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January 2012 Storms
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Article Content
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| Overview |
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Trees fell on a truck on OR 18. The driver wasn't injured.
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A series of strong storms hit Oregon in January. We experienced 110-mile-per-hour winds at Cape Foulweather near Depoe Bay. In less than 24 hours Yachats saw nine inches of rain and Mt. Bachelor saw more than 35 inches of snow. Meanwhile, half an inch of ice covered roads in parts of Umatilla and Morrow Counties. Rivers, creeks and streams across western Oregon rose rapidly, some above flood stage. All that water, snow, ice and wind hit our highway system hard.
The number of events our maintenance and operations folks responded to quickly skyrocketed. On one day alone, Jan. 18, ODOT employees responded to almost 250 events -- culverts plugged, flooding, high water, highway washouts, landslides, mudslides, snowslides, rock falls, and trees and power lines down, not to mention weather-related crashes and hazardous driving conditions.
Oregonians pull together in times of crisis. We are extremely grateful for the cooperation and support that we received from government agencies, private sector partners, communities and individual citizens. It is always impressive to see how Oregonians work together for the common good. Our thoughts are with those communities and families who are still recovering from the storms.
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| Facts and Figures |
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Weather by the numbers (Jan. 18-21, 2012):
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110 mph - wind gusts at Cape Foulweather
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30 feet – crest of Willamette River in Salem
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9 inches – 30-hour rainfall in Yachats
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.5 inches – ice covering highways in central and eastern Oregon
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35 inches – 24-hour snowfall in Cascades
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Hundreds – trees that fell across highways
Storm response by the numbers (Jan. 18-21, 2012):
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100 – high water and flood affected highway locations on Jan. 19.
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500 – media interviews conducted by our Public Affairs staff.
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9,945 – views of ODOT’s storm photos on our Flickr photosharing site.
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33,639 – cubic yards of sanding material. That’s enough to fill a football field almost 19 feet deep.
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556, 916 – gallons of deicer used. That’s enough to treat all 8,300 miles of I-5 from Mexico to Canada – twice.
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3 million – visits to TripCheck.com, ODOT’s travel and road condition website.
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| Pictures |
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See many more photos like this on our Flickr photosharing site.
 | Three separate avalanches closed U.S. 20, trapping a tanker. ODOT Maintenance crews had the road back open in four hours.
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 | Washouts or undercuts from erosion create some of the greatest damage to highways. This one occured on Oregon 255 in Curry County. |
 | Freezing rain and snow created hazardous driving conditions on highways across central and eastern Oregon including Oregon 11 near Milton-Freewater. |
 | One of the biggest impacts was on U.S. 101 south of Newport. The storms washed out a section of highway that's used by approximately 9,000 vehicles per day. |
 | ODOT crews were able to keep at least one lane of U.S. 101 open while emergency contractor W-W Construction of Newport compelted the emergency repairs within a few days. |
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| Video |
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See more videos on our YouTube channel.
 | Landslides closed Oregon 34 near Alsea. ODOT crews worked quickly to clean up debris, make repairs and re-open the highway. Click on the photo to view the video. |
 | On Oregon 42 near the Coos-Douglas County line, one rockfall was still happening when our crew got there to make repairs. Click on the photo to view the video. |
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