Sean C. Morgan
Schools remained closed in Sweet Home and elsewhere in the mid-Valley Monday, and Wiley Creek Drive and McDowell Creek Drive were still closed by downed trees and power lines, thanks to a series of weather systems bringing snow and ice to the region.
Some 1,400 Linn County Pacific Power customers east of Interstate 5 were still out of power Monday afternoon. Pacific Power Spokesman Tom Gauntt anticipated restoration of power by Monday evening or early Tuesday.
In an eight-county area, from Astoria to Eugene, Oregon Department of Transportation crews had reduced the snow pack on state highways to mainly higher elevations.
Spots of ice and slush remained, but key area highways in Marion, Linn and Lane were restored to bare pavement in time for business travelers Monday morning.
I-5 had been closed by several major crashes Thursday, and Interstate 105 in Eugene was closed Sunday afternoon after an ODOT plow and truck overturned while plowing slush from the highway.
Pacific Power reported as many as 9,000 customers without power in the Sweet Home, Brownsville and Halsey areas Saturday. More than 4,000 were still without power on Sunday.
“Access is our biggest issue at this time,” said Doug Butler, PacifiCorp vice president of operations. “We are able to concentrate our resources on a specific area, and we’re bringing experienced crews and equipment to the hardest hit areas from less affected parts of the state.”
Crew members stationed in Albany worked more than 24 hours in one stretch during the weekend. They were assisted by crews from Medford, Roseburg, Coos Bay, Klamath Falls and Portland. Total, more than 120 crews were at work during the storm.
Gauntt said the Lebanon-Sweet Home area appeared to be the hardest-hit.
The damage was widespread, he said. Monday, crews were still working on 1,400 outages caused by 431 individual hazards east of I-5. That can be anything from a limb to a tree down on a wire.
When a substation goes out, repairing it will restore power to more people, he said. When the hazards are widespread, power is restored a little at a time.
In some cases, crews had to return to streets where they already made repairs to handle new hazards and outages, Gauntt said.
Pacific Power customers began experiencing outages at 10 p.m. on Friday. By Saturday, most of Sweet Home was without power. A small downtown section, between 12th and 15th avenues, retained power throughout the weekend.
Outages began in rapid succession after the weather turned rainy and icy Friday evening.
“We had really cold and dry air already in place before the snow came in,” said Treena Hartley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland. “That kind of set the stage.”
Strong east and north winds brought cold air into the area, Hartley said. That was followed by weak weather systems that brought precipitation.
Initially just snow, it didn’t cause many problems around Sweet Home.
“Friday, the systems progressively got warmer, but the surface remained cold,” Hartley said. The easterlies were still coming, but they were weaker.
The system that evening was much warmer, and it fell as rain into the colder surface temperatures, soaking the snow and creating a rind of ice on top of the snow.
Hartley noted that just a couple of weeks ago, Oregon was experiencing wildfires due to dry weather.
After the system hit on Friday, Sweet Home Police Sgt. Jason Ogden said the roads were getting slicker.
And the first power lines started falling. The police didn’t record any downed wires Friday, but they counted 13 on Saturday and four Sunday morning.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District began recording calls for wires down on Friday, but the bulk came on Saturday.
“Starting Friday after dark, all day Saturday, we got hit with just a ton of wire down calls and tree fires,” said Fire Chief Mike Beaver.
From 6:30 p.m. on Friday through Sunday, the district had 23 reported downed wires or tree fires, Beaver said. The district also received calls for two minor flue fires and 17 medical emergencies.
Saturday, the fire department responded to 29 calls. From 6:30 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday morning, the department responded to seven calls.
Neither agency saw many problems on the road.
“People seemed to drive fairly responsibly,” Beaver said. “I was out and about, probably more than I should’ve been, there were very few people out on the road.”
“I was pleased,” said Police Chief Jeff Lynn. The slow city speeds kept Sweet Home from experiencing the problems on county roads and I-5. The Police Department recorded four minor crashes and one call about a vehicle reportedly stuck on the Main Street median. That vehicle was gone when the officer arrived.
Sheriff Bruce Riley reported that his deputies responded to 210 weather-related calls, including 53 crashes, 63 motorist assist calls, 76 traffic hazards and numerous welfare checks, abandoned vehicles and assists to agencies and individuals.
Deputies assisted stranded drivers by pushing high-centered vehicles out of the deep snow, Riley said. They also helped drivers install and repair tire chains and gave stranded drivers rides to safe locations.
Some of the assist calls including giving rides to people who were walking in deep snow along the roadways, and in one a deputy assisted an elderly man reach the pharmacy to get medication.
The Linn County Sheriff’s Office Community Emergency Response Team transported approximately 20 critical hospital staff members from their homes to the Lebanon and Albany hospitals, allowing the hospitals to have the staffing required to treat patients during the weather event.
Oregon State Police troopers responded to about 600 weather-related crashes between Thursday morning and Saturday afternoon. Most resulted in only minor injuries, but troopers handled one fatal crash near Rooster Rock on Interstate 84.
Troopers also assisted about 900 motorists in need of assistance on Oregon’s roadways due to the severe road and weather conditions.
The weather had largely transitioned to more typical winter weather Monday, and Hartley said the National Weather Service is predicting a series of warmer rain systems, with winds gusting up to 35 mph possible this week. The wind is most likely along the coast and coast range, although it could reach the valley.
Last week’s weather event had a clearly defined boundary, Hartley said. The meteorologists were calling it an “arctic boundary.” Eugene was freezing, while Roseburg was at 50 degrees.
“I think a lot of that had to do with the terrain,” Hartley said.
The snow level should remain between 4,000 and 5,000 feet, she said.