OFF PAGE ONE
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
East Oregonian
Fire:
Navy:
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
“Last year was a record
fire season for the Umatilla
National Forest,” Watrud
said. “This year, it’s still
drought, years of drought,
where there definitely is the
potential for another signif-
icant fire season again this
summer.”
Drought conditions in
Washington have grad-
ually improved since the
record-breaking hot, dry
summer of 2021, when
100% of the state was at
least abnormally dry and
nearly 60% was experienc-
ing severe, extreme or excep-
tional drought, according to
the U.S. Drought Monitor.
But by the end of March,
nearly 99% of Walla Walla
County was still experienc-
ing severe drought, which
can increase the number
of wildfires and adversely
impact crops, fish, livestock
and water supply.
Drought conditions in
Walla Walla County were
substantially improved by
April precipitation, however.
As of Thursday, May 19,
most of the county is now
in moderate drought, which
can lower river flows and
increase fire risk and dust
storms, and a wide swathe of
the county along the Oregon
border is only considered
abnormally dry, which has
minimal impacts.
Neighboring Columbia
County is in a slightly better
position, with around a third
of the county in moderate
drought conditions.
But to the south, Oregon
is in a significantly worse
position. While only sliv-
ers of Umatilla and Morrow
counties are in moderate
drought conditions, their
neighbors to the west, east
and south are all experienc-
ing drought of some kind.
Areas of Wallowa County,
in the northeast corner of the
state, range from abnormally
dry to extreme drought.
An exceptional drought
— the worst rating given by
the U.S. Drought Monitor
older torpedoes that exploded
when the tip struck a subma-
rine or ship, the Mk-48 has
advanced proximity fuses
to detonate with maximum
explosive force. The Mk-48
torpedo dives under the hull
of ships and detonates at the
keel, the blast breaking the
back of the ship.
The USS Oregon has
a quiver of variety when
it comes to weaponry. It
can fire surface-skimming
Harpoon anti-ship missiles,
a weapon that is now reach-
ing Ukrainian coastal defense
troops fighting Russia’s
attempt to bottle up the port
of Odesa.
The submarine also is
equipped with BGM-109
Tomahawk cruise missiles
that can reach targets on land
up to 1,500 miles away. It
can carry conventional and
nuclear warheads.
The Oregon also can house
and deploy Navy SEAL
commando teams on covert
operations.
Pump-jet propulsion
instead of traditional screws
with blades power the sub
through the water, reducing
the amount of bubbles and
noise — called cavitation —
that sonar can pick up.
The submarine’s S9G
nuclear reactor gives the USS
Oregon a top speed of 25
knots submerged. Its reactor
will run for about 30 years
without any additional fuel.
The nuclear power gives the
submarine virtually unlim-
ited range and the ability to
stay submerged for up to three
months.
The advanced systems of
the submarine also cut the size
of crew needed at sea. The
submarine has 15 officers and
120 crew. The battleship could
operate with 600 officers and
crew.
The Navy has commis-
sioned 19 Virginia-class
submarines — the USS
Oregon is the 20th. Eight
more are under construction,
including what would become
the USS Idaho.
Greg Lehman/Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, File
Firefighters take a break in the shade July 24, 2021, during the Green Ridge Fire in the Blue
Mountains about 30 miles east of Walla Walla.
— has lingered for months
throughout a large portion
of Grant County, Oregon,
which abuts Umatilla County
to the south.
Much of Central Oregon
is experiencing similar levels
of extreme or exceptional
drought.
“The outlook in these
areas will be dominated by
surface water supply short-
ages and drought impacts
through the remainder of
the year,” wrote the Natu-
ral Resources Conservation
Service in a May 1 report.
Recent precipitation in
the Northwest has staved off
the start of the fire season,
but fire potential remains
above-normal, according to
Eric Wise with the North-
west Area Coordination
Center. That potential is
driven by drought conditions
and projections of warmer
and drier weather in coming
months, he said.
The area of most imme-
diate concern is Central
Oregon, Wise said.
“As we head into the
su m mer months, that
concern starts to spread up
into Central Washington
and Southwestern Oregon,”
he said. “Ultimately, we’re
showing above-nor mal
potential going up into the
Columbia Basin and up
into North Central Wash-
ington as we get into the
Flooding:
August time frame.”
Storms and snowpack
By the beginning of
April, prior to the mid-month
storms, snowpack in the
Umatilla National Forest’s
three basins averaged at
around half of what is usual
by that time of year, accord-
ing to data from the Natu-
ral Resources Conservation
Service.
But by May, snowpack in
the three large basins jumped
to between 105-125% of
normal for this time of year.
The John Day Basin jumped
by 42% of median — based
on an average of snowpack
by May 1 for the last 30 years
— to 111%. By May 1, 2021,
snowpack across the three
large basins had ranged from
55-84% of normal.
Still, April storms were
not quite sufficient to make
up for lower-than-normal
precipitation earlier in the
water year, which begins in
October, said Scott Oviatt,
snow survey supervisor for
Oregon NRCS.
The large water basin
collectively made up by
the Umatilla, Walla Walla
and Willow basins, which
are located south of Walla
Walla but water the forest
to the north into Washing-
ton state, almost reached
normal precipitation levels.
By May 1, precipitation was
98% of median.
But to their east, the large
basin collectively made
up by the Grand Ronde,
Powder, Burnt and Imnaha
basins was still only at
90% of normal precipita-
tion, less even than in 2021.
Still, across the three water
basins, overall precipitation
is currently closer to normal
levels than last year.
Higher precipitation
shortly before the begin-
ning of fire season could
be a double-edged sword,
however, with acceler-
ated grass growth possibly
contributing to the spread
of fires once they’ve started,
wrote Darcy Weseman,
public affairs officer for the
Umatilla National Forest, in
an email.
Forest officials are still
hopeful that a healthy snow-
pack and closer-to-nor-
mal precipitation will bode
well for the summer ahead,
however.
“As we sit today, I’m
breathing a little easier,”
Watrud told county commis-
sioners earlier this month.
“But it really will just depend
upon what the ignitions are
in terms of lightning and
human starts this summer.”
“And, boy, if we just get
a good dose of rain about
every two weeks throughout
the summer, that just makes
a world of difference.”
A9
Vice Admiral Michael J.
Connor told Congress in 2015
the USS Oregon and its sister
boats were “game-changers”
in maintaining a balance of
power with Russia and China.
“The undersea arena is the
most opaque of all warfight-
ing domains,” Connor said.
“It is easier to track a small
object in space than it is to
track a large submarine, with
tremendous firepower, under
the water.”
The commissioning of the
USS Oregon ends a long gap
in U.S. Navy history without
a ship named for the state. The
submarine is the fourth vessel
to bear the state’s name. The
first was in 1842, and the last
was decommissioned in 1919.
Pushing to name a ship
for Oregon
When the new Seawolf-
class fast-attack subma-
rine was introduced to the
fleet, one was named USS
Connecticut. Since the intro-
duction of the Virginia-class
submarines, nearly all have
been named for states.
In 2011, Sen. Jeff Merkley,
D-Oregon, inquired about
naming a ship after Oregon. A
constituent’s letter had noted
a long gap in having a USS
Oregon in the fleet.
Merkley wrote a letter to
then-Navy Secretary Ray
Mabus asking him to put
Oregon near the top of the
queue for submarine naming.
“It would be a great honor
to the sailors, marines, mili-
tary service members as
well as citizens of Oregon to
have one of the newest naval
submarines named in their
honor,” Merkley wrote.
In October 2014, Mabus
came to the Battleship Oregon
Memorial in Portland to
announce that a fast-attack
submarine with hull number
SSN-793 would be named the
USS Oregon.
The Navy plans on keep-
ing the new USS Oregon
much longer than its prede-
cessor’s namesake. The Navy
forecast the USS Oregon will
be in service until at least the
mid-2050s.
May 28, 2022, was offi-
cially day one in the Navy for
the new USS Oregon.
DON’T DRINK THE WATER
(1)
Continued from Page A1
where Makayla Lee and some
friends were stacking gravel
bags to mitigate the flood.
Lee said she lives there and
awoke around 9:50 a.m. and
saw water flowing through
her backyard. A boat belong-
ing to her coworker, Treyal
Groesbeck, was drifting in
the flood. By the afternoon,
she said, the water was all
around her home, giving her
“riverfront property.”
On the plus side, she said,
the house is on a foundation 4
feet tall, and while getting to
the front door might be diffi-
cult, the water had a ways to
go before getting inside the
place.
Lee said she has lived at
this site for the last two years,
and the flooding in 2020 was
not nearly so bad on Tutuilla
and Patawa creeks.
The city at around 4 p.m.
closed access to Tutuilla Road
to thru-traffic at Southwest
Nye Avenue due to high water
on the road.
McKay Creek
holding the line
Pendleton City Manager
Robb Corbett reported on
May 30 he heard of some
groundwater seeping into a
basement in town but he was
not aware of any flood waters
getting into homes in Pend-
leton.
Community Park also has
“some water creeping in,” he
said, but nothing indicated
McKay Creek crested its
banks.
“We were watching it very
closely to make sure that for
the most part the water was
staying within the stream,”
he said.
One of the problems with
Tutuilla and Patawa creeks,
he explained, is the lack of
monitoring gauges on that
drainage, so there is no way to
know in advance of a coming
flood.
“With McKay, we have the
gauge above the reservoir, so
we know what is coming into
the reservoir, we know how
Nitrates in Boardman water a threat to life (2)
Port of Morrow “Reckless” (3)
Recent testing of private wells reveals dangerously
high levels of Nitrates.
Nitrate Poisoning may cause:
cursus sem, nec egestas magna.
* Birth Defects
* Miscarriage
* Colo-rectal Cancer
* Bladder Cancer
happening May 29 on the unt sapien turpis, bibendum tincid-
* Kidney Cancer
Umatilla Indian Reservation
along Emigrant Road.
accumsan cursus.
curabitur ullam-
* Anemia
The Confederate Tribes
porttitor feugiat
* Thyroid
Dysfunction
of the Umatilla Indian Reser- nec ante varius,
vation reported public safety erra. etia ornare condimentum
* Among other diseases.
crews were working to sand-
Phil Wright/East Oregonian s dolor ac ornare consectetur. nam
Jason Kelly, of Kelly Lumber Supply Inc., Pendleton, wades
through flood waters Sunday, May 29, 2022, on the business’ urpis, eget hendrerit purus. quisque
back lot to connect a battery to a fifth-wheel camping trailer o sed ipsum e citur dapibus. nam
to get the hydraulics to work before trying to remove it.
ante, convallis fermentum sapien.
full the reservoir is, we can
monitor just what is happen-
ing,” he said.
The Bureau of Reclama-
tion, which operates McKay
Dam, reported the reservoir
was 94% full as of May 29.
The city that day reported the
bureau around 7 p.m. began
increasing outflows from the
McKay Reservoir to 1,400
CFS. The move was to allow
for visual monitoring of the
water flow before dark.
The city on May 30
reported the bureau was hold-
ing flows at 1,400 CFS and
would reevaluate that at
4 p.m.
Sheriff’s office preps
residents to flee
The Umatilla County
Sheriff’s Office on May 29
reported its personnel would
contact residents along
McKay Creek from the reser-
voir spillway to the Pendle-
ton city limits to tell them to
be ready to evacuate if there
was flooding. The sheriff’s
office reported it made the
same announcement to resi-
dents on Umatilla River Road
along the Umatilla River up
to North Fork Campground.
Jill-Marie Gavin with the
Confederated Umatilla Jour-
nal reported flooding was
bag flood areas and divert fermentum massa fringilla nec.
water runoff. The tribes
felis ipsum. pellentesque eget mi
temporarily closed several
roads, including Montanic volutpat nunc nec, accumsan leo.
and South Market roads.
“Stay safe,” CTUIR urged. sto id lectus consequat hendrerit.
“Don’t risk driving through augue ut metus fringilla pellen-
flooded roads.”
The National Weather et erat. n lla o s d an eges-
Ser v ice of f ice on
abit ele
d por
r
May 30 warned local rivers
and streams will be fast flow-
ing and cold for several more
weeks.
“A mere 6 inches of
fast-moving flood water can or email mike@worthingtoncaron.com
knock over an adult,” accord-
ing to the online posting. “It
takes just 12 inches of rush-
ing water to carry away most
cars and just 2 feet of rushing
water can carry away SUVs
and trucks. It is never safe
1 East Oregonian, Tuesday May 10, 2022
to drive or walk into flood
2 East Oregonian, Tuesday May 10, 2022 (Emphasis added)
waters.”
3 DEQ, Jan. 11, 2022 ($1.3M fine)
Rivers in the spring have
several common dangers,
the NWS reported, including
weak and loose banks that Attorneys licensed in California. Lawyer Ad. Investigations ongoing.
can give way. And most rivers Worthington & Caron, P.C.* www.WorthingtonCaron.com 1-800-831-9399
still are taking in mountain
runoff, so the waters are cold.
Repairs to contaminated wells and filtration systems
can be costly.
Do you or a loved one have a claim?
Please call 1-800-831-9399
Know Your Rights