20
Wednesday, February 15, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
FLOODING:
Rain-on-snow event
threat is receding
Continued from page 1
speaker, was: “Plan ahead
and be prepared to take care
of yourself, if possible.” The
other side of that directive
was “Check on your neigh-
bor” in the case of an emer-
gency or natural disaster. And
finally, “Turn around. Don’t
drown.” In other words, do
not try to ford a stream that is
rising.
Kyle Gorman, South
Central Region manager of
the Oregon Water Resources
Department, told the audi-
ence that in Sisters there are
two mechanisms for flood-
ing: rain-on-snow events with
rapid melting; and an extraor-
dinary amount of snow at
lower elevations, like we have
had since mid-December.
There is currently 142
percent of average snow-
pack at high elevations and
130-140 percent snowpack at
Three Creek Meadow, with
abundant snow below that
elevation.
Gorman indicated that
the snowpack is firming up
so the chance of flooding
due to a rain-on-snow event
is decreasing. Problems are
more likely to arise when
the snow is newly fallen. By
March of most years, that pos-
sibility is greatly reduced or
gone.
Water flow for Whychus
Creek near Sisters is measured
at three different locations —
on the way to Three Creek
Lake outside of town, just
downstream from the Locust
Street bridge, and at Camp
Polk Road. The flow peaked
this month on February 9
with a mean daily flow of 202
cubic feet per second (CFS) at
the first station. On February
4 it had been 76 CFS and on
February 12, it had decreased
to 127 CFS.
The highest flow mea-
sured on Whychus Creek
was in 1964 at 2,000 CFS. In
February of 1996, the creek
washed out U.S. Highway
20. In 2014, when Whychus
Creek was running high and
fast through town and over its
banks in places, it was mov-
ing at 1,200 CFS. Since that
time, there has been work
done upstream from Sisters
creating some new high-water
channels.
Residents are able to
monitor the flow of Whychus
Creek in near-real-time
online. Go to www.Oregon.
gov/OWRD. In the left-
hand column, click on Near
Real Time Streamflow Data
under Lookup Information.
When that page opens, in
the upper right-hand corner,
enter the station number you
want to check. 14075000 is
Whychus Creek upstream
from town; 14076050 is the
location downstream from
the Locust Street bridge, and
14076100 is at Camp Polk
Road near Sisters. There is
also a link from the Sisters
Fire Department’s website.
Whychus is not the only
creek in Sisters’ backyard.
Trout Creek has a tributary
that runs under State Highway
126 and Highway 20 and
through Trapper Point, where
there has been occasional
minor flooding. Three Creek
has no channel so it finds
any low spot it can, caus-
ing problems at the Brooks-
Scanlon Haul Road, the
Black Diamond Ranch, and
a number of other properties.
Indian Ford Creek, with head-
waters at Black Butte Ranch,
can cause flooding near the
Sisters airport.
In the event of a flood in
Sisters, an emergency opera-
tions center would be set up
at Sisters’ fire station, where
the joint command of repre-
sentatives from the City, the
fire department, Deschutes
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County and the sheriff ’s
office and other agencies
will make the necessary deci-
sions to respond to the flood.
The joint command has a
plan ready to initiate in the
event of a flood, and there are
mutual-aid agreements among
all agencies.
The City will focus on
protecting the infrastructure
of sewer/water, bridges, and
roads. There are currently
three sewer-system cross-
ings on the creek and six
water-system crossings. The
City has local contractors
on standby, ready to remove
debris carried by the creek
from the bridges.
The fire department will
respond first to life threats and
stranded victims. They will
also assist with evacuations
if they are able. Assistant Fire
Chief Tim Craig’s job would
be to manage all available
resources, including the Black
Butte Ranch and Cloverdale
fire departments, the U.S.
Forest Service, the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife, and other agencies.
The fire department will
also drive through the affected
areas to do a field damage
assessment to determine the
level of impact of the flood.
They will assess structures for
habitability. They will not stop
to deal with non-life-threaten-
ing incidents. There will be
very little direct intervention
beyond their normal duties of
firefighting and medical calls.
The Deschutes County
Sheriff’s Office of Emergency
Management will help wher-
ever they are needed, by sup-
porting local resources with
additional County resources.
They act as the conduit to
the State of Oregon for more
resources. They also man-
age the damage assessments
that go to the State and on to
FEMA. They also coordinate
with the American Red Cross
to set up shelters.
If residents want to receive
PHOTO BY SUE STAFFORD
A resident registered her cellphone for emergency contacts.
emergency notifications on
their cell phones, they must
register online. The site is
www.deschutes.org/911/
alerts. The Deschutes Alert
System was instituted in May
2016 so that, besides receiving
a reverse 911 call on a land-
line, it is also now possible to
receive it on a cell phone or
voice-over-Internet platform
(VoIP). The alert system cov-
ers all of Deschutes County
as well as Crooked River
Ranch and Camp Sherman in
Jefferson County.
Several of the speakers
confirmed that sandbags are
not a great tool against flood-
ing. They are best utilized
to protect outside doors and
foundation vents. To build
a 100-foot wall, two feet
high using sandbags would
take 2,100 sandbags. Hay
bales with plastic sheeting
are a viable alternative, as
is plastic sheeting and duct
tape on outside doors. Sand
piles are available at Village
Green Park and Creekside
Campground for residents to
fill their own sandbags.
If a resident owns prop-
erty within the 100-year flood
plain, they should definitely
have flood insurance. Of the
80 properties identified, only
about 50 percent have cover-
age. If there is damage from
a flood, and a homeowner
doesn’t have flood insur-
ance, they are on their own,
according to Fire Chief Roger
Johnson. Homeowners insur-
ance does not cover loss from
a flood.
“Familiarize yourself with
the creek. What does 500 CFS
look like? And then be aware
of what the creek is doing,”
said Johnson.
Sisters Public Works
Director Paul Bertagna was
pleased with the turnout of
almost 100 people for the
event.
“Over the past five years,
the City has worked to
improve and strengthen our
emergency response capabili-
ties,” he said.
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