http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22082408/
Rescues in Ore. town cut off by flooding
Dozens rescued earlier in Washington; Northwest saw back-to-back
storms
updated 2:51 p.m. ET Dec. 4, 2007
PORTLAND, Ore. -{AP} National Guard troops evacuated residents in a
flooded town Tuesday and tens of thousands of residents remained
without power after back-to-back storms pounded the Pacific Northwest,
killing five people.
Troops with the Oregon Air National Guard used inflatable rafts to
evacuate flooded residents in Vernonia, a mountain timber town on the
Nehalem River, about 35 miles northwest of Portland.
“They’re moving down the streets, and through the backyards,” said
Maj. Mike Braibish, spokesman for the National Guard.
Vernonia, which has about 2,200 residents, had been largely cut off by
landslides that blocked roads into the community, but Guard trucks
with high clearance were able to get in late Monday and more were
being sent, Braibish said.
Still, communications were difficult. “There are no phone lines or
land lines available in Vernonia,” said Hyla Ridenour, spokeswoman for
Columbia River Fire and Rescue in nearby St. Helens.
The storm that hit Monday smacked the region with hurricane-force
winds and several inches of rain, and was blamed for five deaths in
Oregon and Washington state. It came only a day after another severe
system moved through Sunday.
Earlier storm heads for Midwest
By Tuesday, the second system had moved on to the Upper Plains and
Midwest, where it was predicted to bring new snow. In North Dakota,
the National Weather Service said parts of the state could get up to 9
inches of snow.
Towns on the coast were hit hardest by the storms. Red Cross shelters
in western Oregon were housing 556 people as of midnight, said
spokeswoman Lise Harwin.
The governors of both Washington and Oregon declared states of
emergency, which could speed relief efforts in flood-hit areas. The
National Weather Service said 3 to 6 inches of rain had fallen across
much of western Washington. The 24-hour rain total for Bremerton,
Wash., was 10.78 inches.
In Washington, some 130 people had to be rescued from flooded areas by
Coast Guard helicopters. Mudslides and floods blocked roads, and
Interstate 5, the principal north-south route along the West Coast,
was closed near Centralia because of about 10 feet of water over the
road. Many schools and government offices were closed for a second
day.
Mudslides also halted Amtrak passenger train service between Portland
and Vancouver, British Columbia.
Thousands still without power
Nearly 75,000 customers lost power in Washington, and more than 50,000
were still without power Tuesday morning, emergency management
officials said. In Oregon, Portland-based Pacific Power said about
36,000 customers were still without power.
In Oregon, a 90-year-old woman died after suffering what Tillamook
County medical examiner Dr. Paul Betlinski called “a weather-related
heart attack” as she evacuated. In the same area, a truck was swept
away by floodwaters, and the driver was reported dead.
In Washington, a man in Aberdeen died when a tree fell on him as he
was trying to clear another downed tree. Another man died in Montesano
when the cutoff of electricity left him without the oxygen equipment
he needed, officials said.
A man in Mason County died Monday night when he was buried in a
building hit by a mudslide, Kyle Herman, spokesman for the Washington
State Emergency Management Division, said Tuesday.
Mudslides blocked numerous roads and forced an undetermined number of
residents to evacuate condominiums, apartments and houses in Seattle,
at least nine houses in suburban Burien and several mobile homes in
Shelton.
In Olympia, the rain Monday turned a normally small creek into a
roiling, muddy surge of water that tore through a wall at the Ranch
House BBQ restaurant. Tables and booths were strewn across the street.
Christy Romo, who lives just up the hill, said she could hear the
floodwaters coming and started packing before the first floor of her
cabin was inundated.
“I knew I wouldn’t have much time,” Romo said. “I heard a bang, and
then saw the water rising quickly.”
Power companies said electricity may not be restored to some areas for
three or four days. More stiff winds were likely, but nothing like the
blasts that exceeded 120 miles mph at the height of the storm.
The back-to-back storm fronts Sunday and Monday were among the
Northwest’s worst in recent memory. The first storm marched across the
country, killing at least 15 people, mostly in traffic accidents, and
dumping snow from the Midwest to the Northeast.
The winter weather spelled success for ski areas in New England that
suffered through an abysmal winter last year. In Vermont, 7 inches of
snow welcomed skiers and snowboarders Monday.
“It’s not snow. It’s white gold,” said Christopher Francis, innkeeper
at Ye Olde England Inne, a 30-room establishment in the shadow of
Vermont’s Stowe Mountain Resort.
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