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143rd year, No. 129
REGONIAN
TUESDAy, APRiL 16, 2019
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WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
UMATILLA
Pedestrian bridge partially collapses
Repairs could take as long as three to five years
By JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
A pedestrian bridge connecting
Umatilla’s South Hill with down-
town partially collapsed sometime
late Saturday night or early Sun-
day morning.
The bridge spans the Umatilla
River about one-half mile west of
Wyden
discusses
health
care at
meeting
Umatilla High School, and many
students use it to walk to school.
The next closest bridge is another
half mile west where Highway 730
crosses the river.
Umatilla city manager David
Stockdale said engineers are com-
ing out Tuesday to make an official
determination, but staff believe
it is a total loss. Demolition and
replacement costs will likely be in
the millions of dollars and take at
least a year — probably more like
three to five years, he said.
On Sunday morning a section
of the bridge dipped down toward
the water, which was rushing just
below the bridge as spring runoff
pushed the river higher than usual.
A tangle of branches was caught
under the break in the bridge.
Scott Coleman, city public
works director, said when riv-
ers are swollen with floodwaters,
debris tend to collect against the
bridge and form a natural dam,
magnifying stress and pressure on
the structure.
“That’s what we had going on
here,” he said.
A water main runs along the
bridge, carrying water to South
Hill residents. Coleman said the
water had been rerouted and was
being delivered through a differ-
ent pipe. No one lost their water
service but they may see a drop
in pressure, and there would be a
major problem if the backup line
broke.
Umatilla Police Department
posted on Facebook that anyone
trying to cross the broken bridge
would be subject to criminal
See Bridge, Page A8
RISING CONCERNS
Pharmaceutical
costs also an issue
raised by Morrow
County residents
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Ron Wyden covered a
lot of ground with Morrow
County constituents at his
town hall meeting on Sun-
day. But the focus of the day
was health care, with Ore-
gon’s U.S. senator fielding
several questions about his
thoughts on Medicare for
All, pharmaceutical costs
and rural health care.
Wyden spoke at length
about his goal to keep phar-
maceutical costs down, and
keep manufacturers from
inflating prices. He talked
about his efforts to hold
PBMs, or Pharmaceutical
Benefit Managers, account-
able for hiking up prices on
medications.
Dr. Doug Flaiz, a retired
physician from Hermiston,
told Wyden that his wife had
recently been charged more
than $600 for a medication.
When Flaiz challenged the
price, he learned that the
price of the medicine was
actually about $30.
“That tells you about the
integrity of the (pharmacy
benefit management) sys-
tem,” Wyden said, noting
that it’s even more difficult
for people who don’t know
how to navigate the medical
system.
He praised local pharma-
cists, like the Murray family
See Wyden, Page A8
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Bill Grable, right, talks to neighbor Jim Houle and watches McKay Creek rise on Saturday afternoon.
Pendleton to declare
flooding emergency
East Oregonian
Bill Ledbetter lost track of how many
trips he had made to pick up sandbags.
The Pendleton man was one of many
McKay Creek area residents scrambling to
protect his home from rising waters Sat-
urday as the creek crested its banks, fill-
ing Community Park, backyards and city
streets with muddy waters.
Ledbetter said his side of the street was
OK, but several neighbors on the opposite
side of the street evacuated their homes
the day before.
“They have water up to here,” he said,
gesturing at calf-level. “They’re talking
about this until Thursday. They screwed
up by not regulating it out sooner.”
The city of Pendleton did not issue an
evacuation order, and flood waters are
receding, but locals are not out of the deep
yet. The city council Tuesday night is vot-
ing to declare an emergency due to the
worst flooding in years. The city council
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
See Flooding, Page A8
Jonathan Kelly and Laura Mullins, who both live above the dam, fill sandbags on Saturday
in southwest Pendleton for people in danger of having their homes flooded.
Flooding affects residents across Umatilla County
By PHIL WRIGHT AND
ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
The city of Ukiah is expe-
riencing much of what Pendle-
ton is going through, but on a
smaller scale.
Mayor Clint Barber said
three or four homes near Camas
Creek are surrounded by water,
and some properties in the sur-
rounding area.
Despite dealing with wors-
ening conditions since Friday,
Barber said no residences have
been hit with damage and the
worst local businesses experi-
enced was some water on the
floor. He added that flooding
conditions have improved since
then.
The city declared an emer-
gency nonetheless in an effort
to protect its sewer lift station
from floodwater.
“That’s our biggest prob-
lem, the sewer infrastructure,”
he said.
Barber said there’s a chance
that water could back up on a
creek channel and start to flow
into the lift station, although the
facility is currently surrounded
by some of the 2,000 sandbags
provided by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers.
He also hopes that the
See County, Page A8
CHI St. Anthony Hospital Family Clinic is recognized
as a Patient -Centered Primary Care Home.
What does that mean for you?
• Better-coordinated care.
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• Listening to your concerns and answering with the care you need in a safe and timely way.
questions.
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your health.
• After-hours nurse consultation.
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3001 St. Anthony Way, Pendleton
WWW.SAHPENDLETON.ORG
Mon through Thurs, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. • Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Sat and Sun, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.,
Walk-ins are welcome but appointments are preferred.