Northwest flood
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A powerful Pacific storm lashed southwest Washington and northwest Oregon Dec. 3-4 with hurricane-force coastal winds opening roofs to a deluge of nearly a foot of rain in the two-day period.
Further inland, up to 27 feet of water inundated a small logging town, and 10 feet of muddy water pooled over sections of the major I-5 freeway. Other roads were buried beneath landslides, and areas were littered with downed trees.
Water rose so rapidly it isolated homes from exits and even prevented fire trucks from leaving their stations, rising up to five feet in four hours. In a dairy area, hundreds of cattle and livelihoods "just floated away" on the high water.
About 44 LDS families were driven from their homes by the extreme weather. About 30 of these are from the Centralia Washington Stake. Another four LDS homes in the more coastal Elma Washington Stake sustained roof and subsequent water damage, and some 10 LDS homes flooded in the Vernonia Branch, Forest Grove Oregon Stake. Five deaths were attributed to the storm. At press time Thursday, Dec. 6, no members were reported among the killed or injured. Various wards have started clean-up efforts where possible.
Three meetinghouses were used as Red Cross shelters for community residents who were plucked from the storm by helicopters or boats and brought cold and soaking to refuge, said Terry Wood, Centralia Washington Stake public affairs director. Church trucks with emergency supplies arrived Tuesday at the meetinghouses from storehouses in Kent, Wash., and Portland, Ore., and were shared with other shelters. Another three truckloads were sent from Salt Lake City later in the week carrying 5,000 cleaning kits to be distributed among the communities.
A widow in the Adna Ward, Centralia Washington Stake, JoAnn Lasley, 74, was among those evacuated.
"As I was wading out, one shoe didn't fit as well as the other, and I kept getting gravel in it," she said. "I kept walking on that gravel in my shoe, and my hands were full, so I couldn't get the gravel out.
"It was my first time in a helicopter," she said. "The wind was blowing so much from the helicopter's blades that it blew a road block sign against me and I actually fell down and the sign fell on top of me and I had to roll out from underneath it. I am not that agile."
On Tuesday morning, Sister Lasley's visiting teacher, Vickie Guenther, invited her to come to her home. Sister Lasley declined — her home near the Chehalis River had been spared by the high floodwaters of 1996, so as the creek rose and water completely surrounded the house, she hoped it would soon recede. When it rose another 18-24 inches and water seeped under her door, she was again on the phone with her visiting teacher. The waters rose further so she hung up, turned off the electricity and called 911.
On Monday, Bishop Larry R. Van Quill of the Centralia Ward canceled a progressive dinner planned for Tuesday evening, although hams and potatoes were already at various homes for cooking.
The next morning, Bishop Van Quill was awakened before 3 a.m. with a call from the city to open the Centralia meetinghouse, home to the Centralia and Tenino wards, as a shelter.
National Guard trucks began pulling up at the meetinghouse at 7:30 a.m., with people who had lost their belongings and were wet and cold. Food and cots arrived from the Kent, Wash., storehouse that afternoon. That evening as the evacuees ate hot ham, potatoes and dressing "members of the Red Cross team came by and they were totally surprised," said Bishop Van Quill.
"The next morning we fed (the evacuees) pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was a big hit ... with people who came in barefoot, wet to the waist."
Most of the 200 evacuees who checked into the center have found other housing, but groups of evacuees continued to arrive, including just before his conversation with Church News, five elderly and somewhat disoriented wheelchair patients of a rest home.
He said, "We've had a lot of good help, a lot of big hearts reaching out, living the gospel."
A short time later, all the evacuees sheltered at a local high school were transferred to the neighboring Centralia stake center.
"This has been a testimony to me that the Church, through the priesthood, is really ready to react," said Bishop Van Quill.
Preparation for such an event began about eight months ago, said President Norman E. Hansen of the Centralia Washington Stake. He said that when two new preparedness pamphlets were issued by the Church, they "pushed (preparedness) really hard through the home and visiting teachers and leadership training." An emergency calling channel was also developed that was immediately put to use.
President Brad C. Richardson of the new Forest Grove Oregon Stake said damaged areas in the stake included Vernonia, the Neah-Kah-Nie Branch and Tillamook Ward.
"Work parties, members of the stake and from other stakes, are going to start drying up floors," he said. "The clean-up is just beginning, just getting debris out of houses and the carpets up." Church resources have been offered to the community, he said.
Extensive power outages affected the Elma Washington Stake, said President Arlin W. Burbidge. He described the flooding stages that continued beyond anything people have seen in recent memory. "We feel really fortunate there was not any greater damage," he said. "We are learning that preparedness is really in individual homes. That is where it did the most good. The people were so isolated we couldn't get to them because every major highway was flooded. But the people had food and water and didn't panic."
E-mail to: jhart@desnews.com
