More crashes, power outages as record cold lingers

A third day of record cold kept Central Oregon roads slick on Sunday and police and medics busy with another round of crashes, including a 2-vehicle crash on Highway 97 north of Bend that injured several people.

Redmond dropped even lower early Sunday — to -5, a degree lower than Friday and Saturday — smashing the old Nov. 29 record of 3 degrees, set back in 2006. Pelton Dam’s 8-degree reading clipped it’s 30-year-old record by a single degree.

More than 600 Central Electric Cooperative members in the Sisters-Tollgate area were without power for much of Sunday due to an outage. CEC officials said Sisters power was restored by 4:30 p.m. and Tollgate would have its service restored shortl after. An outage map can be found here.

A pickup and SUV collided around 1 p.m. on Highway 97 about two miles north of Bend, near milepost 133. Four people were injured, according to unconfirmed initial police scanner reports, and people were trapped in both vehicles, requiring extrication.

Initial indications were that none of the injuries were life-threatening. Several citizens reportedly stopped to assist the motorists before medics arrived.

Another 2-vehicle crash occurred about a mile north less than a half-hour alter, just south of the Deschutes Junction overpass, initial reports indicated.

There also were more slide-offs and rollovers around the region Sunday as temperatures stayed below freezing under blue skies, keeping roads snow-packed and icy.

Five slide-offs were reported just before 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon on Hwy. 20W near milepost 11 west of Bend. No serious injuries were reported, but tow trucks were not immediately available and ODOT was called out to put down cinders to ease the problem.

Another crash tied up Highway 20 west of Sisters late Sunday afternoon, as residents said the road was very slick.

Redmond Airport plunged to -4 Saturday, smashing the old Nov. 28 record of 6 degrees, set back in 1942. Pelton Dam also broke a record for the day, falling to 8 degrees, two degrees colder than the old mark, set in 1985.

Other Saturday lows included -5 in Madras and -8 at a location seven miles northeast of Bend.

Change is on the way, according to forecasters, with highs finally topping freezing on Monday but a chance of freezing rain Tuesday evening and night in the Bend area and a chance of rain lingering through the week as highs reach the 40s and lows also reaching above freezing.

A crash blocked two lanes of Highway 97 north of Bend and causing big backups during the Friday evening commute.

Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said a crash occurred involving a semi truck about two miles north of Bend near milepost 133. Sgt. Nathan Garibay said one lane in each direction was blocked, and cleared up shortly before 6 p.m.

The bone-chilling sub-zero cold tested the mettle of Black Friday and Small Business Saturday shoppers braving still-icy streets that led to several crashes and slide-offs, three days after a major snowfall.

Redmond Airport dropped to -4 Friday morning, smashing the old Nov. 27 record of 4 above zero, set back in 1976. But other areas got even colder, with lows reported at Bend Airport of -6, -5 in Madras and -8 in Sunriver

But those still aren’t the coldest High Desert readings on Friday: Bill Sawders said his thermometer plunged to -18 in La Pine’s Wheeler Ranch subdivision while Kim Nagore, 12 miles south of La Pine, posted a Facebook photo of a thermometer showing -30.

Numerous crashes, from slide-offs to rollovers, were reported across the region Friday and again Saturday morning, though none reportedly involved serious injuries.