LANE COUNTY, Ore. (KMTR) -- While concerns are easing for some in
western Oregon with lowering river and counties escaping a second round of major flooding for now, emergency managers are warning everyone to prepare while they can.
“You know, the surprises always go both ways: it's either a little worse or a little bit better than expected and this time around we got lucky and it was better than expected,” says Linda Cook, Emergency Manager for Lane County.
Water levels on several major western Oregon rivers peaked between Friday night and Saturday morning, March 31, 2012. Still though, those levels remain higher than normal.
The Siuslaw River in Mapleton, the North Fork of the Coquille River in Myrtle Point, and Marys River in Philomath are all just under flood stage Saturday night, March 31, 2012.
Around 1.5 inches of rain fell around western Oregon over the last 24 hours. It was enough to put Lane County's emergency operations center on stand-by.
Flooding in January 2012 caused $4.5 million worth of damage across the county. With another threat, emergency managers didn’t take any chances.
In Lane County, crews put out more high water signs, even activated an emergency shelter at the Mapleton Grange.
While the water is going down, emergency managers are still urging caution.
“We really need people to continue to pay attention to the trees. The fact that the saturated soils could be making those trees very vulnerable to falling over, so we do need people just year round to be aware of what are the local conditions and to take precaution,” says Cook.
Lane County crews say most of the high water overnight was in Maplton, part of Cottage Grove and Saginaw, also out in the Horton area near Triangle Lake. Crews even received calls of high water as far east as Oakridge.
For more information on the current Siuslaw River level in Mapleton, click the following link: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=pqr&gage=mplo3.
For more information on the current Marys River level in Philomath, click the following link: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=pqr&gage=phio3.
For more information on the current North Fork Coquille River level in Myrtle Point, click the following link: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=mfr&gage=myno3.
