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Storm Ravages North Oregon Coast, Some Without Power

(Cannon Beach, Oregon) – While the National Weather Service reports gusts of wind as high as 60 mph on the north Oregon coast, residents there will tell you it had to be more.

That’s especially true in Cannon Beach, where power went out at around 5 p.m. Tuesday – the third time since Friday.

The National Weather Service still has a high surf advisory and flood warning in effect for the north coast late Tuesday night, although the high wind warning has now expired.

The central Oregon coast still has warnings for high winds, floods and high surf in effect. The National Weather Service says gusts close to 70 mph are still possible around Florence.

The NWS says high surf is still likely in both areas because winds had been around 60 mph for sustained periods Tuesday night.

Officials are very concerned about the possibility of these factors combining to cause sizable flooding. Surf swells as high as 33 feet are possible, and that, when joined with high tides and a lot of rain could cause problems on the north Oregon coast.

Because of those winds, Dave Johnson, owner of Fultano’s Pizza in Cannon Beach, had to close down his pizza shop. With no electricity, he couldn’t make dinner or even answer the phones.

Johnson said winds were extreme as he ran errands in the afternoon. “I went to pick up my son in the Tolovana area, and I thought the wind was going to pick up my wife’s car,” Johnson said. “I don’t think I’ve ever held onto the steering wheel that hard.”

Coastal storms blew out power on Friday night and on Sunday – both for about nine hours, Johnson said.

The power problems cause their worries and frustrations, but not everyone gets inconvenienced.

A few miles south of Cannon Beach, Barbara Dau was getting tired of the power going out. She co-owns a B&B called Arch Cape House, which sits on an exposed bluff just above the tiny unincorporated community of Arch Cape.

The lodging is built to look like a castle, so Dau laughed the place was – appropriately - really drafty without power for heat.

“It was really shaking the house earlier tonight,” Dau said. “Every time the power goes out I sweat blood. But no one seems to mind.”

Much of her business depends on her service and cooking, which is much harder without power. Luckily, Arch Cape House has gas powering the hot water and stove. So, guests seem to enjoy the candlelight, wild noises brought on by the wind and other aspects of the storm.

“Guests love it when the power goes out,” Dau said. “This weekend, I had a big fire in the fireplace, put the dining table by the fire, and had breakfast by candlelight. Two guests said ‘Next time we come out here, we want to order a power outage.” “

During Saturday morning’s outage, Dau’s business partner, Bob Shaw, insisted she stop cooking and drag the guests to a breakfast hotspot about ten miles south in Nehalem.

“We piled in two cars and went to Wanda’s,” Dau said. “Everyone from Arch Cape was there.”