Storm wreaks mischief
By Susan Chambers and Jessica Musicar, Staff Writers
Monday, December 29, 2008 |
Flood warnings affect Coquille, Myrtle Point
It’s almost as though the weather were trying to make up for lost time.
Pouring rain and high winds this morning left tree branches and leaves strewn across roads and, in some cases, trees down across power lines.
Gusts to 50 mph were recorded between 5 and 7 a.m. at the Cape Arago lighthouse recording station — a speed at which the National Weather Service usually issues a high-wind watch or high-wind warning.
More than 4 inches of rain in the past week prompted the National Weather Service to issue flood warnings for many rivers west of the Coast Range, including the Coquille. The U.S. Coast Guard closed the Chetco River bar at Brookings on Sunday afternoon, citing high water, debris and limited search and rescue capabilities. The Coast Guard was expected to reopen the bar by Tuesday.
So far this month, 8.30 inches of rain has fallen on the South Coast, of which 4.08 inches fell in the past week. Despite the recent downpours, the total is short of December’s average rainfall of 9.46 inches. The South Coast is still down 8.48 inches from the average for rainfall since Sept. 1, and down 12.52 inches from Jan. 1.
More rain is in the forecast for the coming week. The National Weather Service expected the South Fork of the Coquille River at Myrtle Point and the Coquille River at Coquille to rise above flood stage today.
The river level at Coquille was 20.2 feet at 5:30 a.m. Flood stage is 21 feet. It was expected to go above flood stage by 8 a.m. today, crest around 23 feet tonight and fall below flood stage by Tuesday afternoon.
At 23 feet, the flooding of farmland and low-lying areas throughout the flood plain is common along the Coquille River, the Weather Service said. Some farm buildings may be threatened by water, and roads in low-lying areas could be covered with water.
At Myrtle Point, the South Fork of the Coquille was expected to crest near 41 feet around noon today, three feet above flood stage.
On Sunday night, Coos County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers said several roads had flooded, but the rivers had not overflowed. Sitkum Lane had been closed at milepost 24 because of high water. Milepost 9 on the west fork of Millicoma was uncrossable due to logs on the road. And a road slide was reported between mileposts 4 and 5 on Fishtrap Road outside Coquille.
Other reports came in Sunday of several houses being flooded in Sitkum, and of four or five cows in a pasture flooded with 3 feet of water near milepost 24.5 on Sitkum Lane. The office also received a report of logs jamming the river at Middle Creek at 8:18 a.m.
This morning, Sgt. Pat Downing said patrols were out to deal with reports of downed trees and other obstructions. He said the office had only received three so far — debris on Highway 42, milepost 9; debris on North Bay Road; and a downed tree at Fat Elk Road, just west of Coquille. Downing said the tree blocked both lanes of traffic, but a timber deputy went cut the tree out of the road.
People in Douglas County also suffered power outages because of the weather, said Todd Munsey of the Douglas Electric Cooperative. He reported six customers were without power in Reedsport, along with about 300 in the interior of Douglas County.
“The outages are indeed weather-related in that we have had trees falling over into the lines,” Munsey said. “Currently, the time estimate for restoring power to our 300-plus consumers is 3 to 4 hours.”
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