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Residents and Officials: Oregon Coast Storm as Bad as 1995

Storm waves near Depoe Bay

(Oregon Coast) - Many experts are saying this was worse than the 1995 storm.

With gusts around and above 100 miles an hour throughout the night, massive power outages, road closures and flooding, everyone from coastal residents to Portland weather forecasters are saying this storm was worse than the monster that racked the Oregon coast and valley in December of 1995.

Surges hitting Gleneden Beach on Wednesday

Gusts were often more than 100 mph up and down the coast, downing trees that in turn toppled power lines and blocked Highway 101 in various spots from Seal Rock to Astoria – some 150 miles of havoc.

As of Friday night, power is still out in the top 120 miles of the entire Oregon coast: from Lincoln City to Astoria, a stretch that includes Tillamook, Rockaway, Manzanita, Cannon Beach and Seaside. The bad news is that it's likely power may not be fully restored until Sunday, maybe even Monday.

Highway 6 and Highway 26 are back open after being closed because of downed trees. 45 miles of Highway 6 were shut down until around 4:30 Friday afternoon.

About 100 tourists and coastal residents were trapped in the coast range on Highway 26, and around 75 of them spent the night at restaurant Camp 18. That highway also saw large amounts of snow as low as 1000 feet, creating blizzard-like conditions when combined with the high winds hitting the coast range.

Spouting Horn in Depoe Bay goes nuts during storms

Many parts of the coast are still in the dark, with the 35 miles from Manzanita to Warrenton out of power. Parts of Astoria are out as well. While most of Newport has power, there are reports the outages may be from Lincoln City all the way to Warrenton.

Barbara Shaw, of Shaw’s Oceanfront Bed & Breakfast in Arch Cape – just south of Cannon Beach - said she’d heard power may not be restored in that area until Monday.

“It was worse than the storm of 1995,” Shaw said. “It was the worst we’d ever seen here. They said there would be gusts around 100, but I think there was much more than that.”

Shaw said she and her family went to replace the top of a neighbor’s hot tub and discovered a flying branch and gone through the window.

Shaw’s son Bob Shaw said a gargantuan, two hundred-year-old tree in Seaside had toppled on the south end.

The power outage contributed to at least two deaths on the coast. A house fire in Seaside killed two people in the home. The cause is apparently burning candles in the middle of the darkness.

Just north of Florence

Ocean swells reached 40 feet throughout the night, which officials believe contributed to the destruction of a catamaran yacht that beached in Lincoln City. Three crewmembers are missing still from that craft.

Newport missed a lot of the brunt of the storm, at least in terms of damage. Resident Guy DiTorrice was the head of the Oregon Coast Visitors Association in 1995 during that last great storm, and his yard was the landing pad for the roof of the Izzy’s Pizza restaurant when that flew off during the melee back then.

DiTorrice disputes the idea this storm was as bad as the ’95 one.

“It may have seemed that way, but in terms of damage – no,” DiTorrice said.

DiTorrice said damage was minor compared to the wild ride of ’95.

DiTorrice also serves on the volunteer fire and rescue team for Newport, and said at least one motorist was trapped by a downed powerline or tree. But rescuers arrived quickly and the man was not trapped very long.

Also in Newport, Village Market & Deli owner Deb Trusty said her home atop a hill above Agate Beach was rocked all night, and her and her husband lost some shingles and more parts of a weakened tree. “The power went out, then back on, then out again,” Trusty said. “We made a fire, had some candles, and just relaxed.”

Nye Beach, Newport

But the biggest adventure was had by a wine rep from Portland who does regular business with the Trusty’s.

“We told him that if he needed to, he could find a bed waiting for him here,” Trusty said. “And that’s exactly what he did. When the highways of 18 and 22 were closed, he tried taking Highway 20. But he actually saw a tree fall on top of the car in front of him, and he turned right around and he spent the night here.”

Lorna Davis, Director of Tourism Development for the Newport Chamber of Commerce, could not be reached by BeachConnection.net Friday afternoon because she was stranded in Lincoln City with no gas. With power out there, gas stations could not pump gas, and another employee of the chamber was on her way to get Davis some gas.

With everything north of Lincoln City in the dark, that makes neighboring Depoe Bay the last bastion of civilization.

Trollers Lodge owner Peg Leoni said she was getting about five “refugees” from the power outages at her motel – people who were not tourists. “So far today, five from Lincoln City have checked in,” she said. “We've had a lot of phone calls asking if we had heat and what are our prices.”

Rockaway

While Depoe Bay was also got hit hard, it had its amusing moments.

The Christmas tree on the Whale Watch building had all its needles blown off and will probably be taken down, said Leoni.

“The red bell buoy that is normally anchored a half mile out is now close to the rocks opposite the 101/Bay Street traffic light,” said Leoni. “Our neighbors, the Overmeyer's, thought it was unusually loud yesterday morning. Well, it was right below their oceanfront home.

“Later yesterday morning it migrated north, past the entrance to the harbor.”

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