HERMISTON GRAD SETS STRIKEOUT RECORD » PAGE A9
Wednesday, February 12, 2020
HermistonHerald.com
$1.50
INSIDE
CITY HALL
The Flood of 2020
The Hermiston City Council is
considering building a new
city hall for $9 million.
Page » A3
DIAPER DASH
Hermiston Church of the
Nazarene is collecting dia-
pers for children in need.
Page » A4
EXTRA CASH
Hermiston-area residents
find ways to make extra
money through home-based
businesses.
Page » A12
BY THE WAY
Elks Lodge
reopens
The public is invited
to the installation of new
officers and members
during a ceremony at
Hermiston Elks Lodge
#1845. The event is Tues-
day, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m. at
480 E. Main St.
After a 90-day suspen-
sion by the Grand Lodge,
Gary Garrard, chairman
of the trustees, said new
life has sprouted at the
Hermiston Lodge. A Jan.
25 open house resulted
in numerous member-
ship inquiries. The imme-
diate focus for the lodge,
Garrard said, will include
fundraisers for an upgrade
to the kitchen and resum-
ing
its
scholarship
program.
For more informa-
tion, call exalted ruler
David Downing at 541-
571-1089 or the lodge at
541-567-6923.
• • •
Hermiston
resident
Verla Jean Zielke is
inviting friends and fam-
ily in the community to
celebrate her 94th birth-
day with her on Saturday
from 1-4 p.m. at her home
on 401 W. Highland Ave.
Her 10 grandchildren
are making cakes and
cupcakes for the open
house. She asks that peo-
ple don’t bring gifts, but
she does welcome cards.
Zielke was born and
See BTW, Page A2
staff photo by Jade Mcdowell
A man watches logs pile up at Threemile Dam on the Umatilla River north of Hermiston.
By JADE MCDOWELL AND JESSICA POLLARD
STAFF WRITERS
When Umatilla County residents woke
up last Thursday morning, they had no
idea they were about to experience the
area’s worst flood in living memory.
The first inkling something was wrong
was a water rescue in Pendleton that
morning, as police and the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
Fisheries worked to rescue a homeless
man and his dog that were stranded on an
island on the Umatilla River.
Next came a helicopter rescue of four
people stranded on a roof in Thorn Hol-
low. By Thursday evening, water was
pouring into Pendleton neighborhoods,
burying a mobile home park in several
feet of water, overturning RVs at the Key-
stone RV factory and washing out roads
and bridges outside of town.
As the flooding spread, Echo residents
awoke to police knocking on their doors
at 4 a.m., urging them to flee the oncom-
ing water.
“I was asleep and the cops came, bam
bam bam on my door,” Tona Clements
said. “I just got out of there, because they
said, ‘It’s coming!’”
Friday morning she was sitting in
her car with her dog, Little Man, watch-
ing flood waters recede from her neigh-
borhood on the west side of Echo. She
pointed to the water mark on a stump
showing the water had been roughly 8
inches higher in the early morning hours
when she evacuated.
“It’s never flooded like this before,”
she said.
Annette Kirkpatrick, manager of the
Hermiston Irrigation District, said flood
staff photo by Jade Mcdowell
Trucks sit in flood water covering Interstate 84 just west of milepost 188 at the Pilot truck
stop at Stanfield.
waters had overtopped district’s gates all
along the Umatilla River. Records show
the river rose more than 7,000 cubic feet
per second past the mark of previous
floods in 1996 and 1964.
“Even ‘96 wasn’t as bad as this,” Kirk-
patrick said.
On the east side of Echo, where water
lapped up the embankment of the railroad
tracks, Shannon and Norman Rhodes
were wading through thigh-deep water
in rubber boots, carrying plastic totes of
belongings. They were helping Shannon’s
mother, Geri Root, move items out of her
flooded home.
“I’ve lived here since 1964 in this
house, and this is the worst it’s been,”
Shannon said.
See Flood, Page A14
Communities begin recovery after flood
HERMISTON HERALD
8
08805 93294
2
After an unprecedented flood
swept through Umatilla County on
Friday, the flood waters receded
almost as quickly as they came.
What won’t be as quick is the
clean-up and repair process after the
floods.
Umatilla County is asking for
people impacted by the floods to
report all damage by Thursday at
noon, submitting time-stamped
photos and notes of the damage to
their insurance company and then
through the county’s website at
https://tinyurl.com/w4838tq.
“It’s extremely important that
our community members assist each
other in getting damage reports sub-
mitted,” Umatilla County Under-
sheriff Jim Littlefield said in a news
release. “If your neighbor doesn’t
have internet access, or has a hard
time getting around, walk over there
with your mobile phone. Take some
photos and use the website to walk
them through the process.”
The information submitted to the
county may not result in a direct
payment to the person sending the
report, but the overall informa-
tion will be used to demonstrate the
scope of the area’s needs to state and
federal agencies such as FEMA that
could provide financial assistance
for disaster relief.
The cities of Echo and Stanfield
are also urging residents to call or
stop by city hall to report damage
and receive a packet of informa-
tion about where and how to ask
staff photo by Jade Mcdowell
See Recovery, Page A14
Shannon and Norman Rhodes of Hermiston help move Geri Root’s belongings
through floodwater after her Echo home flooded Friday morning.