PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Relentless rains continued to pound northwest Oregon on Monday, with rising rivers flooding roads and driving some people from their homes.
The warm-weather storms, propelled by air currents from Hawaii in a pattern called the Pineapple Express, caused severe flooding of the five rivers that feed Tillamook Bay - an area that has received more than 8 inches of rain since Thursday. The U.S. Coast Guard and Tillamook County sheriff's office were rescuing flood victims late Monday and the Red Cross opened a shelter to house them. More than a dozen people were there when the shelter opened at 5:30 p.m.
"A lot of people didn't realize that the water was going to come up so fast, didn't realize it was going to get as bad as it did," Undersheriff Terry Huntsman said.
Though most people were able to stay in their houses, the wind and rain proved to be a major inconvenience from the coast to the Cascade mountains. Water leaked into basements, travel was restricted because of flooding or mudslides and tree limbs and branches were down in yards throughout the area. Several coastal school districts canceled classes for Tuesday.
Public works crews in Astoria and Warrenton were kept busy with reports of flooded streets and clogged street drains, and alarms going off for high water at various pump stations. The Cannon Beach police department office was closed because employees couldn't get there, The Daily Astorian newspaper reported Monday. Seaside covered for them.
With voter turnout expected to play a key role in Tuesday's general election, the weather has become a wild card.
In Clatsop County, officials made plans to have a dump truck pick up ballots in case of flooding. County Clerk Nicole Williams urged voters south of Seaside, where travel on U.S. 101 was restricted, to take their ballots south to Cannon Beach, rather than try to make it through high water to drive to drop-off points to the north.
The stretch was closed to all but large vehicles, such as semi-trucks or logging vehicles, and officials said travel could be further restricted when the tide came in.
The state Department of Transportation closed Oregon 53 after a mudslide. It said a contractor would remove the debris, but it did not know how soon. The road also runs southwest toward Nehalem Bay.
Farther south, Oregon 6 was closed northwest of Tillamook because of multiple slides and high water, the highway department said, and a stretch of U.S. 101 in Tillamook was closed by high water.
Washington and Clatsop counties announced they were offering residents sand and bags to fight floods. In Washington County, Emergency Management Coordinator Mary Davis said residents could bring their shovels to fill bags at several locations. It's a service the county offers every year, she said.
Expecting fallen trees, washouts and mudslides, the Mount Hood National Forest said visitors such as hunters, anglers and mushroom pickers should delay trips into the woods. It said it had reports of downed trees over one forest road.
The Weather Service issued a warning about rapidly moving landslides in Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and western Washington and Yamhill counties.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
