OFF PAGE ONE
Saturday, February 8, 2020
East Oregonian
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Emergency: ‘Within two hours, we were evacuating’
Continued from Page A1
others from roadways across
the county. State of Oregon
Search and Rescue Coordi-
nator Scott Lucas was unsure
of specific locations, but said
as many as 30 soldiers were
active throughout the county
Friday.
“They’re standing by to
assist,” he said.
By 5 p.m. Friday, Inter-
state 84 reopened after var-
ious closures, but a section
between mileposts 182 and
188 remained closed. Other
major roadways across the
county and region also expe-
rienced closures, and Oregon
Department of Transporta-
tion spokesman Tom Strand-
berg urged residents to check
the department’s TripCheck.
com website.
Although several commu-
nities declared an emergency
on Friday, private property
owners may still have to
shoulder their own burden in
the recovery effort.
Pendleton City Man-
ager Rob Corbett told his
city council that the decla-
ration would allow the city
ask for funds and assistance
in cleaning up and repairing
the aftermath of the flood.
But organizations like the
Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency are unlikely to
compensate property own-
ers without flood insurance,
he said.
Flood stages and precip-
itationThe Umatilla River
crested at 19.8 feet Thurs-
day night between 9-10 p.m
in Pendleton, and by 5 p.m.
Friday water had receded
to about 16 feet, discharg-
ing at below 14,000 cubic
feet per second, accord-
ing to the Northwest River
Forecast website.
WHERE TO GET HELP
For those who have been forced to leave
flooded homes, the need for food, cloth-
ing, shoes, a warm blanket is essential.
There are local agencies and organiza-
tions prepared to lend a helping hand.
The city of Pendleton has set up a shel-
ter at the Pendleton Convention Center
for those displaced by flooding. The
shelter is administered by the Red Cross.
At this time, officials are advising against
food donations at the shelter.
“We are encouraging people to not
donate food, as Red Cross is leading the
efforts and their policy is they cannot ac-
cept donated food to give to those they
serve,” read a statement issued by the
city. “We will notify people via website/
social media when there is a need.”
Below is list some helpful contact infor-
mation and the services provided.
American Red Cross
A shelter has been set up at the Pend-
leton Convention Center, 1601 West-
gate, in Pendleton. Anyone in need of
“This is certainly a very
rare event,” said Marc Aus-
tin, a NWS meteorologist in
the Pendleton office.
At a press conference Fri-
day afternoon, Austin said
waters in Pendleton and Gib-
bon were anticipated to start
receding Saturday morning,
but that more precipitation
could also slow that process.
“We may still see up to
an inch of rainfall,” he said.
“We do not expect it to cause
anything like what happened
(Thursday) night.”
In Gibbon, east of Pendle-
ton, a secondary flood crest
occurred Friday afternoon in
the Umatilla River. By 5 p.m.
Friday, river forecasts from
the NWS showed water low-
ering to 11 feet and discharge
occurring at about 8,600
cubic feet per second.
Along the Touchet River,
close to Milton-Freewater, a
assistance can simply show up for help.
Find out information on what to bring to
a Red Cross shelter here: https://www.
redcross.org/…/disast…/find-an-open-
shelter.html
Salvation Army
The Pendleton Salvation Army is provid-
ing vouchers for clothing, blankets and
shoes for anyone who has been evac-
uated due to flooding and has need.
Contact the Salvation Army, 150 S.E.
Emigrant Ave. in Pendleton; Telephone:
541-276-3369; E-mail: DeWayne.Hals-
tad@usw.salvationarmy.org; Website:
http://pendleton.salvationarmy.org
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla
Indian Reservation
The Cmuytpama Warming Station will
receive evacuees for urgent needs. The
designated coordination center is the
Mission Gym, 73282 July Grounds Lane,
Pendleton, OR 97801.
A press release also stated the people
impacted by the flood need donations
secondary major flood crest
also occurred and was pro-
jected Friday evening to
decrease late into the week-
end. At 5 p.m. Friday, water
rose to about 20 feet, dis-
charging at about 29,700
cfs and approached record
observation, according to
the Northwest River Fore-
cast website. Water was pro-
jected to remain at about 20
feet through the weekend.
Austin said temperatures
should start dropping around
the Blue Mountains near Sun-
day, and conditions should
start drying in the lower sur-
rounding areas.
“It should be a downward
trend,” he said. “(But) this
is an extremely dangerous
time.”
Surrounding areas
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office said Friday
of bottled water, batteries, flashlights,
first aid kits, to-go containers, toilet
paper, paper towels, disinfectant wipes,
laundry detergent and personal hygiene
products.
Those wishing to volunteer or donate
should contact Julie Taylor with the
Department of Children and Family
Services at 541-969-8413.
Blue Mountain Community College
The college has opened “The Den” food
pantry to provide food to students in
need. Also if students and their family
need a shower, BMCC has opened its
athletic locker rooms and shower facili-
ties. Trailers and RVs can also be parked
on campus lots.
Other Shelters
Echo: Echo Community United Method-
ist Church
Walla Walla: The Walla Walla County Fair-
grounds has a shelter for those affected
in the Milton-Freewater area.
— East Oregonian
afternoon that families were
stranded across the county,
including in the Echo and
Rieth areas.
Further north, Weston
received notable floodwaters
as well.
East Umatilla Fire & Res-
cue Chief Davy Baty said
Pine Creek, which runs
through the middle of the
city’s downtown, hit levels
they hadn’t seen before and
caused flooding to all the
houses and businesses along
the creek.
As of Friday evening, Baty
said he was unaware of any
people needing to evacuate
their homes and that the city
was coming together with
up to 45 volunteers spending
hours loading and delivering
sandbags to those in need.
“We’re lucky to live in this
place and around so many
great people,” Baty said.
In a Facebook message
from Sheila Riddle Jasper-
son, who works at Weston
City Hall, she said a sec-
ond load of sand and gravel
arrived Friday afternoon and
the city had stockpiled sand-
bags that people could grab
for free at Memorial Hall
behind the Post Office on 210
East Main St.
On the reservationNi-
cole Carver and her family
live on Mytinger Lane within
the boundary of the Confed-
erated Tribes of the Uma-
tilla Indian Reservation. She
said they all left their mobile
home late Thursday night as
floodwaters approached the
home’s front steps.
“You could see the
high-rising water down the
road,” she said. “Within two
hours, we were evacuating.”
She and her family will
stay at her sister’s house for
the weekend. She said her
landlord was shocked by the
amount of floodwater in the
area, where she’d lived for 55
years.
The Confederated Uma-
tilla Journal reported Friday
evening that helicopters were
spotted over the Nixyaawii
Governance Center and res-
cues were being conducted,
though the status of those
missions was unknown.
As of 6 p.m. Friday, CUJ
reported there were no inju-
ries or fatalities on the Res-
ervation and the tribes had
appropriated $100,000 for
those impacted by the flood-
ing to get room rentals, food,
equipment and more.
Power outages and water
useBoth Umatilla Elec-
tric Cooperative and Pacific
Power stated Friday after-
noon that power outages
occurred in eastern parts
of Umatilla County, leav-
ing a total of 258 custom-
ers between the two utilities
without power as of 7 p.m.
Friday. They did not offer
an estimate for when power
would be restored.
At a press conference Fri-
day, County Public Health
Director Joe Fiumara said
residents using well water in
the county should boil it for
one minute before use or rely
on bottled water. He warned
people relying on septic sys-
tems in the area.
“If they’re being flooded
they’re not going to work
well,” he said. “Conserve
water as much as possible.”
Fiumara added that due
to increased water in waste-
water treatment plants, and
flooding in manufactur-
ers across affected areas,
chemical and biological
components were likely in
floodwaters.
Shelter: ‘It’s the community helping the community’
Continued from Page A1
Umatilla County.
“You see it on the TV
and your heart breaks for
them,” Stewart said. “But
you never expect it to hap-
pen to you.”
Both Meacham and
Stewart live off of Social
Security and are disabled.
One of the two dogs Mea-
cham left behind was her
service dog, which she has
to help ease anxiety. With-
out anywhere else to go,
they were grateful to have
a shelter at the convention
center.
“I feel very blessed,”
Meacham said. “I got a text,
‘Go to the convention cen-
ter,’ and I was so thankful to
get that text.”
Nadine McCrindle, exec-
utive director of the Eastern
and Central Oregon chapter
of the American Red Cross,
said the region has seen an
influx of volunteers in the
last few months, which has
been essential in their relief
efforts following Thurs-
day’s flood.
“It’s the community
helping the community,”
she said. “The wonderful
thing about having our new
volunteers is it means when
a disaster happens, and you
never know when a disaster
will happen, we can respond
immediately.”
According to Pat Beard,
the convention center direc-
tor, most of the 45 peo-
ple who came to the shel-
ter overnight dispersed
and found other family or
friends to stay with. How-
ever, about a dozen still
remained Friday morning
with no other places for
refuge.
Linda Kelly, her partner,
and her daughter, Stacy Rat-
tray, have family in Hermis-
ton and Stanfield but were
unable to reach them due to
flooding that hit those areas
Friday morning and they
remained sheltered at the
convention center.
Kelly said the group
has no clothes with them
because she hadn’t even
been home when water
began to flood Pendle-
ton’s Riverview Mobile
Home Estates. Kelly first
heard there was a problem
through calls from con-
cerned friends wondering
if they were safe from the
ANIMAL SHELTER
SEEKING FOSTER HOMES
PENDLETON — The Pendleton Animal Welfare Shelter/Pio-
neer Human Society is seeking volunteers and emergency
foster homes for the several displaced animals due to flood-
ing in the region.
Michelle Glynn, the PAWS shelter manager, said as of Friday
afternoon there were seven dogs needing a place to stay
and those needs are expected to grow in the days to come.
Glynn said they are currently working to make space at the
shelter to meet any needs but that they always are in need of
additional volunteers and foster homes.
Those that wish to volunteer or serve as a foster home can
call PAWS at 541-276-0181 or message them on Facebook.
— East Oregonian
flood while she was driving
home.
Kelly
immediately
called Rattray, who was
home alone with their two
cats, and began to explain
to her what she needed to
grab while trying to keep
her calm. Rattray is inde-
pendent and can fend for
herself, Kelly said, but her
developmental
disability
can make some stressful sit-
uations more challenging.
When Kelly arrived, the
road to the park was already
being shut down and author-
ities were beginning to help
evacuate the neighbor-
hood. Concerned about her
daughter, Kelly reached out
to law enforcement and let
them know there was some-
one with disabilities that
needed help.
Almost
immediately
authorities were there to
help get Rattray from the
home and the two were
reunited. However, the fam-
ily’s two cats remained at
the home because they had
yet to establish a shelter to
take in pets.
“I hope they’re OK and
there’s enough space for
them above the water,” Kelly
said. “Cats are resourceful.”
With the family alto-
gether, they headed to the
convention center along
with Kelly’s service dog,
Budda, who alerts Kelly
when she is going to have a
seizure. Beard said the con-
vention center can take in
people with cats and dogs
thanks to the help of PAWS,
the Pendleton Animal Wel-
fare Shelter.
The Pendleton Round-Up
Grounds are also helping
shelter any large animals
that were displaced by the
floods.
American Red Cross vol-
unteers working at the con-
vention center said find-
ing shelters that can take in
animals is rare but essen-
tial because so many peo-
ple will refuse to leave their
pets behind. However, those
in Pendleton were strug-
gling with relatively no
clean or dry clothing on
Friday.
“I don’t think anybody
has much clothing because
we were so caught off
guard,” Kelly said.
Though grateful for
a temporary bed and the
food and water provided by
the American Red Cross,
Stewart said it wasn’t easy
adjusting to the shelter.
“It’s a little weird,” Stew-
art said. “I miss my bed. But
all we can do is put our trust
in God.”
Seated at a table in the
makeshift reception room,
the four women tried to
remain jovial Friday morn-
ing as they joked about just
how nice a hard drink of
something would be. But
Meacham struggled to keep
her mind from drifting to
her husband and dogs still
at home.
“I’m a nervous wreck
right now,” Meacham said
as her hands began to shake
and tears began flowing
from her eyes. “I’ve never
been through anything like
this.”
The two families hadn’t
met prior to the floods, but
as Meacham’s emotions
overtook her, Rattray stood
up and wrapped her arms
around her in an embrace.
“We’ll get through this,”
Rattray said. “We’ll take it
step by step and we’ll get
through this. You’re my new
friend.”
Pendleton: The city’s bridges were able to withstand the rising waters
Continued from Page A1
EO Publisher Chris Rush
said a mailroom employee
first noticed some water in
the parking lot around 9 p.m.,
but it wasn’t long before the
whole back parking lot and
the surrounding streets were
covered in water.
As the water inched
toward the building’s back
entrances, Rush said he was
prepared to shut down the
facility, putting the newspa-
per’s production in jeopardy.
As they communicated
with the city, East Orego-
nian staff were eventually
able to flag down a police
officer around 10 p.m., and
public works staff were soon
on the scene.
Patterson said the sec-
tion of the levee behind the
EO was built on top of an
old race mill that channeled
water toward the office once
the flood began.
The waters began to
recede as soon as public
works staff tamped down the
area with dirt.
The city’s bridges also
withstood the river’s surg-
ing current and the debris, a
combination that can desta-
bilize and even break those
kinds of structures.
Patterson said the bridges
that cross the river at Eighth
Street, Main Street, and 10th
Street were fine, although the
10th Street Bridge was tem-
porarily closed as the city
dealt with a floating tree
that got stuck and tangled
its branches with overhead
power lines.
The Bedford Bridge, a
thin pedestrian bridge west
of 10th Street, was hit hard
by the flooding and remains
closed as of 5 p.m. Friday.
Patterson said the sewer
plant at the confluence of
the Umatilla River and
McKay Creek is inundated
Staff photo by Ben Lonergan
Pendleton Public Works crews use an excavator to pack grav-
el and rock into a hole in the levee behind the East Oregonian
office in Pendleton.
with water, but operational.
He worried that the excess
water may have washed out
the “bugs,” the microscopic
organisms that help treat
the water.
In a bit of irony, the pub-
lic works department had
recently completed a set of
repairs meant to fix damages
caused by April’s McKay
Creek flood.
“We’ll find out how well
our repairs hold out,” Patter-
son said.
Throughout the day,
city officials said the water
from the municipal drink-
ing water system remains
safe to drink, although some
odor and murkiness is to
be expected and could last
through Sunday.
At a press conference,
Police Chief Stuart Roberts
told the assembly that he
hoped to let Riverside resi-
dents back into their homes
on Saturday. He recalled how
police helped most residents
to safety before the waters
rose too high, but the city
was forced to put several in
the bucket of a frontloader to
get them out.
This is the second time
in less than a year that Pend-
leton has been battered by
floods, following last April’s
McKay Creek overflow.
With a river running
straight through the heart of
the community, Pendleton is
no stranger to floods.
Back in 1906, a flood
washed away large portions
of the city’s fledgling levee,
blanketing about a third of
the town in water.
In late 1964 and early
1965, a severe rainstorm
destroyed
bridges
and
washed out roads across the
region.
At the press conference,
Umatilla County Sheriff
Terry Rowan said this is the
worst flood he’s seen since
1996.
That year, low level snow
packs released up to 10
inches of water in as little as
48 hours, leading to floods
around the state. Riverview
Mobile Home States was
flooded that year as well.
Local officials seemed
optimistic that declining
water levels would allow
them to reopen roads and
neighborhoods over the
weekend. But the next stage
of work begins once the
water recedes and people
find out what the floods left
behind.