PORTLAND — Thanksgiving travel plans are unlikely to be disrupted by a powerful storm that hit the Northwest on Monday and affected residents from the coast to east of the Cascades.
Despite power outages and fallen trees elsewhere, Portland International Airport was undamaged and all major highways remained open.
The Northwest may escape rain on Thanksgiving Day but precipitation is almost certain over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Rain and wind continued Tuesday on the Oregon Coast and flood watches and warnings remained in place.
“At least it’s not a continuous heavy downpour and continuous strong or stronger winds," said Gordon McCraw, director of emergency management in coastal Tillamook County. “That was the choice yesterday; you could have strong or stronger."
The storm took the life of an elk hunter near Nehalem, who died when a tree fell on his tent, and left a trail of downed branches and limbs from Astoria, where a wind gust of 101 mph was recorded, to Bend and points east. Logs littered the Willamette River and other waterways, making travel more difficult for boaters.
The state’s largest utility companies reported only a few thousand customers still without power. Portland General Electric worked to restore power to about 6,000 customers east of Portland. Pacific Power, meanwhile, said almost all of its 2,400 customers without electricity live in coastal Lincoln City.
“When the damage is this scattered there’s always the probability you’ll have a couple (of) isolated individuals or small groups of customers that might drag on a little longer," said Bob Gravely, a Pacific Power spokesman.
The state Department of Parks and Recreation said four state parks remained closed Tuesday — three because of high water (Devils Lake, near Lincoln City; Sarah Helmick, south of Monmouth; and Willamette Mission, north of Salem) and one because of downed trees (Cape Meares, on the north coast).
