Outages, delays and closures: Heavy snow closes Hwy. 20 over Santiam Pass

Strong winds and heavy rain caused a number of outages, school delays and closures in Lane County due to power outages and trees blocking the road Sunday night and Monday.

There was 2.12 inches of rain observed Monday by the National Weather Service at Eugene's Mahlon Sweet Field. Showers are expect throughout Tuesday, with between a quarter and half of an inch of rain possible.

Meanwhile, winter storm conditions are making highways around Oregon dangerous or completely impassible because of snowfall and wind.

Closures on Tuesday

• The Oakridge School District is opening after a two-hour delay Tuesday.

• The McKenzie School District will again operate on snow bus routes Tuesday.

Lane Co. road closures as of 9 a.m. Tuesday

The westbound lane of Highway 126 East in the McKenzie River Valley was closed due to a landslide just west of Vida between mileposts 23 and 24 Monday afternoon, creating delays. Nearby crews from a wildfire recovery site responded to the landslide, and it was cleared later Monday evening, according to Angela Beers Seydel, spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Highway 126 West also was closed two miles east of Florence due to high tide flooding a little before noon, according to ODOT. It was closed between mileposts two and four and reopened just before 4 p.m.

While that area floods often, it's more severe because of the mix of three inches of rain at the coast over the past couple of days, combined with melting snow water that is flowing in, and the high tides. It will stay closed until the tides go down enough for people to drive through safely, Beers Seydel said.

"That combination means it will probably be closed longer than it would in better weather," she said.

Beers Seydel advised drivers to keep an eye out for ODOT crews and sweeper trucks clearing the sand used last week to deal with snow and to respect the "move over" law when driving past them.

Another landslide closed one lane of Oregon Highway 36 at the far west end of Triangle Lake. Drivers are asked to proceed with caution through the affected area, according to ODOT spokesperson Angela Beers Seydel. The road is reopened as of 4:45 p.m. Monday.

One lane of Highway 58 near Pleasant Hill was closed due to downed trees blocking it Monday morning, but they have since been cleared, Beers Seydel said.

Heavy snowfall continues to close northern Oregon highways

Heavy snowfall is wrecking havoc on Oregon highways, resulting in multiple closures on high-traffic routes across the state but mainly through the Cascade Range including the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood and the Santiam Pass area.

A 13-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 20 is still closed Tuesday just west of Santiam Pass Summit due to dangerous snowy and icy driving conditions that caused multiple spinouts and a snow slide on Monday. It was initially closed a little after 5 p.m. Monday. The stretch shut down is between mileposts 78 and 91.

It's expected to be closed until the early evening, according to Beers Seydel.

"They're working on it, but it depends on what they find," she said. "You can see the camera at Tombstone (Sno-Park), you can sort of see there's a road."

Multiple feet of snow are forecast above 3,000 feet in the Cascade Range while smaller but still heavy amounts are falling in the Columbia River Gorge.

An avalanche warning has also been issued for mountain passes from Mount Hood to Santiam Pass.

A winter storm warning projects another 6 to 18 inches of snow above 3,000 feet in locations including Government Camp on Mount Hood and Santiam Pass between Salem and Bend.

Here's a round up of road closures:

— Interstate 84 reopened between Troutdale and Hood River and into Eastern Oregon.

— Highway 26 near Hood River remains closed beginning 4 miles east of Welches from milepost 26 to 44.5. It is also closed in Central Oregon from milepost 62 to 96 northeast of Madras.

— Highway 20 over Santiam Pass summit was marked as reopened but is moving slowly with at least one accident reported as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday.

— Highway 20 remained closed near Tombstone Pass southwest of Santiam Junction.

— In addition, Highway 138 east of Roseburg is closed, along with a number of connecting highways including 62 and 230 around Diamond and Crater Lake National Park.

To see a map with all closures, visit TripCheck.com.

EWEB reports quick fix to outages

The windstorm Sunday night and early Monday caused outages to more than 2,600 EWEB customers, but crews worked through the night to quickly restore service to nearly all customers by 9 a.m., according to an EWEB news release.

Just about a dozen customers were without power by Monday morning, EWEB said, and all were restored by noon.

Sunday’s storm came right after an area snowstorm that started in the evening of Dec. 26 and lasted for a couple of days. Several inches of snow fell, cracking trees and knocking out power for more than 850 customers, and power was restored for nearly all customers by the evening of Dec. 28.

“Mother Nature’s holiday gift to EWEB’s line crews included some long hours getting the power back on for our customers, but at least we had a respite between these two storms,” said John Latourette, EWEB's line supervisor, in the release.

EWEB spokesman Joe Harwood said he thinks the snowstorm mitigated the effects of this week's windstorm by knocking down the trees and branches that were already weak and susceptible to being toppled.

One step EWEB said it takes to reduce the risk of widespread outages is trimming trees and other plants near electric lines, along an average of 300 miles of roads each year. Community members interested in learning more about how to prepare for disasters can sign up for EWEB's Pledge to Prepare program, which lasts 12 months and helps households be ready for a potential two-week emergency.

County encourages driving with awareness and caution

County spokeswoman Devon Ashbridge said drivers should be careful, especially in the coastal areas where a lot of the county's workers are being sent to fix downed trees and wires.

"A lot of our roads are narrow and windy, so it's really important for people to be extra cautious, you never know what you'll see when you come around a corner," Ashbridge said Monday.

She noted it's common for the coast areas to have the largest number of landslides and downed trees during heavy rain and wind events, since it's such a steep area and hillsides are already very saturated.

The county is also warning drivers to turn around if roads are flooded in low-lying areas, and asking county residents help out by clearing storm water drains to prevent pooling.

"If you see standing water on a roadway, turn around," Ashbridge said. "You don't know what's under that water, and it doesn't take nearly as much water as people think to lose control of the vehicle."

Outages as of 11 a.m. Monday

Hundreds power outages have been reported around Lane County overnight Sunday and Monday morning due to strong winds knocking down trees and power lines.

Along the coast in Florence, and in Mapleton, 1,313 people have been experiencing outages, according to the Central Lincoln Public Utility District outage map.

Just south of Eugene, 511 people have been experiencing outages in the 97405 ZIP code, which includes people living along Lorane Highway and south Eugene, according to the Lane Electric outage map.

The 97401 ZIP code around Dexter and south of it are also experiencing widespread outages, with 258 of their 265 customers being without power.

Other areas reporting widespread outages include Dorena and Dorena Lake and those living Brice Creek Road.

The Eugene Water & Electric Board had some serious outages between 11:30 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. Monday, with more than 2,600 people being without power at different times. Now all except for seven people have their power restored, according to EWEB spokesman Joe Harwood.

Heavy snow closes Oregon, Washington roads, including I-84

PENDLETON (AP) — Heavy snow and high winds forced officials to close dozens of state roads in eastern Oregon on Monday and Interstate 84 was shut down through the Columbia River Gorge, while blowing snow also closed a major road over the Cascade Mountains in Washington.

Umatilla County, in northeastern Oregon, saw wind gusts of 60 mph, snow drifts along roadways that were several feet tall and white-out conditions that prevented the Oregon Department of Transportation from operating its snow plows, the agency said.

People who ignore road closures could become stranded for several days and there were reports of multiple weather-related crashes and stranded vehicles, ODOT said.

About 8 inches of snow fell in the Columbia River Gorge between 2 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. Monday, the National Weather Service said. As a result, I-84 was closed between Troutdale and Highway 64 near Hood River because of white-out conditions and multiple crashes.

In Washington, Snoqualmie Pass over the Cascades was closed Monday due to blowing snow, zero visibility and avalanche concerns.

In Portland, the precipitation fell as heavy rain that caused flooding that closed some city intersections.

Officials also warned people to stay away from areas recently burned by wildfires because the heavy rain could cause mudslides.

Closures as of 10 a.m. Monday

Here is a list of those delays and closures.

Closed:

• Siuslaw School District. Downed trees and power lines are impeding five bus routes; safety.

• Willamette Leadership Academy. Remote learning options are available.

• Preschool for Mapleton School District (due to staff illness).

School districts with a two-hour delay include:

• Mapleton School District due to debris in the roadway and power outages.

School districts operating on snow bus routes:

• McKenzie School District.

Here is a link to The Register-Guard's automatic updates on new closures if you want to monitor when others close: projects.registerguard.com/school-closings/.

Louis Krauss covers breaking news for The Register-Guard. Contact him at lkrauss@registerguard.com or 541-521-2498, and follow him on Twitter @LouisKraussNews.

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Lane County weather: Hwy. 126E in McKenzie Valley reopens