Published: December 9,2015
Roads in Portland, Oregon, have been left impassable by flooding that ejected manhole covers, while mudslides broke sewer pipes and sent sewage into the streets. Forecasters say the wave of moisture won't be as potent in the coming days, but could still cause additional problems.
"The heaviest rain will finally wind down later Wednesday. There are two more storms poised for the Northwest: Wednesday night and this weekend," said weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman. "These two later storms won't be nearly as wet, with snow levels more typical of a mid-December Pacific system."
(MORE: How Long This Storm System Will Linger)
Here are the latest impacts from these storms.
Oregon
A woman in southeastern Portland
was killed early Wednesday morning when a tree fell on her home,
KOIN.com reported. Authorities have not yet identified the woman.
In
the town of St. Helens, 17 homes were evacuated Wednesday morning due
to floodwaters, according to local storm reports. Upwards of 18 inches
of rain have fallen in Lee's Camp, the National Weather Service said.
More residents were evacuated in the town of Vernonia as it flooded Wednesday morning, according to NWS reports.
According to Portland’s
Bureau of Environmental Services, heavy, sustained rainfalls have
overflowed the city’s combined sewer system into the Willamette River
Monday. Residents are urged to avoid contact with the river from the
Sellwood Bridge to the Columbia River due to increased bacteria in the
water.
"It's really important that folks minimize
their contact with this water," a BEC spokeswoman said at a press
conference. "It's extremely polluted. There are oil cans, gas cans, dog
poop, industrial pollution -- who knows what else. It's really dirty."
State Route 22 remains closed after a
semi truck crashed into a sinkhole just after midnight Monday,
prompting transportation officials to close down the highway, KATU.com
reported.
The sinkhole was created when the heavy
rainfall eroded the soil on which the road rested, Oregon DOT Incident
Response Coordinator Dustin Ross told KATU.com.
Crews
managed to pull the semi out of the sinkhole by around 2:30 a.m., the
report added, but the highway will stay closed until crews can rebuild
the road and drivers should use Highway 18 as an alternate route.
Wednesday morning, Portland General Electric reported more than 27,000 customers without power in six counties.
In southeastern Portland, at least 100 families were evacuated from an apartment complex due to rising waters, KATU.com said in a separate report.
In
Eagle Creek and Estacade, firefighters went door to door Monday night
asking residents to be prepared to evacuate if the Clackamas River
continues to rise.
"It's scary because you can't see
it, from the house, you don't know where it is," Danee Rardin told
KATU.com. "I drove home from work on Highway 30 and that was a trek,
that was scary, actually. I don't know, we'll see. I won't sleep
tonight."
(MORE: Storm Lashes U.K., Ireland with Winds Over 100 mph)
Travel in Portland
was also disrupted as MAX lines and bus routes experienced delays due
to the flooding, reports KATU-TV. The city's streetcar was stopped by
the Portland Bureau of Transportation in the Southwest Waterfront.
KIRO 7 in Seattle reported Amtrak has stopped all service between Portland and Vancouver, Washington, due to high water north of Portland. Services will be reassessed Wednesday.
According to the Oregon Department of Transportation, Highway 30 was shut down due to a landslide Tuesday afternoon.
Three landslides shut down all the lanes at Corbett Hill Road in the early afternoon Monday, KOIN-TV reports.
Multiple
roads were also closed in Clackamas County, including in Lake Oswego
where several cars were stranded in high water. Residents were evacuated
from one neighborhood and the American Red Cross is opening a shelter at Clackamas Park Friends Church in Milwaukie.
A
section of road along Kane Drive near Mount Hood Community College was
washed out by flooding, leaving a gaping hole, according to the Gresham
Police Department.
If it keeps on rainin', roadways goin' to break
OregonLive.com reports that the
Oregon Zoo had to be shut down due to flooding on the visitor pathways.
It was closed Monday and Tuesday due to the weather conditions.
Washington
Major flooding has been reported in western Washington, and Cowlitz County has declared a state of emergency, according to KOIN.com.Commuter train and Amtrak service between Seattle and Everett was canceled Tuesday because of a landslide on the tracks as wet, windy weather moved through the Northwest. Train service will be halted between Seattle and Everett until at least Thursday morning, part of a mandatory waiting period as tracks are inspected.
Some 72,000 Puget Sound Energy customers in northwestern Washington were without power Wednesday morning, according to the provider.
US 12 closed btwn Packwood and Naches. Here's what mp 143 (w of
White Pass) looks like, will be an extended closure
Parts of Spokane, hit hard by flooding in November, have reported flooded roadways, as well as downed trees and power lines, from these storms.
U.S. 12 was closed due to a rock slide Monday morning, KIMA-TV reported. Several rocks approximately three feet in size fell into the roadway and a vehicle was overturned near the site, according to the Yakima County Sheriff's office. The driver suffered a hand injury.
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