Rosburg flooding1

PACIFIC COUNTY One of the wildest North Pacific storms since the December 2007 typhoon brought 114 mph winds, lashing rains, floods and bizarre accidents to Lower Columbia counties Monday.

We can give thanksgiving, however, as there was no loss of life in Pacific County. Only our normally dismal November weather is now predicted for the next several days, though AccuWeather said a modest storm on Tuesday could bring gusts of 50 to 60 mph. There is just a chance of showers on Thanksgiving Day.

A gale warning was in effect for offshore waters Tuesday. After raising two red flags at Port of Ilwaco Tuesday morning, Port Manager Jim Neva said, Just went from Small Craft Warning back to Gale Warning, again. This is the time of year where we wear out the pulleys on the flagpole.

In the most dramatic incident Monday in our county, a tree crushed a Washington state troopers cruiser on U.S. Highway 101 a few miles north of Johnsons Landing between Naselle and South Bend. It blew up into flames and then another vehicle crashed into it. Bullets and shells in the cruiser exploded as the car burned.

Luckily, the trooper wasnt in the car, as he had stopped to examine a mudslide caused by the torrential rains that dumped up to 5.5 inches of rain in the Willapa Hills in the preceding 24 hours. Neither driver was injured, however both vehicles were completely destroyed.

In the hills east of this scary scene, wind gusts topped 114 mph at 10:15 a.m. at the Radar Ridge monitoring station maintained by the Bonneville Power Administration. Sustained winds reached 77 mph, equal to a category 1 hurricane, and carried on at that intensity for most of the morning.

At Megler Mountain above the Astoria Bridge, the top wind gust was about 101 mph at 9:36 a.m. Monday.

Even sites near sea level got blasted. Much of the southwest Washington coast and Oregon coast had wind gusts to 60-80 mph with extensive power outages and damage, University of Washington meteorology Professor Cliff Mass said. At Cape Disappointment, the fastest wind gust was 79 mph at 11:15 a.m.

On the Peninsula, shingles and gutters were loosened, loose objects like flowerpots were smashed and signs knocked down. On Pacific Avenue in Long Beach, traffic lights were swung up parallel to the street.

Some of the worst impacts were to highways, with the Astoria Megler Bridge closed until 6:42 p.m. Monday by a semi partially tipped over the side on the south high rise. The driver was not badly hurt, but was taken to Columbia Memorial Hospital for precautionary medical treatment by an Astoria Police officer.

According to Oregon State Police Trooper Jessica Spurlock, at about 10 a.m., a 2011 Volvo truck pulling an empty 53-foot semi-trailer driven by Rodney L. Woodzell, 50, from Dayton, Ohio, was traveling southbound on Highway 101 near milepost 3 over the bridge when it lost control in high winds.

The truck and semi-trailer rolled onto their left side with the trailer coming to rest partially against the guardrail. Oregon State Police, ODOT and local emergency personnel responded to the scene.

At one point during the day, fallen trees blocked five separate locations on US101 between the bridge and Raymond, according to a Washington State Department of Transportation spokesman. State Route 4 between Naselle and Longview was flooded at several locations by 38 culverts plugged by fallen leaves. Crews were still working to reopen SR4 Tuesday morning, but expected to be done by 4 p.m.

SR6 between Raymond and Centralia was closed by flooding, with the final closed section finally reopening at Adna at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday.

Major flooding hit the Grays River Valley, with the river reaching 16 feet at 3 p.m. Monday, four feet above flood stage. By 5 a.m. Tuesday, it had fallen to 12.4 feet and was expected to continue dropping for the next couple days.

The Naselle and Willapa rivers were also impacted by flooding, though to a lesser extent. A coastal flood advisory associated with 9.5 to 10.0 tides was predicting flooded roads around Raymond on Tuesday.

Intermittent power and internet outages briefly affected Pacific County on Monday, but Clatsop County had it far worse, with thousands left in the dark in Astoria and points south. Most electricity was restored by Tuesday morning. The top wind gust in Astoria was 101 mph.