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OFF PAGE ONE
East Oregonian
Friday, February 7, 2020
Staff photo by Andrew Cutler
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
People evacuate the Riverview Mobile Home Estates in Pendleton on Thursday evening after
the Umatilla River rose several feet, sinking the park.
Robin Hauck, a property manager at Riverview Mobile Home Estates, shovels gravel into
bags as Cheryl Baker holds open the bags at the property in eastern Pendleton on Thursday.
Flooding: ‘We knew there
would be flooding issues’
Continued from Page A1
Hendricks said he may have
gone to stay with someone on
higher ground.
At that time, Roberts said
he was unaware of any inju-
ries caused by the flooding.
“The reality is, you need
to stay away from the River-
view area. Don’t even attempt
to come down,” he said.
Emergency shelters for
evacuees
The Pendleton Convention
Center opened its doors as an
emergency shelter Thursday
night, as the Umatilla River
rose from moderate to major
flood stage on the east side of
the city and on the Umatilla
Indian Reservation.
Before it opened, Con-
vention Center Manager Pat
Beard said the shelter was
anticipating 75 to 100 guests
from across the county. Mem-
bers of the Red Cross in Bend
were en route to Pendleton
before the shelter opened at
7:30 p.m.
“We’ll be open for intake
all night,” Beard said.
The Confederated Tribes
of the Umatilla Indian Res-
ervation stated in a news
release Thursday night that
the Cmuytpama Warming
Station was open for evacu-
ees as well.
“Family of those affected
who are currently await-
ing arrival of residents being
transported by emergency
personnel are advised to wait
at the Mission Gym on July
Grounds Lane,” the release
said.
The city of Pendleton
advised the public to stay off
of the river levee due to heavy
debris. By 8 p.m., water was
pouring into the parking lot at
the East Oregonian office on
Southeast Byers Avenue.
Pendleton City Manager
Robb Corbett said that based
on eastward stream gauges,
the water should be lower Fri-
day morning.
“It’s important for people
to know that there’s no threat
of flooding at McKay Creek.
The reservoir is at lower than
average levels,” he said.
Flooding closes roads in
rural Umatilla County
More rural areas of the
county saw their share of ris-
ing waters Thursday.
“There’s a considerable
amount of snow melt going
on,” said Umatilla County
Sheriff Terry Rowan. “We’ve
been on it since very early
this morning, and we know
the threat will continue for at
least 24 hours.”
He added that Mil-
ton-Freewater and Adams
had both been hit hard with
rushing waters Thursday.
Gibben, an unincorpo-
rated community on the res-
ervation, was hit with record
flooding, according to the
weather service.
In Adams, Thorn Hollow
Road was closed, and in Mil-
ton-Freewater, parts of Walla
Walla River Road were also
closed. According to the sher-
iff’s office, a state of emer-
gency was declared in Weston
on Thursday afternoon due to
the flooding.
Tom Roberts, the Umatilla
County emergency services
manager, said the National
Guard provided aerial aid as
roads near the Umatilla River
filled with water.
He said the county relies
on National Weather Service
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Water inundates the Riverview Mobile Home Estates in eastern Pendleton as the Umatilla River rose several feet on Thursday
evening in Pendleton.
data to get prepared.
“Sometimes it’s advance
warning, sometimes it’s as
quick as they get,” he said.
“Both myself and the tribes
are working towards solu-
tions. (We’re) trying to ensure
the public knows we’re get-
ting as many resources as we
can. Please don’t put your-
self in harm’s way, don’t cross
moving water,” he said.
Roberts added that the
effects of flooding were antic-
ipated to calm in the next 24
hours.
“These are not going to
be like the floods last year,”
he said, “It will start to
end (Thursday) evening or
Friday.”
He urged people who
may be isolated due to flood-
waters on the roads to seek
higher ground.
Tim McMahan, a spokes-
person for Union Pacific Rail-
road, said a mudslide 26 miles
east of Pendleton rendered a
portion of the railroad tracks
unusable. Thursday after-
noon, he said the company
did not know when the slide
would be cleaned up.
The weather service con-
firmed Thursday night that
flood warnings were effective
in Pendleton, Gibbon, and
near the Touchet River out-
side Milton-Freewater.
Landslides causing
issues for ODOT
Thursday evening, the
Oregon Department of Trans-
portation announced High-
way 204, the Tollgate High-
way, would be closed until
7 a.m. Friday morning due to
two landslides that plugged
streams and culverts adjacent
to the Grande Ronde River.
“If conditions allow,”
stated the department in a
news release “we will escort
local residents and emer-
gency vehicles only through
the high water areas.”
The release added that
drivers should only travel
through water unless they’re
certain of the depth, and that
high waters can misplace
pavement entirely.
“We knew there would be
flooding issues,” said Ore-
gon Department of Trans-
portation spokesperson Tom
Strandberg on Thursday
afternoon.
A similar flooding event
was being addressed on state
Highway 244, the Ukiah-Hil-
gard Highway, just west of
Hilgard State Park and the
junction with Interstate 84
in Union County. Thursday
night, the department’s traf-
fic update website, Tripcheck,
showed delays between 20
minutes and two hours due to
floodwaters.
“Tis the season to be
watching out for this stuff. Be
vigilant, be prepared. Don’t
be driving where there’s water
in the roadway,’’ he said.
He added that drivers can
check Tripcheck for cur-
rent updates to roadways,
and to expect delays on both
roadways.
———
East Oregonian reporter
Alex Castle contributed to
this report.
Rescue: ‘This is by far the worst I’ve ever seen it’
Continued from Page A1
Thorn Hollow to begin evac-
uating the home.
“We were coming to
get the dogs, clothes, and
anything else we could,”
Koskela said.
Fuller’s three daughters
were already at school in
Athena. However, her dogs,
chickens and goat were still
at the property and their
conditions are unknown.
As Fuller, her husband,
Nate, and Koskela were
just starting to evacuate the
home, their elderly neigh-
bors began waving for help
as the water in their yard
rose too high for them to
wade through. Fuller said a
friend of the couple, who she
called Archie, had shown
up and was trying to drive
out to them but already the
water was too high for his
car.
Thinking quickly, the
Fullers grabbed their boat
and together Nate and
Archie tried to make their
way out to the couple’s home
about a hundred yards away.
The group tied a rope to
the boat so that they could
pull it back once they’d
secured the stranded cou-
ple, but as Nate and Archie
made their way out, the rope
got tangled and suddenly
they too were stranded at the
house. With water continu-
ing to rise, and now unable
to help the couple or them-
selves escape it, Nate and
Archie climbed onto the roof
to keep themselves safe.
“People will think it’s
dumb, ‘Oh they got stuck
trying to save their neigh-
bors,’” Fuller said. “What
were we supposed to do?”
Fuller and Koskela were
then without a boat or any-
way to reach the house, no
service was available in
the area, and the floods had
already knocked out the
telephone lines to Fuller’s
house. So all she could do
was sprint up Thorn Hollow
Road looking for a neighbor
with a landline to call 911.
Fuller, Koskela, and other
neighbors whose houses
hadn’t yet been flooded
stood outside within view of
the house, but the water con-
tinued to rise and rush over
the roads, and ultimately
there was nothing they could
do to reach their loved ones
and neighbors.
Eventually, maintenance
workers with CTUIR Fish-
eries arrived to check on
the fish hatchery but were
unable to access it due to
the high waters. Employ-
ees with Umatilla County
Public Works and its road
department also arrived on
the scene to close down the
road, and even brought a
road grader vehicle to see
if it could provide access to
the four stranded individu-
als. But again, the water was
too high and the county was
unable to reach them.
Flooding was nothing
new to the area, Fuller said,
but the scene on Thursday
was unlike anything she’d
seen before.
“It’s never been like this,”
she said. “Never.”
Fuller said the floods last
year were bad but in the end
only damaged the piping on
their house, which she was
able to fix herself. As she
watched the water continue
to wash over their home
on Thursday, she wasn’t as
optimistic about this year.
“This is one of those
where you call the insurance
company and pray to God
they’ll cover some of it,” she
said.
Fuller has only lived in
the area for about six years,
but Dave Sams has lived in
Thorn Hollow for over 30
years.
“This is by far the worst
I’ve ever seen it,” Sams said
Thursday as the neighbor-
hood still awaited emer-
gency personnel to arrive.
Jeremiah Farrow and
Donna Nez have lived up
the road from the Fullers for
several years and echoed the
sentiment of their neighbors,
and they started to pack
their valuables in case they
too needed to evacuate.
The properties of Farrow,
Nez and Sams were all fur-
ther west than the rest of the
neighborhood and had sig-
nificantly lower water lev-
els reaching their yards on
Thursday. However, the
waters were beginning to
reach the barn of Farrow and
Nez by the afternoon, and
both voiced concern about
the bridges.
“We’re knocking on
wood right now,” Farrow
said.
The situation just got
more challenging, as roads
to the area became impass-
able even for first respond-
ers, and Farrow’s concern
about the community’s
bridges came true.
One bridge that was
specifically built for flood
waters to pass under and
keep the area drivable even-
tually collapsed on itself and
was washed away by the
rushing current. Another
bridge, which was closed by
the county when they closed
the road, continued to visi-
bly crack and fold through-
out the day.
The National Guard
eventually deployed a Chi-
nook helicopter to the area
but was unable to drop a line
or reach the house directly.
The group was forced to
wait again, this time with the
hopes of a Black Hawk heli-
copter coming from Salem
to rescue them.
But even throughout a full
day of their loved ones and
neighbors being stranded by
floods that just kept rising,
Fuller and Koskela stayed
relaxed by constantly joking
with one another and laugh-
ing about the situation.
“What else can you do?”
Fuller said, shrugging.
Photo courtesy of Oregon Department of Transportation
A front-end loader works to remove debris from Highway
204 near Elgin on Thursday.
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Chantel Fuller watches as water floods her home in Thorn
Hollow outside of Adams. Fuller’s husband was involved in
a rescue attempt that left him and three others stranded in a
home as water rose around them.