Storm impact: Rockslide, downed trees, power outage
Mike Williams was heading home to Redmond on U.S. Highway 20 east of Sweet Home Monday evening when he ran into a major rockslide — fortunately, not literally, as he figured some of the boulders that had just tumbled onto the road were big enough to likely flatten his pickup truck.
Williams went to ODOT’s Santiam Junction shops to make sure they knew about the slide, located around milepost 53, about 10 miles west of Tombstone Pass, after he managed to squeeze by the debris in his F-150, above the rain-swollen South Fork of the Santiam River.
“Seems that more slides were imminent, especially where the fresh exposure was at that location,” Williams said. “It apparently had happened moments before I got there. I could still smell the fresh dirt in the air.”
As of early Tuesday, ODOT’s TripCheck reported one lane still blocked by the slide, a sign of the major storm blowing through the state, bringing heavy rain and major problems in the Portland area, though lesser ones east of the Cascades.
In Sisters around 6:15 p.m., crews responded to a tree that fell onto a house on West St. Helens Avenue, with occupants inside. Deschutes County dispatchers said it smashed into the kitchen, but no one was hurt.
About two hours later, a tree came down on a Pacific Power line in Deschutes River Woods south of Bend, knocking power out to about 150 customers, said utility spokesman Ry Schwark. Another 250-plus had to lose power in order to make repairs; power was restored about 11:30 p.m., an hour ahead of the company’s estimates.
Trees also were reported down earlier in the day
