4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2016
Storm: Plenty of weekend events were canceled
Continued from Page 1A
Major cancellations
The Great Columbia Cross-
ing slated for Sunday was
canceled.
The event organizers made
the decision after talking
with the Oregon Department
of Transportation and law
enforcement.
With irst responders and
medical personnel having to
attend to emergencies around
the area Saturday night and
Sunday morning, they might
be unavailable to help at the
10K run/walk over the Asto-
ria Bridge.
“It would be unwise and
unsafe for us to continue with-
out adequate stafing for traf-
ic control, security, medical
response,” Kelsey Balensifer
said in a release.
“Additionally, we are
aware that many of our par-
ticipants are traveling consid-
erable distances to participate
in our event, even while possi-
bly facing dangerous road and
weather conditions. We do not
want anyone to risk their safety
for the sake of our event — it’s
simply not worth it,” she said.
Organizers plan to try to
reschedule the Great Columbia
Crossing for later this year and
will contact all entrants with
the news.
“We apologize for any
inconvenience or hardship
this has caused,” Balensifer
said. “We hope you will be
able to join us on the bridge
again in the future, under bet-
ter circumstances.”
The inal Astoria Sunday
Market of the year was also
canceled, along all high school
football games, state parks,
Lewis and Clark National His-
torical Park, Astor Street Opry
Company and Coaster Theater
productions, Clatsop Commu-
nity College, Cannon Beach
Dog Show on the Beach and
many other businesses and
events.
Coastal football games
were rescheduled for tonight,
including Seaside’s homecom-
ing game against Tillamook.
Photos by Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
Storm debris is seen here on Friday, in Manzanita. More photos from this weekend’s storms online at DailyAstorian.com
A park visitor braces himself against the wind from atop a
viewing deck overlooking the South Jetty of the Columbia
River on Saturday at Fort Stevens State Park in Hammond.
Waves crash against the South Jetty of the Columbia River on Saturday at Fort Stevens
State Park in Hammond.
Typhoon Songda
The storm carried the rem-
nants of Typhoon Songda,
which wreaked havoc in the
western Paciic days ago. It
closely followed a separate
storm that on Friday brought
a tornado to Manzanita (see
related story); injured a 4-year-
old boy and his father when a
tree branch fell in West Seat-
tle; and prompted the Coast
Guard and other emergency
oficials near Port Angeles,
Washington, to make several
boat trips across a lake to res-
cue 40 teenagers and six adults
who became stranded at an
outdoor recreation camp after
they lost power and downed
trees blocked their way out.
The tornado destroyed
two businesses and rendered
one home uninhabitable, but
no injuries were reported.
Another twister was conirmed
near Oceanside but it caused
no damage.
What happened
to the big blow?
Here are some questions
and answers about the storm
that was originally forecast to
be one of the worst in recent
history.
What was predicted?
The storm was a remnant of
Typhoon Songda, which had
Storm debris is seen here on Friday in Manzanita.
Why wasn’t it so
intense?
Park visitors take photos from atop a viewing deck overlooking the South Jetty of the
Columbia River as a storm rolls in on Saturday at Fort Stevens State Park in Hammond.
wreaked havoc in the west-
ern Paciic last week. Heavy
rains and strong winds were
expected when it hit land on
Saturday.
Oficials estimated 80 mph
wind gusts in some regions as
the storm moved up the Oregon
coast early Saturday and even-
tually into Washington later that
day. Residents were warned to
keep off the roads, while parks
and zoos were closed to help
keep people inside.
What was
the damage?
The 50-mph wind squalls
were big enough to down
power lines and toss tree
branches onto streets and vehi-
cles, particularly closer to the
coast where winds were the
strongest.
At one point, tens of thou-
sands of residents were left
without electricity. A spokes-
man for the Portland Bureau
of Transportation told The
Oregonian that the agency
received more than 200 calls
on Saturday about fallen trees,
looding and other issues.
No injuries have been
immediately reported. A tor-
nado brought on by a separate
storm Friday hurt a 4-year-old
boy and his father in Oregon
when it dropped a tree branch
on them in Seattle.
The storm brought heavy
rain and wind as far south as
Northern California.
The National Weather
Service attributed the weak-
er-than-predicted winds to
the storm ending up with
two pressure centers when
it approached the Oregon
coastline.
Meteorologists
thought it would only have
one. This helped break up the
intensity.
However, the subdued
nature of the storm still has
meteorologists puzzled. In a
statement released late Sat-
urday, the weather service
said it would be studying the
storm over the next few weeks
to help better their forecast
models.
“(When) a forecast does
not work out as expected, it
is frustrating as a forecaster.
Weather science and model
forecasts are getting bet-
ter every day, but this is just
another reminder that Mother
Nature will always keep a
certain level of unpredict-
ability,” the weather agency
wrote.
In the future
It wasn’t hard to ind peo-
ple joking on social media
about the storm’s lackluster
performance. Several memes
had already popped up Satur-
day and some Twitter users in
Portland joked that they were
just thankful they could still go
to the farmer’s market.
But the National Weather
Service says that doesn’t mean
people should stop believing
storm warnings.
“It’s good to be prepared
for any storm. Following
warnings is just good advice,”
said Jay Nehler, a meteorol-
ogist in Seattle. “Sometimes
forecasts are right and some-
times they’re not — doesn’t
mean you shouldn’t listen to
them.”
Tornado: A second twister was reported in Oceanside
Continued from Page 1A
On Manzanita Avenue,
contractor Mark Whitten was
busy clearing wood. He’d
been working since right after
the tornado.
“Just takin’ down a tree,”
Whitten said. “Then I’ll start
taking down more trees.”
Steve Feltz, whose home
was undamaged, said the tor-
nado angled through town
in a narrow swath. “It didn’t
come up straight up Laneda,”
Feltz said “It looks like it
came from the southwest to
the northeast. It surprises me
there’s not more damage to
the houses.”
Starlight Frost of Manza-
nita News and Espresso said
she was at her home near
Highway 53 early Friday
R.J. Marx/The Daily Astorian
Damage along Laneda Avenue on Sunday.
morning when “bright pink
lightning lit up the sky.”
She received a call from
the barista on duty that
“a small tornado just hit
Manzanita.”
“From here, this seemed
small to her,” Frost said Sun-
day morning at the cafe,
located at 500 Laneda. “The
funnel went right on the other
side of the building.”
At Manzanita Sweets and
Toylandia, “no one was in the
building luckily,” Mark Eck-
strom, whose mother owns the
store, said. “I was at my house
over in Pine Ridge when I got
the tornado warning. Then I
heard that it came to Manza-
nita and I came down to check
on things.”
Eckstrom spent the week-
end trying to clean up and
boarding windows at the shop
and for neighbors.
Have you ever seen any-
thing like this here?
“Not really,” Eckstrom
said. “You don’t really expect
a tornado to come down in the
middle of Manzanita.”
Gordon McCraw, the
director of Tillamook County
Emergency
Management,
said Monday morning that the
cleanup continues.
McCraw said 128 struc-
tures were damaged, from
minor to severe. Four struc-
tures — two residences and
two businesses — are too dan-
gerous to enter. All but 44 res-
idents had power by Saturday
afternoon.
“(The public utilities
department) planted a lot of
poles really quick and con-
nected the wires to get the
electricity restored,” McCraw
said. “Those guys are rock
stars.”
The tornado came on shore
to the south of Laneda Avenue
and headed northwest cross-
ing Laneda and other streets,
before dissipating prior to
striking U.S. Highway 101.
McCraw said the National
Weather Service calculated
that it was an EF2 tornado and
was on the ground for sev-
en-tenths of a mile. The tor-
nado scale extends from zero
to 5, and an EF2 classiication
describes a tornado that can
cause considerable damage.
A second tornado was
reported in Oceanside.
“The remarkable thing
is being one of the stronger
tornados to strike Oregon in
recent history and for the dis-
tance it traveled, we had no
deaths and no reported inju-
ries,” he said.
Lyra Fontaine contributed
to this report.