Rain, high winds wreak havoc from Portland to California line
GRANTS PASS, Ore. – Heavy rains and high winds lashed Western Oregon on Friday, triggering a landslide that closed Interstate 5 over Siskiyou Summit and prompting flood warnings on rivers from the Portland metropolitan area to the California border.
Jackson County declared a state of emergency as some 500 residents of three mobile home parks along Bear Creek in Ashland and Phoenix were evacuated in advance of rising water. Residents of low-lying areas along the Rogue River in the city of Rogue River were also urged to leave their homes.
Numerous trees were reported down in the Medford and Grants Pass areas as roots were pulled out of the soggy ground under the pressure of strong winds. Streets were flooded in both towns as drainage systems had trouble keeping up with the volume of water. Residents picked up sandbags to keep water from filling basements and garages.
Bear Creek was predicted to crest barely over flood stage in Medford, but the Rogue was forecast to go 5 feet over its banks at Grants Pass, causing moderate flooding.
An emergency shelter was opened at the Jackson County fairgrounds in Central Point. The city of Ashland called on residents to conserve water because ofstrains on the water treatment system.
Flood warnings stretched from the lower Columbia below Portland to the Chetco River near the California border. Rivers were expected to crest between Friday night and this morning as the downpour eased, but a new storm system was predicted for Sunday.
Interstate 5 was closed over Siskiyou Summit between Hilt, Calif., and Ashland, first due to flash flooding and then due to a series of landslides, said Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Gary Leaming.
Mount Ashland ski area shut down after winds gusted to 70 mph, making lift operations difficult, said marketing director Rick Saul. The few people turned away were able to leave the area before Interstate 5 was closed on both sides of the ski area access road. The ski area planned to open today, as long as the freeway opened.
People looking for an alternate route to California had to go over the Cascades, because U.S. Highway 101 was closed by fallen trees and mud south of Crescent City, Calif.
Suzanne Gotfried of Provolt outside Grants Pass said Williams Creek had swollen to a raging river 100 yards wide.
“There are full-size trees coming down the creek,” she told the Grants Pass Daily Courier. “They’ve already taken out the pilings holding up our deck.”
Flooding was also reported on Deer Creek, which runs through Roseburg.
The Marys River hit a record high level near Philomath and Corvallis, but flooding was minimal – mostly rural roads and farmfields – due to installation of enlarged culverts and drainage improvements after the 1996 flood, and the Willamette River being relatively low, said Peggy Pierson, emergency services coordinator for Benton County.
“It’s been just right at the doorstep in a couple of places, but fortunately not a lot of houses are flooding,” she said.
Flood warnings were also issued for the Clackamas River near Estacada, the Yamhill River near McMinnville, and the Mohawk River near Springfield.
“The Mohawk is expected to rise above flood stage, but the impact is supposed to be pretty commonplace,” low-lying areas and some rural roads, said Lane County Emergency Services chief Linda Cook. “Nothing unusual or overly alarming at this point.”
In the Coast Range, the Siletz and Siuslaw rivers were also expected to go over their banks. Traffic was delayed on highways through the mountains due to mudslides and high water.
The storms were contributing to a healthy snowpack in the Cascade Range. On Thursday, measurements put it at 78 percent of normal at Mount Hood, much better than the 20 percent recorded last year at this time. Statewide, the snowpack has fallen from 100 percent of average in mid-December, when it was the best in the West, to about 90 percent.