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Gusts hit 45 mph overnight. A large tree limb fell onto a house near downtown Eugene, damaging it. Part of Highway 126 east of Springfield was closed for several hours because of fallen trees. Expect more wind and lots of rain tomorrow, forecasters say.
This story was updated at 5:10 p.m. to reflect the reopening of a closed stretch of Highway 126 east of Springfield.
The windstorm that swept through the Eugene-Springfield region overnight on Wednesday downed at least a few trees and many limbs, including one that fell onto the roof of a house in the downtown area.
The limb belonged to a city-owned, 85-foot bigleaf maple growing on the strip between the sidewalk and street near the corner of Washington Street and Broadway.
There were no injuries. But the downed branch damaged parts of the house and fence.
Wind gusts up to 45 mph were recorded at the Eugene airport overnight, according to National Weather Service data.
Marion Suitor Barnes, a spokesperson for Eugene’s Public Works Department, said the city received eight work orders for downed trees, mostly privately owned ones. Crews are clearing the last one this afternoon, she said, and other crews are out scouting for fallen trees that weren’t reported.
There are also at least two downed trees reported in Springfield, at Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Cardinal Way, and in the 2300 block of Olympic Street, according to Springfield police’s call log.
The storm caused some power outages in Eugene and Springfield, though electricity had largely been restored by the morning.
More than 2,000 Eugene Water & Electric Board customers had lost power by about 2 a.m. on Wednesday, which dropped to about 121 residents by noon. The Springfield Utility Board reported a weather-related outage in the West Centennial area overnight, but power had been restored to all customers by 6 a.m.
Downed trees and power lines early in the morning closed an 18-mile stretch of Highway 126, beginning about 26 miles northeast of Springfield and extending to a mile past Vida. The road was reopened in the afternoon.
City of Eugene arborists arrived at the house damaged by the snapped branch in the morning to begin cleanup, temporarily blocking off parts of the sidewalk. Later in the afternoon, a crane was seen removing the limb from the roof, with one part of Broadway closed to cars and one lane closed on Washington Street.
The tree’s branches span 55 feet, according to the city’s urban forestry mapping tool.
Josh Greenwald — a general contractor who arrived on site to record drone footage of the damage — said the tree trunk appears to have a “pocket of rot” that could’ve made the limb susceptible to breakage.
“That limb should have been removed a while ago,” he said.
The city is responsible for managing over 76,000 trees located in the public right-of-way — the strip between the sidewalk and street — and will remove street trees that are “dead, dying or hazardous,” according to its website. The city doesn’t have a formal tree inspection program, instead using a complaint-driven system.
Greenwald said the process of assessing and covering damages to private property caused by street trees usually resembles a “tug of war” between insurance, homeowners and the city.
If residents file insurance claims against the city, Eugene’s Public Works department will confer with the city’s risk team to determine if the city owns the tree, if the hazard has been reported, and if Public Works had followed protocols and timelines for addressing the hazard. This process may take several weeks.
“Most tree and sidewalk claims are not paid,” a city guide for street and tree repairs states, adding: “Damage is caused as tree roots lift sidewalks, limbs or branches break during storms, and other factors beyond the city’s control.”
Karen Krumdieck, who lives across the street from the home, said she woke up suddenly at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday after hearing a loud “bang” — a noise that she assumes was the tree limb breaking off and falling onto her neighbor’s house. She said the racket caused her dachshund, Romeo, to hide under the bathtub.
Krumdieck said she made sure her own house hadn’t been damaged before looking out the window to see where the noise could have come from. She didn’t notice the fallen limb until the morning, she said.
“I was there praying, because I’ve had it happen before,” Krumdieck said, referring to a tree that fell on her home about five years ago in an ice storm.
Alby Thoumsin, an arborist with Sperry Tree Care, said decay in trees isn’t always visible from the base, and doesn’t necessarily mean a tree needs to be removed immediately. The city has increased its tree maintenance over the last few years using independent contractors, he said, which has been “pretty helpful.”
“There’s over 100,000 trees that belong to the city, and it’s almost impossible to have every single tree be absolutely safe,” Thoumsin said. “There’s no such thing as a safe tree.”
Clean up in Springfield
Mike McGillivray, communications coordinator for Springfield Development and Public Works, wrote in an email to Lookout Eugene-Springfield on Wednesday that there hadn’t been any significant damage to trees or city infrastructure.
A city operations crew repaired a traffic signal that had lost power, and several street signs needed repairs, he said.
McGillivray said crews cleared branches and debris from Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and West D Street between Mill Street and Riverview Boulevard. They also cleared Rosa Parks path between Pioneer Parkway East and Pioneer Parkway West and canvassed neighborhoods to remove additional debris.
Another team is cleaning storm drain catch basins of leaves and other debris as part of routine maintenance, McGillivray said.
“We’re keeping an eye on the weather and forecast over the next few days as additional weather is expected,” he wrote.
To report trees blocking roadways, blocked storm drains or localized flooding, call the Development and Public Works Operations Division at 541-726-3761 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. If reporting after hours, call the nonemergency Springfield police dispatch line at 541-726-3714.
Another storm is on the way
Forecasters say more high winds are expected Thursday morning throughout Lane County.
The National Weather Service office in Portland has issued a wind advisory for 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. Winds from the south are expected to be 15 to 20 mph, with possible gusts up to 45 mph, forecasters said.
Those winds could come at about the same time that another atmospheric river is expected to dump 2 to 3 inches of rain throughout the area, with as much as 5 inches falling in the Coast Range and the Cascade foothills.
The weather service has issued a flood watch, in effect from Wednesday night through late Friday night for much of northwest Oregon, including Lane County. The rain could lead to isolated flooding along rivers, creeks and streams and could also trigger urban flooding — which means standing water on roadways or overflowing culverts, for example.
In particular, forecasters have issued a flood warning for the Siuslaw River near Mapleton from late Thursday night to Friday morning. The river is expected to rise above flood stage Thursday night, with a crest around 18 feet Friday morning, possibly leading to minor flooding of low-lying land and structures on the riverbank. The river is expected to fall below flood stage later Friday.
Eugene Public Works staff are preparing for the storm by clearing storm drains and picking up leaves, checking and clearing outfalls, and preparing wastewater facilities for higher flows, according to a release sent Wednesday morning.
Mike McInally and Lillian Schrock-Clevenger contributed to this report.
