Wind storm spares WL from damage

Some homes lose power, but the worst of the damage is seen in coastal areas

By Pamplin Media Group

The West Linn Tidings, Nov 19, 2009

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Whew! Most of the Portland area avoided a lot of damage from Monday night’s big blast.

Firefighters and emergency crews spent most of the night chasing a handful of significant incidents, mostly downed power lines and a toppled tree.

But the region missed serious damage from the nearly 45-mph wind gusts that slashed through the Interstate 5 corridor until about 1 a.m. and the steady rain that followed. Most of the flooding and damage occurred in coastal areas, which were slammed with wind gusts of approximately 90 mph.

In West Linn, Portland General Electric customers “got off pretty easily” from Monday’s stormy conditions, said Steve Corson of PGE.

High winds cut power to about 100 homes just after midnight, he said, but most saw electricity restored by about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday. The outage was concentrated in the Tualatin Loop area, off Johnson Road and just outside of city limits. Only two West Linn homes remained without power later Tuesday morning, according to PGE.

Police didn’t see much activity in the wake of the storm either, said West Linn Police Sgt. Neil Hennelly, department spokesman.

However, he also noted the outage near Johnson Road, where trees lost branches and loose limbs cluttered the roadway. But officers didn’t find any significant traffic obstructions or major problems, Hennelly said.

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