The winter storm hitting much of the Pacific Northwest turned deadly Thursday with flooding closing roads, highways and even prompting thousands to evacuate in the mid-Willamette Valley.
While many residents in Portland were late to work because of flooded streets or more downed trees, municipalities in Benton, Lane and Marion counties dealt with fast-rising water that required targeted rescue efforts.
Governor John Kitzhaber declared a state of emergency for Marion, Coos, Benton and Lincoln counties Thursday afternoon, allowing them to seek state, and possibly federal aid. The governor's office said more counties are likely to be added to the list.
Basically all Willamette Valley cities, from Portland south past Corvallis, were issued a
Flood Warning from the National Weather Service.
KOIN Local 6 Meteorologist Matt Brode said the combination of heavy rains that stayed put and rapid mountain snow melt caused the flooding.
"Mother Nature delivered us a punch," said Brode.
Salem City Manager Linda Norris told
The Statesman Journal the flooding was a "40-year event" and the Oregon Red Cross provided a list of
shelters open in nine different counties.
In Albany overnight, waters from a creek swept a car away with a family inside. While two escaped,
one boy was found dead and his mother is presumed dead.
The city manager for Scio--a community east of Albany with 870 residents--told the Associated Press that three-quarters of the people there are expected to evacuate.
Elsewhere in the area, Marion County deputies placed barriers to close flooded streets and even employed inmate crews to clear debris from roads.
South of Salem in Turner, dozens of families and senior citizens were evacuated in the morning. By mid-afternoon, all residents were encouraged to find higher ground as a localized emergency declaration was put into place and power companies worked to shut off gas for the entire city.
The Salem-Keizer School District encouraged parents before lunch to pick up students early due to the ongoing flooding concerns; and many other districts followed that directive.
In Benton County, officials closed countless roads and established Crescent Valley High School as an evacuation center.
And in Portland, the usual flooding alerts were sent out by the city: Johnson Creek in southeast was expected to flood and crest at about 4 p.m.; West Burnside was closed from 23rd to Skyline Boulevard; and the
Bureau of Environmental Services advised citizens to stay out of water due to the possibility of increased bacteria levels.
Kathie Dello with the
Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University said many streams in western Oregon were classified as high or above the 90th percentile.
“What makes this so unusual is that a few days ago, most of these same streams–especially in southwest Oregon–were near record low levels," said Dello.
“We needed the rain but not all at once.”
--Toshio Suzuki
