A man walks through Portland as the rainy weather continues. (KGW Photo)

Rainy Weather Raises Flood Warnings

December 15, 2001, 05:30 PM

E-mail this story    Print this story

By Kyle Iboshi and Doug Irving, KGW Staff

A drenching storm is spinning toward the Northwest, threatening to pound the Willamette Valley and raising flood warnings.

The Weather Service issued a flood watch late Saturday for southwest Washington and northwest Oregon. It will stay in effect until Monday.

A rainy weather system hung above Portland on Saturday, steadily raising rivers and streams and covering the mountains in new snow. Forecasters predict more of the same through the rest of the weekend.

Rivers along the coast are the most likely to splash over their banks, along with those that feed the Willamette River. But experts said conditions will have to be just right.

The warm system moving toward the coast also will melt the snowpack, sending even more water trickling into the rivers.

“Right now, it does appear several rivers have a good probability of reaching flood stage,” said Paul Tolleson of the National Weather Service.

The greatest threat for flooding will come late Sunday and into Monday, Tolleson said.

Just to be safe, Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue set up self-serve sand bag locations Saturday. If flooding occurs, residents can pick up the sand bags they’d need.

The wet weather brought down trees and triggered mud slides Friday night in the West Hills. Road crews had to close at least one road.

And forecasters caution that Oregon can expect a long winter, with plenty more wet weather on the way.

“I anticipate, the way this winter has started, it will continue for quite a while in this kind of weather pattern, where we have a lot of active weather,” Tolleson said.