Oregon, where Mother Nature is having way too much fun.

[kyrielle]

Sunday night we had an earthquake. It was a teeny-tiny quake and I didn't even feel it, though Scott did (he was at our friend Dale's house, which is closer to the epicenter). It was more of an earth-sneeze, judging from the reports.

This storm, though, is another matter. Flood warnings (and actual flooding) are going on along some rivers, especially out by the coast. Flood watches in effect for many others. (Don't worry about us: we are close enough to some of those that I could easily drive to them and stare at them, but I would in fact have to make an effort to do so.) It's impressive, and a bit unnerving, and makes me glad I don't live on the coast or by one of those rivers....

Only effect on my life is the glorious steady downpour, which I love (and would love more if I didn't know what it was doing to some other people...). And the traffic, which I don't. At least everyone was going slow. Considering I needed my wipers on normal (not high at least - but intermittent wasn't enough) at 30 mph, I would say slow is a good idea. In places driving on surface streets (and once on I-5) the water was deep enough on the roadway for a spray effect (I don't know which was worse, hitting a stretch like that without warning, or the one I got into later with warning - when that warning was the truck in front of me splattering it all over my windshield...).

Traffic report tonight, on the way home, for those who will get the horror: Traffic slow to stop and go from downtown Portland into the Terwilliger Curves, then again from Tigard almost all the way down to Woodburn. They need to just open a mall in the median, the parking lot's already in place....

Weather commentary from pheon. Koin 6 News writes about the same general issues - Highway 101 on the coast is closed in places to low axle vehicles, with most trucks getting through. Oregon does vote-by-mail but also has ballot drop sites. Since all ballots must be in by election day, drop sites are the one way to still meet that deadline. Some voters have been advised to go to alternate drop sites due to the flooding.Katu News has a video up of their evening news segment on the piece (some fairly dramatic shots) and also a photo gallery of weather-related photos. They're also running a 'blog' that is regularly updated with more snippets and details.

It's bad out there. We're fine here, but so many people aren't.

Comments

[canyoncat.livejournal.com]

It sure has been raining a lot out there. I like rain, especially heavy rain with thunder and lightening, but after a day or so I am ready for the sun again. We're due for a short spell here starting tonight and running into Thursday.

[kyrielle]

It does rain a lot here - that's what Oregon's like. I'm not sure who gets more days of rain, us or Seattle (I believe, however, that Seattle gets more total rain). I like the rain.

This, however, is not normal rain for this season. I mean, parts of the coast/coast range getting 6-9 inches in under 24 hours? Yikes.