Floods wipe out homes, road along Sandy Riverlink

The damage done to Lolo Pass Road from flooding. Photo submitted by YouNews contributor "4everwinter."

BRIGHTWOOD, Ore. – The Sandy River at the Brightwood Bridge still pounded the banks Monday afternoon, roaring at more than 15,000 cubic feet per second after a weekend of heavy rains and melting snowpack.

Lolo Pass Road was wiped out between Brightwood and Zigzag and at least one home was washed away in this small community at the base of Mount Hood.

A portion of the road was reopened Monday at about 6:30 p.m. That section is about a mile-long section from the intersection of Barlow Trail Road. Both lanes are now open.
But the bridge over the Zigzag River is still closed but it may still be used by local pedestrians.

Veteran John Levis said the destruction looked like a battle zone.

“It takes a lot to create this, from a military standpoint, and Mother Nature did it in seconds. It’s amazing,” he said.

Video shot at the scene Sunday evening showed the river crashing across the road. The rushing waters ripped asphalt apart, knocked huge trees into the Sandy River and left power lines dangling.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Dan Johnson, who lost his home in the flood. “I mean I couldn’t believe it. I saw a little bit of debris on the bridge and thought, ‘OK, whatever,’ but this (the road) was the river for a while last night.”

He said his home basically disintegrated as the Sandy River washed away the earth beneath it, but he and his family survived.

“In bad there’s good,” Johnson said. “Everyone is safe and it’s only stuff.”

At least one other home was destroyed. Other homes were damaged upstream near the Zigzag bridge. The foundation of one now hangs out into the river where the owners’ backyard once stretched for 50 feet.

About 200 people who live in the two-mile stretch of Lolo Pass Road couldn't get out by car, only foot traffic was being allowed. Many people without power on Monday walked in fuel cans to get gas for their power generators.

Cell phone service was also spotty.

“Reception’s like, stand on a rock, find a high piece of ground and it’s every other word at best,” said Jerry Carlson.

Residents just might get a break from Mother Nature over the next couple of days. Things were drying out Monday and river levels were receding rapidly in the region. Even the Sandy River at Bull Run was dropping faster than expected, said KATU Meteorologist Dave Salesky.
Road crews were busy Monday hauling in gravel and other materials to repair the road.
Steve Corser, with PGE, said it could be days before all the power is restored in the affected area; it will take time to get all the power lines and power poles into the area because of the road closures.

Flood warnings continued, however, for the Nehalem River in Tillamook County. That warning is expected to end at 7:58 p.m. Monday. The flood warning for the the Luckiamute River near Suver in Polk and Benton Counties will end at 11:22 a.m. Tuesday. In Klickitat County in the Columbia River Gorge, the flood warning in Klickitat County in the Columbia River Gorge will continue until 7:50 a.m. Tuesday.

In the last 48 hours (from 5 p.m. Monday) Portland received 1.65 inches of rain, Astoria 3.56 inches, Government Camp 6.16 inches, Tillamook 5.35 inches and Newport got soaked with 6.29 inches of rain.

Death toll from Philippine floods hits 57

Rescuers and volunteers help an elderly woman to an evacuation center following flooding caused by the continued rains brought about by the cold front in the central and southeatern parts of the country, at Sta. Cruz township, Davao del Sur province in southern Philippines, Tuesday Jan. 18, 2011. A flash flood Monday night swept at least 100 houses in four villages of this town, killing three persons bringing to 56 the number of people killed following weeks of heavy rains and subsequent floodings in several provinces in central and southern Philippines. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

MANILA, Philippines—Flash floods caused by unusually heavy rainfall have drowned four more people, raising the 3-week-old death toll in a third of the Philippines to 57 with 32 others missing, officials said Wednesday.

A 13-year-old girl was among the latest fatalities in southern Davao del Sur province, where 10 people were injured.

Among the missing were eight fishermen. Two others were rescued when their boat overturned in eastern Quezon province while more than 30 fishermen paddled to safety Tuesday near southwestern Palawan Island, where rains flooded at least six low-lying coastal villages.

Coast guard chief Rear Adm. Wildredo Tamayo said small fishing boats were barred from sailing in critical areas. A barge with four crew members broke loose off Semirara Island and has been drifting since Monday, but the coast guard established radio contact with the crew and was attempting to reach them, Tamayo said.

Above-average rainfall during what is supposed to be the middle of the dry season has drenched about 25 out of the archipelago's 80 provinces, affecting about 1.6 million people. About half a million have received emergency assistance, most of them in the northern and central Philippines.

The head of the government weather bureau, Graciano Yumul, said the rains are caused by a cold front that has been aggravated by the La Nina weather phenomenon, which refers to cooler-than-normal surface temperatures over parts of the Pacific Ocean.

He said that 33 out of 52 rainfall monitoring stations reported above-normal readings in the Philippines from Jan. 1 to 17. The highest rainfall recorded was on Pagasa, an island occupied by Philippine troops in the disputed Spratly chain, which recorded 16.16 inches (410 millimeters) compared with the average .38 inches (9.7 mm).

President Benigno Aquino III said last week he was considering a ban on logging in the country after blaming the floods on denuded forests that experts say have triggered erosion and mudslides.

Illegal logging is a recurring problem in the Philippines made possible by weak law enforcement and corruption.

Aquino's predecessor imposed a similar nationwide ban in 2004 after hundreds were killed in landslides, but it was lifted a year later. The logging ban that has been in place in six southern provinces for the past four years also failed to stop the lucrative business, Aquino said.

D’Aleo on NOAA and NASA

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Anthony Watts

By Joe D’Aleo, CCM, AMS Fellow
The pressure has been mounting. The public doubt about global warming has been increasing in the past year given Climategate, and how promises of warm snowless winters failed. After cold and snowy winters in 2007/08 and 2008/09, the winter of 2009/10 was the coldest ever in parts of the southeast, and in parts of Siberia and the coldest since 1977/78 or 1962/63 in many parts of the United States, Europe and Asia. This past December was the second coldest in the entire Central England Temperature record extending back to 1659.
Continue reading →

NASA Sun Spot Number predictions revised again

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Anthony Watts

WUWT Commenter J Gary Fox writes:
The solar cycle 24 predicted sunspot maximum has been reduced again – predicted peak down to 59 Max. (1/3/11) http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml

click to enlarge

“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. Philosopher Y. Berra

This will be at the level of the Maunder Minimum of 1675 -1715.
Previous NASA predictions below: Continue reading →

link to below source

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Severe winter in Mongolia - 800,000 animals lost
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