Resort officials hope snowfall will stop mudslides

 By TIM FOUGHT Associated Press Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - Dave Riley has more than the usual reason this fall to pray for snow.

The president of the largest ski area on Mount Hood faces a delay in opening lifts and runs. Give or take a week or two, depending on the snowpack, that usually happens at Thanksgiving weekend.

This year, though, will be different.

Loosened by a wave of rain notable even by Pacific Northwest standards, a mammoth flow of earth and rock this week severed the state highway that leads to Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort.

Highway crews have started repairs, but state highway officials won't hazard a guess as to how long it will take.

Riley said Friday that much depends on whether snow falls on the mountain.

That would plug the glacial ravines that served as chutes for what was estimated as a million cubic yards of mountain that moved downhill, cutting Oregon 35 both north and south of the access roads to the ski area.

Without snow, Riley said, there's danger of more slides, setting back the work of clearing the roads and further delaying the opening of the ski area.

"It's worse than I imagined," said U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., after he, Riley and state officials toured the slide area.

Riley said there's hope that Route 35 can be opened from the north, allowing traffic from Interstate 84 and Hood River, within a few weeks. And the bigger slide to the south, blocking traffic on the most direct route from Portland, isn't so bad as it appeared at first, he said.

"I would encourage everyone not to overreact," Riley wrote in a blog. "What I see is nothing a bunch of big yellow equipment can't fix."

Meanwhile, Oregon braced for two more waves of rain, one Friday and one Sunday expected to be stronger and windier.

The National Weather Service warned of possible flash flooding and said there was a possibility two logjams on the Sandy River in Clackamas County, upstream of the town of Zig Zag, could give way and cause flooding downstream.

Forecasters said the winds could push over trees in saturated ground.

Public health advisories were issued at six Oregon beaches because of high levels of bacteria in ocean waters, common when heavy rains wash pollutants into streams and rivers and sewers overflow.

In Tillamook County, hardest hit in the rain that fell Monday and Tuesday, the damage was estimated at about $4.5 million said emergency manager Tom Manning.

Manning said the Tillamook Bay Railroad, which moves timber from two local mills, was shut downm and a lumber and hardware store sustained more than $1 million in damage.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)