Flood — Columbia, Oregon

2015-12-09 to 2015-12-10 · near Vernonia, Columbia, Oregon

Event narrative

The Nehalem River near Vernonia flooded Vernonia resulting in evacuation of residents and damage to many buildings and vehicles. A bridge washed out on TImber Road and isolated the Glenwood Community. There was also significant flooding in St Helens, where 17 homes were evacuated, and many roads were damaged and closed. Highway 30 and the business district in Rainier also flooded. An elderly couple drove around a barrier of a closed road, and was swept away by high water. The man escaped through the sunroof of the vehicle, but the woman ended up drowning. Flooding and landslides cut off Western Columbia County.

Wider weather episode

A moist front produced heavy rain across Northwest Oregon closely following two other moist fronts on December 7th and December 8th. THe heavy rain resulted in additional flooding and land slides across the region.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (45.8500, -123.2000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 612029. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.