Posted on 02/04/2008 4:42:28 AM PST by justa-hairyape
In Idahna, Ore., there is so much snow, residents' roofs are starting to collapse. The mayor has requested that Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski declare the area a state of emergency and send help.
Eighteen inches of snow fell in the last 24 hours on top to 6 feet of snow already there, Idahna Mayor Karen Clark said Sunday.
There is literally nowhere to put the snow.
"We have buildings with snow on them in danger of collapsing. Snow around doors in danger of bursting, some homes have already sustained damage," Clark said.
The town does not have the resources to deal with so much snow, according to the mayor.
Oregon State Corrections sent inmates in to help, but they need heavy equipment to get the snow off of road ways and homes.
We are out of room and snow plowing money so are in danger of having to suspend snow plowing of the streets. Our citizens have now become in imminent danger as a result. We are also concerned about the citizens of Marion County that are out of our city limits and we are unable to help," Clark said.
"We are asking the Governor of Oregon for an immediate Declaration of State of Emergency and the National Guard to come in with heavy equipment.
DETROIT, Ore. -- The Oregon National Guard will help people dig out from several feet of snow in Idanha and Detroit on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, more than 30 citizen soldiers and airmen with heavy equipment responded to the eastern Marion County cities along Highway 22.
The National Guard soldiers were sent by the 1249th Engineer Battalion and the 142nd Civil Engineering Squadron. Two front-end loaders on trailers, six dump trucks, two Bobcats and two Humvees were sent to the area.
Bardstown got clobbered by a tornado, but with all of the damage, the local news channels are simply overwhelmed and have not been able to report on everything.
It looks like Louisville got nailed by two tornadoes, while a couple of others hit neighboring counties.
It will probably be a couple of days before we know exactly how bad the damage is.
I work as a manager at the local Lowe's Home Improvement Center, and I imagine we are just about sold out of OSB, plywood, sump pumps, and shop vacs by now. I head in to work in a few hours, but I plan on heading out early to check the damage before going to work.
I work for Marion County Public Works but just got back from Kuwait a few weeks ago. I went in to the office yesterday to check in (I’ll be back to work next week) and a significant number of the road crews were working up in Idanha moving snow along with a contingent from the National Guard. It sounds like they’re getting the help they need but it won’t change the fact that a lot of homes are seriously damaged.
GLOBAL WARMING ALERT ! TONS OF SNOW ALL OVER THE COUNTRY
Wow - you have been busy. Thank you for all your efforts and for this report. Yes, I knew our heroes would be there to help the people of Oregon.
I went over to see the damage to Central Hardin High and it looks pretty bad. Almost half of the gym's roof is completely gone, there are large holes in the roof of the main building, almost every window in the school is broken, the enclosed hallway between the main building and the freshman wing has collapsed, the marching band director's tower is knocked over, all of the light poles in the parking lot are lying on the ground, and the press box in the football stadium is sitting on the fifty yard line.
Here's what the inside of the gym looks like.
The Central boys basketball team had just clinched first place in the regular season just a few hours earlier in this gym and were supposed to host the 17th District Boys Basketball Tournament starting this coming Saturday. The school district has not yet determined where the tournament will be played, much less where the students will go to class until their school has been repaired.
Quick, send Sean Penn to Oregon with a tractor, a snow shovel and a camera crew. He should take Celine Dion with him!
Feb 06, 2008
Tornadoes Rip Through South in Typical La Nina Fashion
By Joseph DAleo, CCM
...Tornado outbreaks are more likely in La Nina years. A few years ago, I did a study of the years with the maximum number of tornadoes for every month and found that from the fall to the spring they were all La Nina years. The Superoutbreak of April 1974 came after one of the strongest La Ninas on record. And Eugenio Hackbart at the METSUL reminded me also in a similar La Nina in a cold Pacific era, in February 1971, more than 100 people died during an outbreak in the Mississippi Delta.... An unpublished manuscript by Knowles and Pielke (1993) observed that tornadoes during ENSO cold phase (La Nina) are stronger and remain on the ground longer than their warm phase (El Nino) counterparts. They further showed that there is an increased chance of large tornado outbreaks (40 or more tornadoes associated with a single synoptic system) during ENSO cold phase (La Ninas). Given the strength of this La Nina, what it has been able to do in January and February and that history, we might expect a very stormy spring from the south to the Ohio Valley.
In La Ninas, the cold tends to want to stay across the north and strong warmth builds at times across the south. Storms along the boundary feed on the contrast and severe weather often results. To the north of the storm track, it is ice or heavy snow that is the problem and that will be the story over the next few days.... Thunderstorms will likely be in the cards further south until the cold air begins to filter back in and be reinforced this weekend with an arctic blast. Wild swings as we said a few months back are also typical of La Nina.
Interesting. Thanks for the info.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) Heavy winter snow and rain are setting up conditions similar to the 1996 flooding that caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage across much of the state.
The heavy snows 12 years ago were followed by warm storms with heavy rains that combined to flood most of the Willamette Valley and the major cities of Oregon.
On Tuesday, the 12th anniversary of the first day of heavy rains that triggered the flooding, even more snow had fallen than in 1996, officials said.
"It's entirely possible we will get one of the dreaded rain-on-snow events," said George Taylor, an Oregon State University climatologist.
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