Winter blast felled trees on the northern Oregon Coast
Published 12:15 am Wednesday, February 17, 2021
- Astoria resident Patrick Craig empties a trailer filled with fallen branches.
The ice that struck the North Coast on Friday night melted by Saturday afternoon.
The only real evidence of the weekend winter storm on the North Oregon Coast is the many shattered and fallen trees.
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In neighborhoods, fallen boughs blocked driveways, dented cars and sometimes only narrowly missed causing damage to houses. In almost every neighborhood, trees bear fresh scars where branches tore away under the weight of the ice. All day Monday, chain saws buzzed and a steady stream of pickup trucks hauled debris to a transfer station in Astoria.
Crews cleared many fallen trees and branches from Astoria park property Monday. There is ongoing concern about limbs that may have cracked but have yet to fall from trees. The city temporarily closed a portion of the Astoria Riverwalk east of the Columbia River Maritime Museum because limbs still dangled from cottonwood trees that line the path.
Tree branches still litter roadsides. In some areas, little more than a path has been cleared to buildings. Cleanup efforts are likely to continue for several days, Astoria Fire Chief Dan Crutchfield estimated on Tuesday.