BY LEEANN NEAL Headlight-Herald news editor
Prior to 1919, Dougherty Slough, which runs through the north part of Tillamook, was known as Dougherty River.
However, a 1919 storm prompted a log jam to plug the Dougherty and part of the Lower Wilson River, said Tom Manning, director of the Tillamook County Department of Emergency Management. The United States Army Corps of Engineers blasted the jam twice before giving up and installing pilings, thereby creating Dougherty Slough, he said.
During the December storms of 1998, the longstanding log jam was blown apart, said Manning.
As a result, Dougherty Slough is behaving more like a river again.
"During the last big storm event, it reconnected," he said. "That probably contributed to the rapid rising. It was carrying a pretty good flow from the Wilson." While a river has its own flow, a slough moves strictly with the tide, he added.
Once they are able to study new dynamics of the Dougherty, United States Army Corps of Engineers may install dams within it to regulate its flow, said Manning. That could be "a real good management tool to keep the Wilson from flooding."
In the mean time, Manning watches the Dougherty with some apprehension.
"There are no levies or dikes on the Dougherty," he said. The lack of control may make for some unexpected high water, he added. "It could be quite dangerous in the business area."
Later this month, Manning and other county officials plan to meet with Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) engineers, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials and the Tillamook County Flood Control Group to discuss the recently installed bridge across the Dougherty along U.S.
101 near the Locomotion Restaurant, in North Tillamook. The bridge was installed with a slough and a 10-foot tidal influence in mind, not a river, he said.
Manning hopes the meeting leads to "a solution to protect our community." During heavy rains, roughly 10-20 percent of the Wilson River's flow millions of gallons in a very short time is redirecting into the Dougherty, he said. "It puts me on the edge of my seat."
In addition to possibly contributing to quick flooding along U.S. 101 during December's storms, the transformed Dougherty may have its good side, said Manning. Residents along the Lower Wilson River have noticed recent heavy rains during which minor flooding normally would have occurred have been uneventful. "It's taking away some of the nuisance flooding," he noted. "So in that respect, we have a little more safety or relief off the Wilson."
BY KYLE ODEGARD Headlight-Herald staff
As a result of an agreement between the Tillamook County Commissioners and the Barney Reservoir Joint Ownership Commission (BRJOC,) an emergency warning system will be provided for residents and visitors to the Trask River Canyon from Trask Park to the Long Prairie Road Bridge..
The Trask River Canyon is at highest risk if the Barney Reservoir and Trask Dam should fail, and create a catastrophic flood. The warning system would not only work in saving lives during dam failure, but could also be used for a variety of other emergencies such as river flooding or storm warning.
The emergency warning system provided by BRJOC will include weather alert radios, an alarm siren at the Trask Park and a separate dam monitoring system for the Tillamook County Emergency Management Center.
The warning system should provide residents with approximately 30 to 45 minutes to act in a dam failure incident so they can either vacate the valley or head to higher ground.
A public meeting on emergency radio distribution for residents of the Trask River Valley will be held on Feb. 17, at 7 p.m. in the Skating Rink at the Tillamook County Fairgrounds. During the meeting, at-risk residents of the Trask River Canyon will be trained in the use and installation of the radios and receive radios.
Residents should bring pieces of identification, including drivers license and pieces of mail, such as a utility bill, to prove that they are within the hazard zone, thereby ensuring that they receive radios.
John Falk, Oregon Resources Department engineer dam safety, will be present to answer any questions about the design and engineering of the dam and Dan Keaton, warning coordinator meteorologist for the National Weather Service (NWS,) will also be at the meeting.
The radios receive NWS broadcasts and can sound a built-in siren when an emergency message is broadcast even if the unit is not being used to listen to weather broadcasts at the time.
The small, basic radios require little space and no complex installation. They require only an AC power outlet and a suitable location for receiving the NWS broadcast.
However, the narrow, crooked Trask River Canyon may present problems with the reception of the NWS broadcast in some areas. The radios should be tested in the desired location for reception of both the regular weather broadcasts and the emergency alert broadcast. If reception proves to be a problem, residents can request additional assistance.
All residents who are within a hazard zone will be furnished an alert radio. The hazard zone is shown on maps available from Tillamook County's Emergency Management Center and other sources.
Residents who think they are within the zone may check with the Emergency Management Center for verification, at 842-3412, and should attend the meeting.
More meetings will may be held to ensure that all effected by the dam can attend.
The Trask Dam and Barney Reservoir, which were built more than 30 years ago, recently underwent an expansion project to increase the reservoir's storage capacity from 4,000 to 20,000 acre-feet.
While the dam and reservoir, which provides water for communities in the Willamette Valley, are located in Washington County, no residences, public roads or other facilities would be predicted to be affected by a dam failure in Washington County. The emergency action plan, therefore, focuses only on Tillamook County.
BRJOC has invited Tillamook County to participate in the annual test of the dam's emergency action plan to make sure that all the elements of the plan are being utilized and to identify any problems with the plan.
Water had to be drained from the reservoir in early December. The reservoir was filled to a higher capacity than was allowed without the emergency action plan in place according to an agreement between BRJOC and Tillamook County.
"The dam safety individual who works for the state indicated that the dam was a very safe dam by his estimation. The state authorized a certain level that they could fill the reservoir to. The county found that the emergency action plan still had not been completed, so the BRJOC went and reduced the level. They are cooperating and holding until we can put the emergency alarms and warnings in place," said Tom Manning, director of Tillamook County Emergency Management Center.
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