolve those issues.”

City officials closed the entrance at the park to divert groundwater in the park off of 3rd Avenue Southeast. They also closed to the public the trail going south of the park.

Despite some minor flooding, the city held up well, Hildreth said.

Spotters remained on shift through the week.

The Corps of Engineers did not expect the amount of rain in the basins of the Green and White rivers to create operational challenges for its dams. The Corps keeps the reservoirs empty at Mud Mountain Dam along the White River as well as Howard Hanson Dam along the Green River until storage is required for flood risk management, and both had empty reservoirs on Jan. 14. The Corps is storing water behind both dams.