High winds the main concern along coast

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. – It wasn’t so much the rain that residents of Lincoln County had to deal with Monday when the biggest storm of the season (so far) rolled in, but it was the wind.

Throughout the day a mix of fear and excitement was in the air. At an overlook in downtown Depoe Bay, waves crashed into the seawall spraying onlookers with seawater.

For some, the weather was thrilling.

“I love it,” said Lydia Settles who was visiting from southern California. “This is really neat. I’ve never experienced wind like this, and I’m just loving it right now.”

A flag flying in Depoe Bay that lets locals know a severe storm is on its way flew just one warning below hurricane status.

The manager of Pirates Cove Gift Shop said when she sees the flag flying she doesn’t want to be at work.

“I want to go home and be with my dog and make sure my roof doesn’t blow off,” said manager Janie Buel.

At schools around Lincoln County children were being sent home after school for safety and all school sports and activities were canceled.

“We want to make sure everyone’s safe and there could be a lot of debris on the road. So we need to be careful,” said Julie LaFayette of Taft High School.

At the beach in Lincoln City blowing sand blinded a man for a moment as he was warned about sneaker waves in stormy weather by a KATU News reporter.

“Well, we figure we’re not going any closer to the water,” the man said. “We just wanted to stop and observe on our way home.”

Residents of Lincoln City already had their share of wild weather this year. A tornado tore through the town a little over a week ago. Residents said they are expecting a long winter.

Meanwhile, high water conditionally closed Highway 101 just south of Seadside near Astoria early Monday evening. A spokesman from the Oregon Department of Transportation said the traffic there is limited to high-profile vehicles.

In Seaside, part of the roof of the old courthouse blew off and landed west of Highway 101 at the Broadway intersection. Police blocked off the road until the debris could be cleaned up.

High winds south of Cannon Beach caused a tree to crash down on Highway 101 at about 5 p.m. Witnesses said that the tree just missed hitting a school bus.

There was no word whether any children were abroad at the time.

Two log trucks helped remove the tree from the highway so traffic could flow again.

Along Highway 30 near Astoria tree removal crews were on standby to remove trees as they come down. Crews said they expect serious problems Monday night because the area was hit by high winds two years ago.

“That ’07 storm, we still have trees that are laying over waiting to go that we just never got to,” said Kent Cuifici of Trees Inc. “We’re going to be dealing with some of that, probably.”

Power was out for about 15 minutes in the Astoria area. Power also went out in Seaside and Cannon Beach. It was likely caused by a tree onto a power line.

Waves along the Columbia River were reported to be close to 25 feet and the National Weather Service called a Web conference in the afternoon to reach as many emergency response teams as they could with the latest information about the storm.

The National Weather Service also said it thinks this will be the worst windstorm since the November 2007 storm.

Emergency crews in Clatsop County said more people are taking the warnings seriously this time and are ready to spend 72 hours without power and without help, if necessary, when a storm of this type moves in.

Emergency shelters in Clatsop County aren’t open yet but crews said they are ready to open them at any time.