Lostine man weathers the eye of coast storm

Published 4:00 pm Wednesday, December 12, 2007

When Wallowa County Planning Office employee Harold Black left for a reunion of old friends in Cannon Beach Friday, Nov. 30, he had no idea he would get stuck there.

That weekend’s now-famous storm, of course, brought hurricane-force winds, leveling trees, power lines and wiping out most forms of communication.

“You kind of joke around about how you’re forced to stay at the coast for another day,” he said.

But it was no joke trying to get home to Wallowa County three days later. “There was no way to get out cause there was flooding to the south and to the north and Highway 26 was closed and nobody could tell us when it might open again.”

Black was staying at the home of one of his friends, Charles Feris, who had been a meteorologist for Bonneville Power where the group all worked. “He really enjoys these beach storms,” Black said. But Feris’ excitement turned to frustration. “He recorded a gust of 54 on his little handheld anemometer, but his wind gauge was damaged in the storm; it all of a sudden started reading zero. So we never did find out what it was at his house,” Black said.

The town lost cell phone service, power, and trees blocked all the highways leading out of Cannon Beach, forcing Black to wait until Tuesday, Dec. 3, before leaving for his home in Lostine. By walking to the local police station, he was able to find out he could travel north on Route 101 to Astoria in order to head home.

“We’re so used to being connected in this day and age and it’s kind of a little unnerving to not have that connection, not go to the Internet and find out what all the latest information is, weather forecasts and all that. There was a radio station in Astoria that was broadcasting information, but you had to have a battery-operated radio to pick that up, or go out and use the car radio.”

One regret Black expressed was not taking any photographs. He is a member of the Wallowa County Photo Club and had a small camera with him. But he said he was so distracted with all the things happening around him, he didn’t snap a frame.

Black said he never felt in any danger during the storm, and Feris’ house survived unscathed. Looking back at the windstorm that also damaged many homes in Wallowa County Nov. 12, he said the destruction looked much the same along the northern coast, but that there was much more of it.

“I guess this approaches the destruction of the old Columbus Day storm,” he said referring to the 1962 event that killed 46 persons and caused over $200 million in property damage in Oregon alone.

One thing Black learned in his journey was that, in general, the power outages in Wallowa County pale in comparison to the coast. “They lose their power a lot more often than we do up here. Mostly because of all the trees that are close to the power lines.”