welcome/city news
from the editor
january7
2016
Winter certainly arrived with
authority this year causing disruptions
in power, travel and holiday planning.
Those disruptions meant a lot of extra
work for city, county and utility workers
throughout the region.
After last year’s mild winter,
the angry and rude arrival of the season
came as a bit of a shock.
I just wanted to take a moment
to acknowledge and thank all the public
and utility employees who worked so
hard and put in extra long hours to get
our power restored, to keep our streets
and roads safe and passable, and keep
everything operational through the
several weather incidents during a crazy
month of December that concluded
2015.
The beautiful sunshine and
clear skies that appeared during the
New Year holiday weekend, followed
by more snow, icy rain and dangerous
driving conditions may have helped
some of us forget the weather condi-
tions that antagonized us in December.
But still, it was a rough stretch, start-
ing December 8-9 when heavy and per-
sistent rains caused regional flooding,
land slides, closed roads, and power
outages throughout the region. Local
city workers spent extra time planning
for and fighting the elements, clearing
storm drains and helping residents with
sandbags to protect against damages.
Past mitigation efforts successfully pro-
tected many homes and properties from
the water in areas of Vernonia prone to
flooding. High water and mudslides did
make travel difficult and continuing rain
meant a trip out of Vernonia required a
check on road conditions and closures.
A mudslide on Interstate 5 forced a traf-
fic detour through Longview and onto
Highway 30, causing delays of several
hours for regular commuters. County
and state road crews battled the ele-
ments to keep trouble spots clear of de-
bris as approximately 14 inches of rain
fell between December 5 and December
13. The Scappoose-Vernonia Highway
was a particularly troublesome spot and
slides blocked and damaged the road
in the same spot several times. Those
slides also caused electricity outages for
many local customers as well.
Just when things were getting
back to normal a powerful windstorm
swept through the region on Decem-
ber 11 knocking down limbs and en-
tire trees, shutting down power and
once again closing road ways to travel.
WOEC workers, along with outside
crews of linemen spent the next week,
The following
report was
prepared by Vernonia city staff,
including Ben Fousek of the Planning
Department, and presented to the
Vernonia City Council at their January
4, 2016 meeting by City Administrator
Josette Mitchell. The report summarizes
the damage and assesses the City’s
response to the storm that hit the region
on December 8-9, 2015.
On December 8, 2015 the
Vernonia area experienced moderate
flooding. The City responded along
with assistance from state and county
emergency agencies. Due to mitigation
efforts following the Decmber 2007
flood, damage was relatively moderate.
Flood water inundation was minimal.
This flood event saw higher water levels
in Bear Creek, affecting the downtown
area. Ponding in low lying areas, along
with poor storm water control led to
the majority of the affected homes
and businesses. Much of the personal
property damage and loss was the result
of homeowners storing property in flood
and ponding prone areas.
City Administrator Mitchell,
Police
Chief
Mike Conner, and
Fire Chief Dean
Smith initiated the
Emergency Operation
Center (EOC) on
December 8 th , 2015
at
approximately
8:30pm. The City
of Vernonia was
commended by the
County Emergency
Christian Aid Ministries helped with debris removal.
Management on their
and volunteers. Her professionalism and
quick response and thorough handling of thoroughness throughout the event was
the event and recovery.
vital.
City Public Works staff worked
Kristina McCord performed
through the night to barricade impassable logistical management of EOC
roads and maintain production of city operations, tracking members outreach
water. During the event the reservoirs and duty assignments. Her constant
were full and staff continued to make attention to the coming and going of
drinkable water throughout the flood operations was essential to maintain
event. Public Works staff is to be safety of crews and volunteers. She is to
commended for their excellent service be recognized for her service during the
throughout the event.
event.
Iwalani Leininger from the
Following the event City staff
Vernonia Police Department worked coordinated damage assessment teams
diligently to complete required to track data that was used to inform the
information forms, track volunteers, and Governor of the storm’s effect on the
maintain communication between EOC community. Initial damage assessments
working to restore power to local resi-
dents as the Christmas holiday was fast
approaching. Just to keep things inter-
esting, and miserable for the workers
out there, another 6 inches of rain fell
during the week between December 17
and December 23.
And then, once again, just as
things were returning to normal, some
cold weather and Christmas snow ar-
rived on the morning of December 24,
just in time to foul up last minute shop-
ping trips and holiday travel plans. Road
crews were out once again to clear roads
and a brief power outage in Vernonia
left locals wondering if it was going to
be a white, but dark, Christmas.
Fortunately our local city work-
ers, county road crews, and WOEC
workers got the job done and for the
most part everyone was warm, safe, dry
and happy on December 25.
Thank you once again to all the
workers who spent extra time on the
job, away from family and friends, deal-
ing with the weather and all the issues
it provided this December. Your efforts
do not go unnoticed and are very much
appreciated.
3
Publisher and Managing Editor
Scott Laird
503-367-0098
scott@vernoniasvoice.com
Contributors
Britt Bensen Steele
Dr. Carol McIntyre
Aaron Miller
Paul Pastor
Photography
Jessika Goodman
Scott Laird
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Vernonia’s Voice is published
on the 1st and 3rd Thursday
of each month.
Scott Laird
Editor and Publisher
Vernonia’s Voice, LLC
PO Box 55
Vernonia, OR 97064
503-367-0098
December 8, 2015 Storm Report
www.VernoniasVoice.com
showed most damage occurred in
outbuildings and garages, rather than
living spaces of homes.
City staff notified property
owners of the process by which debris
would be removed and coordinated
with Waste Management to organize
containers to accept debris and use of
transfer station. The City was fortunate to
have Christian Aid Ministries assist the
Public Works Department in collecting
and removing debris on December 16 th ,
2015. Without the support of Christian
Aid Ministries’ service the debris
removal would have been a multiple day
event, instead it was completed in one
day. Citizens were asked to segregate
hazardous waste away from debris.
City staff coordinated with Columbia
County Solid Waste to have a hazardous
continued on page 5
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