EASTERN OREGON AFFECTED BY FLOODING

The sunshine has come as a wonderful blessing this week for many of us in Oregon, after a very rough period for some.

January was noted to have above-average amounts of rain in many areas across the state, leading into a wet first week of February. Heavy amounts of snow, followed by downpours of rain in parts of eastern Oregon, caused significant snowmelt and runoff into nearby streams and rivers. The Umatilla, Grande Ronde, and Walla Walla rivers, all in northeastern Oregon, were flooding this month, well before our usual spring snowmelt season.

The Umatilla River was reported to have crested at 19 feet (four times its average depth) by the evening of Feb. 6. The areas of Stanfield, Pendleton, Hermiston, and, to the southeast, residents near La Grande, were the hardest hit with devastating floods. A state of emergency was declared on Feb. 7.

These were the worst floods in Oregon since 1996 at almost the exact time of year, when similar circumstances caused much damage in the Willamette Valley and the Portland metro area.  

Sadly, the worst victim of the 2020 flooding was a 62-year-old woman, Janet Tobkin Conley. She was swept away by Umatilla River floodwaters in the steep hills east of Pendleton, and later found dead near her ranch that she refused to leave when evacuations were being recommended.

In total, an estimated 500 homes/buildings were damaged by the flooding, and 54 people were rescued from the rising waters. The lamprey restoration project by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation near Mission, Oregon, was also destroyed, a significant loss. The tribes had been working hard to restore a traditional food source by raising juvenile lamprey (an eel-like fish with a tooth-filled, sucking mouth). 

Thankfully many people have been coming together to help during this crisis. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said the state had a good revenue forecast and should be able to afford the costs of repairing damaged river levees, before the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reimburses the state. The American Red Cross has been lending a hand in the recovery, and the Wells Fargo bank also donated $100,000. Two Rivers Correctional Institute inmates in Umatilla, Oregon, also have helped in cleaning up the community affected by the flooding.

Another group to the rescue, The Tollgate Offroad and Recovery Club, has been delivering bales of hay to hungry animals left without food along the Umatilla and South Fork Walla Walla rivers. The Oregon National Guard was recognized on Feb. 14, as well, for its rescue of several people left stranded by high waters. 

There is a lot more to be done since the flooding has receded. People and animals are still displaced, but the local communities have come together quite well taking good care of those citizens.

Now that the water has subsided, this has some people asking if this is due to climate change, and maybe making awareness of the subject more present now in eastern Oregon. This particular storm actually is like many others in Oregon’s history, but with mindfulness and each little step we make to better our planet, perhaps we can keep incidents like these from getting worse.