TILLAMOOK, Ore. (KOIN) — All the rain over the weekend that flooded parts of Tillamook County has finally receded, but the cleanup will go on for days.
Tillamook residents and business owners might be used to the flooding but that doesn’t mean it gets any easier dealing with the aftermath.
A muddy mess was left behind after more than 10 inches of rain fell in parts of the county.
The Wilson River rose 5 feet above flood stage in Tillamook County during the weekend storms, flooding Main Street and closing Highway 101 for a time.
“That is likely the earliest flooding event that Tillamook ever had,” said Gordon McCraw, the director of Emergency Management for Tillamook County. “A foot an hour, that’s pretty significant.”
After 5 inches of rain fell, authorities closed the highway when flooding damaged cars and forced one business to close. Highway 101 re-opened Monday morning.
The frequent flooding is getting old for those who work here, such as David Dieter, the manager of The Cash Company.
His solution, along with other business owners, is “dredging the bay.”
Barry Mammano, who owns 3M Diesel Repair, said he’s disgusted the flooding hasn’t been eliminated.
“Our powers that be won’t listen to us,” Mammano said. He said dredge is “a 4-letter word” but said “That’s all that’s going to take” to stop the flooding.
Dredging cleans out the bed of a river or other body of water by scooping out mud and weeds. McCraw said that’s really not a good idea for this issue.
“It’s what’s known through geologists as an alluvium band-type environment, where over the past centuries the water’s come out of the mountains and spread out over the area and has caused flooding in the past. And that silt is what caused Tillamook,” he told KOIN 6 News. “”You can’t build levees on all the streams and rivers here and prevent the flooding from taking place.”