KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews
TIDEWATER — In one of the hardest hit areas in Lincoln County, residents in a 20-mile stretch of the lower Alsea River valley are having to fend for themselves and neighbors through a rare snow storm as they wait the reopening of roads and return of electrical service.
By 8 o’clock Wednesday night, the Oregon Department of Transportation had already made the call to close Oregon Highway 34 from four miles east of Waldport to the Benton-Lincoln County line. Power went out shortly thereafter. The whole corridor was littered with trees felled by more than a foot of snow and high winds.
It was only mid-day Thursday when the road re-opened from milepost 4 to just east of the Tidewater post office. Power was still out in the whole corridor Friday afternoon.
Angie Russell, who lives near the post office, said they were finally able to get into Waldport on Friday for supplies and to borrow a friend’s generator in case power wasn’t on by that night. When they began developing their homesite five years ago, they quickly learned that they needed to be prepared for isolation.
“The night of the storm, we stood outside and it just sounded like fireworks or gunfire with all the trees snapping,” Russell said. “We could tell that things were hitting the highway from up on the hillside that we live on. Every tree echoed through the hills.”
She said they’ve had a lot of snow before but never as fast. And she pointed to how much worse conditions got once elevation changed near the Tidewater fire station just to the east.
“The weather definitely switched and they got hit way harder up there than even a couple miles downriver for us,” Russell. “We ended up scooping two lanes down our driveway to get our vehicle out.”
She said they’ve been outside a lot clearing plants and vehicles and killing time until conditions improve.
“You’ve got neighbors out hollering to make sure everything’s OK and it’s great to have that sense of community for sure,” Russell said.
Open but treacherous
U.S. Highway 101 is clear of ice from Newport to Waldport and Highway 34 east is fine past Eckman Lake. Close to the ocean Friday an occasional white peak and stands of snow-kissed firs were framed in nearly cloudless sapphire sky.
But farther inland is a different story.
Highway 34 was still closed between milepost 9.5 and milepost 34 Friday night. YachatsNews was unable to progress past Little Albany at about milepost 8.5 Friday afternoon as at least a half-dozen utility trucks with crews blocked the road, replacing poles and repairing Consumers Power Inc.’s main transmission line.
The lower five miles were intermittently treacherous, particularly the mile or two just west across the bridge to Taylor’s Landing, with fallen trees and thick ice narrowing the road to a single lane.
There were ODOT snow plows and three Canal Creek residents laboring on a massive tree that fell about 100 yards up the road leading to Canal Creek campground. There were few other vehicles on the road, all driving conservatively.
Wendy Girard and her husband, Matthew, have lived on Little Albany Loop for four years, just to the west of the major utility work Friday at Kozy Kove. They live in a manufactured home and are using a generator periodically to power their refrigerator and watch TV. They’ve got enough supplies and wood heat, Wendy Girard said, they’re just bored.
“My neighbor came over for coffee because we can make coffee,” she said. “They don’t have wood heat, so they’re really cold.”
She also recalled a Wednesday night filled with the cacophony of crashing trees. Two trees fell on their yard and a power pole fell about 50 years from their driveway. Matthew Girard cut down a tree that was hanging in a power line.
They said someone drove through the loop Thursday in a Jeep offering supplies.
At 9 o’clock Friday night Wendy Girard posted on the Tidewater Community Facebook page that electricity restored was restored to their neighborhood. “We have power, so exciting,” she said.
Waiting for light
Power went out in Tidewater at about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. The continuing blackout was evident from the hum of generators as YachatsNews drove the snowy but easily passable subdivision roads at Westwood Village on Friday.
About 1,000 households in the upper Alsea area of Lincoln County lost power, and most still did not have it Friday night. Consumers Power lost both of its main transmission lines into the county, one in the 23-mile closed stretch of Highway 34
Mark Stevens said he got about 14 inches of snow or more at his house near the Tidewater post office.
Stevens runs the Tidewater Community Facebook group, which became an information hub for locals to keep tabs on each other, share tips on road conditions, and post photographs.
But not everyone in Tidewater has access to that resource, he said — some don’t have internet access even when they have power — so they’ve been checking on each other. Stevens is keeping an eye an elderly neighbor who doesn’t have heat.
“On our little street, we had at least five trees down,” Stevens said. He and some neighbors cleared them so they could access Highway 34. He also remembered Wednesday night as full of crashing, a tree every five seconds and a huge one every 30.
Consumers Power had 1,400 meters out in all of its coverage area as of 7 p.m. Friday, about two-thirds of which are in the Alsea River valley. Its crews were still active in the Kozy Kove area at that time.
The cooperative estimated power could be restored to the Alsea, Missouri Bend and Tidewater areas by late Friday night.
- Kenneth Lipp is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at KenLipp@YachatsNews.com
