Winter Storm Warning Feb 2019 (Bend, North Bend: insurance, houses, neighborhood)

[Snownut]

Watching the radar and see the moisture train on the pacific ocean drifting north into Oregon again today.

[Thom52]

No mail, no plowing, but we do have a couple feet of snow in our neighborhood.

I do like the way no one panic buys groceries in Central Oregon. We were due for a big grocery shopping when the snow hit and had to improvise for dinners while I dug us out. We finally made a grocery store run this morning. Not much traffic on our street to pack it down, but luckily a couple of high clearance trucks had knocked the snow down to about a foot deep....or so, on the road. I cleared a "launch pad" in front of our house and was just barely able to make the couple of turns to get out of our neighborhood using our Subie Forester with studded tires and X-mode (or Beast Mode, as I call it). Definitely floating around on the snow and had to keep moving or get stuck. Once out on our local main road it wasn't much better until we got onto the really main roads, i.e. highway and the shopping center and those are a breeze to drive.

Another 6 inches predicted this afternoon to tomorrow morning.

My nephew in another part of town, up on Awbrey Butte, was ranting about getting his road plowed late last night, burying all his hard work to clear his driveway, leaving a berm that would turn into ice by morning when he can get out there again.

Living in Central Oregon is not for wimps.

[Cloudy Dayz]

Crews are working hard to open OR 58

Trying to get food and supplies to Oakridge

SPRINGFIELD— ODOT crews and contractors are working at a breakneck pace today to get OR 58 open following record snowfall and hundreds of trees that fell on the road and downed power lines. The City of Oakridge, 40 miles east of the Eugene-Springfield area, has been without power stranding residents and workers since Monday morning.



The OR 58 corridor, which connects Interstate 5 with U.S. 97 in Central Oregon, has been hit particularly hard. ODOT crews, contractors and timber fallers have already removed over 200 trees ranging in size from 12 inches to 3 feet. There are still many more trees to remove.

ODOT has moved crews and resources from other parts of the state and have hired a number of private contractors to help with the job. There is still no estimate when the road will be passable.

“Our immediate goal is to open a lane of traffic that will be a lifeline for the Oakridge community so we can move food and supplies, and allow the power company into the community to restore electricity,” said Jim Gamble, ODOT District 5 Manager in Springfield.

Crews are working at each end of OR 58 to open the highway. The 70-mile stretch of road travels over Willamette Pass and is an important route for east-west travel across the state.

Yesterday, during the snow storm, crews were forced to retreat twice due to the heavy, wet snow dropping these trees around crews causing multiple near misses and vehicle damage.

“Due to the extreme safety concerns we were forced to pull back our crews,” Gamble said. “Today, with the calmer conditions, we hope to make a lot of progress toward opening the road.”

Other areas of Lane and Linn County are still reporting fallen trees and downed power lines. While the major closure is OR 58, other sections of area roads still contain heavy snowfall and some fallen trees. Travelers should leave extra time when traveling and expect winter driving conditions.

Crews worked hard late yesterday and overnight to plow as much of the snow off the roads before sub-freezing temperatures hit the area. Crews also used sand, deicer and some salt in certain locations.

Crews are working hard to open OR 58.html

[Metlakatla]

My senior citizen father is up in Oakridge and has no food or heat.

https://kval.com/news/local/resident...-food-or-power

The town has no power, meaning gas stations and grocery stores are closed, and Lane Electric says power may not be restored for another week.

We spoke with a family from the town today who said neighbors are huddling together around folks who have propane-fueled generators to stay warm.

But with services out, they say that won’t last long, and they’re worried about what will be happen if things become desperate.

"You can't get a hold of water, you can't get a hold of food, you can't get a hold of any sort of fuel to create heat or to cook with,” said Christina Mentzer, and Oakridge resident. “So people are looking for propane, people are looking for gasoline, people are looking for water. Today they're asking, but as of right now essentially what's going on is they're going around town finding where they can get stuff if it gets that bad."

[BendLocal]

I learned that removing snow from the edge of the roof doesn't stop ice dams. Instead the ice dams form as soon as the snow melt hits a cold surface which is now higher up on the roof. Less icicles but the dams and water are still up on the roof but they may be hidden from a ground level view.

[Coniferian]

We lived in the mountains of Colorado for over 30 years, so this isn't new to us. Even at 8,000' the county usually had our dirt road plowed by 6am, so if we could get a car down the driveway, we were in the clear. Power failures were a big problem because we couldn't get water from our well. We would melt snow on a wood stove, and of course, there's always 40 gallons in the hot water heater. I'm surprised that the city of Redmond doesn't plow side streets much. We have fewer miles of them than Bend. Bend Bulletin got two papers to us yesterday, but no mail or trash pickup.

[Coniferian]

Shortly after my last post, I spotted two Redmond plows on the Greenwood cross street. Thanks guys!

[Coniferian]

Here in NW Redmond we got about another 6" last night and about 10 minutes of sun this morning.

[BendLocal]

Thom, what's the total for your area of Bend? Over 30" yet?

[Thom52]

Originally Posted by BendLocal

Thom, what's the total for your area of Bend? Over 30" yet?

well over 30 inches by now. In the upper NW corner of Bend we seem to have more snow than "central" Bend. We got another 6 inches overnight. Finally got our first pass of a snowplow last night.

Normally 6 inches of snow is easy to clear, even though I don't have a snowblower, but the problem is now the snow piles are so tall on my postage stamp lot that I have to put a large amount of effort just to get the snow to the top of the piles.