Portland Oregon Deadly Storm Wipes out Road & People (St. Helens: work, homes)

[Des_Demona]

Just thought I'd share-

PORTLAND, Ore. (Nov. 9) - The heavy rain and flooding blamed for three deaths in the Pacific Northwest also washed out a highway on the east side of Mount Hood, and it may take $20 million to reopen it, Oregon highway officials said.

The White River flowed over Oregon 35 on Monday and Tuesday, making cuts at least 20 feet deep through the highway and sending boulders and trees rolling down the mountainside, said Bill Barnhart, an Oregon Department of Transportation manager.

Two creeks also wiped out a section of the highway to the north.

The storms that hit Oregon and Washington state damaged hundreds of homes and broke rainfall records, authorities said. At least three deaths were blamed on the storm: two men in vehicles swept into a Washington river and a 78-year-old woman found along the Oregon coast, where another woman was missing.

On Mount Hood, as much as a million cubic yards of rock, mud and sand covered a quarter-mile stretch of road, the main highway connecting U.S. 26 from Government Camp to Hood River.

"None of us at ODOT or the U.S. Forest Service have ever seen it this bad," Barnhart said. "Our biggest concern right now is the safety of our workers."

There were no estimates when the highway would reopen. The same highway washed out in the summer of 2005.

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There are some crazy pictures of the collapsed highway too that I couldn't figure out how to post on here. So I guess the weather in Oregon can get pretty bad! I thought Oregonians were prepared for those sorts of things.

[tiffela74]

"None of us at ODOT or the U.S. Forest Service have ever seen it this bad," Barnhart said"
- see, its not that common to have flooding quite this bad. - I know i read somewhere that Lees Camp hit the all time record for rainfall in one day in the entire state. Almost 14inches!!! IN ONE FLIPPIN DAY!!!! Jeez. Thats a lot of water! Anyhow, the upside, we rarely have droughts!!
I saw the pics youre talking about. Looks like it did when Mt St. Helens blew up there in Washington and those bridges/roads were flushed out w/the water/rocks/mud/debrie that got pushed up from the lava flows. crazy eh? kinda freaky!!!
Now,I gotta say, I feel just awful for those poor ladies and their families. What a horrible tragedy. BUT...it was totally avoidable!!! They were stopped and told NOT to go walking on the beach, but they chose to sneak around and go anyhow. Okay, i LIVE at the beach, and I LOVE the beach during a storm, but Im not dumb enough to go walking down a desolate streatch of beach when there is a major wind/rain storm going on and people are being turned away!! What they did was foolish and it cost them their lives. Probably the most tragic part is it would not have happened if they would have heeded the warnings. sigh. Still, my deepest sympathy to their families.
So please dont worry too much, its NOT like flooding like this happens each year. K'?
Tiff

[Oregon Coast Guy]

I was on the central Oregon Coast on Tuesday and Wednesday and caught this wicked storm on video. If you'd like to check it out, it's at http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...21544447&hl=en

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by Des_Demona

[story on the washout of Oregon Highway 35 at the White River crossing, high on the east face of Mt. Hood, copyrighted in the Nov. 9 Portland Oregonian, snipped]
So I guess the weather in Oregon can get pretty bad! I thought Oregonians were prepared for those sorts of things.

They were prepared for it. This highway is designed to be washed away every decade or so. (The alternative would a suspension bridge almost a 1/4 mile long.)
This is a glacial outburst stream just below tree line on the mountainside. The river bed must have about a 7% gradient? It is very steep! The entire river bed is field of boulders up to the size of cars which are actively rolling down the mountainside during every spring flood. It's impossible to build any permanent structure on it.
The problem with this rain storm is that it was very warm. It melted all the early wet snow, and probably some of the White River glacier. A colder storm would have just dumped ten feet of snow up there instead.

[Steve97415]

Originally Posted by tiffela74

Anyhow, the upside, we rarely have droughts!!

I know that was probably just intended as a note of silver-lining levity, but water shortages are a serious concern throughout the PNW. We are still in the wet cycle of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, but droughts were a major problem back in the 80's during the dry cycle. They will be very worrisome when we return to the dry cycle in another 10 or 15 years. Water shortages are much more of a concern to state policy makers than this kind of unusual damage from the occassional torrential storm cell.

[bravov40]

water shortages are a serious concern throughout the PNW?
This is the first time I have heard this. What cities or areas in the PNW?
Where can I read more about this?

[Brett]

Well the problem isn't so much precipitation but how the precipitation falls. Our summers in Oregon are relatively dry, so it is important that we begin the "dry season" with a fairly good snow pack, when we have warm winters, the water falls as rain and runs off in winter, and there isnt enough water for summer. Also a warm, wet spring can mean a very bad fire season because that means a lot of heavy annual plant growth that dies off and becomes fuel for fires later in the summer.

I won't mention that as our average annual winter temps increase due to global climate change, the frequency of severe fire seasons will increase.