DRENCHED OREGON MIRED IN WORST FLOODING IN 3 DECADES.Byline: Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A mountainside moaned, then gave way in a rush of mud. Highways vanished beneath stinking stinking having an intrinsic fetid smell. stinking elder sambucuspubens. stinking hellebore helleborusfoetidus. stinking iris irisfoetidissima. , caramel-colored floodwaters swirling with uprooted trees and raw sewage. Two people were dead, a woman was missing, and thousands of Oregonians were driven from their homes. And the rain kept falling. As the state's worst flooding in more than three decades threatened to swamp downtown Portland Downtown Portland is located on the west bank of the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. It is in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and is where most of its high-rise buildings are found. , sandbags sandbags small sacks containing sand used to support an anesthetized animal in dorsal recumbency and prevent it from rolling sideways during anesthesia or surgery. and concrete highway dividers formed a thin defense Thursday against the wide and rising Willamette River Willamette River River, northwestern Oregon, U.S. It flows north for 300 mi (485 km) into the Columbia River near Portland. Oregon's most populous cities are in its valley. The Fremont Bridge, a steel arch with a main span of 1,225 ft (373 m), crosses the river at Portland. . "Water's going everywhere," said Trase Myers, as he and others hurried to stack 40-pound sandbags against a building downtown. "I can't believe the destruction the water has caused." In the nation's latest extreme weather in a winter of extremes, hundreds of roads - including both of Oregon's cross-state freeways, interstates 5 and 84 - were closed by high water or mudslides. Amtrak Amtrak, the National Railroad Passenger Corp., authorized to operate virtually all intercity passenger railroad routes in the United States. Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 in response to more than two decades of continuous operating deficits by privately run trains were halted. Gov. John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5 1947 in Colfax, Washington) is a physician, member of the Democratic Party and former two term Governor of Oregon. He graduated from South Eugene High School in 1965, Dartmouth College in 1969, and then Oregon Health & Science University with a declared 16 of Oregon's 36 counties disaster areas and asked President Clinton for federal emergency aid. Amid the deluge, there were water shortages. As muddy floodwaters contaminated contaminated, v 1. made radioactive by the addition of small quantities of radioactive material. 2. made contaminated by adding infective or radiographic materials. 3. an infective surface or object. water supplies, Portland and Salem officials urged people to conserve water. Smaller towns shut down their water plants completely and told residents to buy bottled water. The flooding is the result of a series of storms that marched in from the Pacific beginning two weeks ago. The first were cold, piling up snow in the mountains that form a scenic backdrop to Portland - the Cascades to the east, the rolling Coast Range to the west. On Monday, a warmer storm stalled over the state, and the snow started melting, adding to the record rains - more than 5 inches a day in some areas. Sparkling mountain streams, narrow enough to jump across two weeks ago, turned monstrous. They tore through the forest, ripping small bridges apart. As the swollen streams converged in the Willamette River valley, evergreen trees were yanked out by their roots, bobbing and lunging downstream like huge battering rams. At least 15,000 Oregonians were forced from their homes, including about 12,000 in the Salem area, where a parade of U-Hauls, horse trailers and pickup trucks streamed through the rain. Bill and Connie Mellin grabbed a few valuables from their home in Keizer, near Salem, and headed for higher ground. "We've stacked our furniture up on books that we don't like," Bill Mellin said. "We're going to grab some photos, kids' toys and clothes and get out of here." The gathering waters barreled toward Portland, Oregon's biggest city, which sits astride a·stride adv. 1. With a leg on each side: riding astride. 2. With the legs wide apart. prep. 1. On or over and with a leg on each side of. 2. the Willamette near its confluence with the Columbia River Columbia River River, southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. Rising in the Canadian Rockies, it flows through Washington state, entering the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Ore.; it has a total length of 1,240 mi (2,000 km). . The Willamette was expected to breach Portland's sea wall late Thursday night and crest this morning at 30 feet, 1.2 feet above the sea wall's lowest point. That would equal the level of Portland's last big flood, around Christmas 1964, which killed 47 people and left 17,000 people homeless throughout the Northwest. Along the sea wall, city workers and volunteers banged nails and lifted plywood sheets, erecting a mile-long barrier that raised the wall about 2-1/2 feet. Officials said the barrier, covered in plastic and secured by sandbags, would only slow the water down. "I'm normally a pretty optimistic person," said Gary Kaer, eyeing the Willamette raging a few yards away from his deserted restaurant in downtown Portland. "I've always felt like you can overcome anything life throws at you. With this, what can you do? Nothing, but wait and hope for the best." A mudslide knocked a seven-unit condominium off its foundation in Portland's posh West Hills, but there were no serious injuries. The building had been vacant since Tuesday, evacuated after a minor slide. East of Portland, a tugboat tugboat, small, strongly built vessel, used to guide large oceangoing ships into and out of port and to tow barges, dredging and salvage equipment, and disabled vessels. rescued Harold Jank, 70, from a house that was breaking apart late Wednesday as it raced down the Columbia River. The tugboat couldn't rescue Jank's wife, Jacqueline, 62, and she was missing. A 9-year-old girl drowned in a culvert Wednesday when she went to get the mail near the small Willamette Valley town of Scio. |
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