Earthquake Early Warning System to Launch in Oregon
The USGS ShakeAlert system comes online here March 11 and could give users vital seconds of warning before quakes are felt.
By
Fiona McCann
2/18/2021 at 9:57am
If youâre worried about the Big Oneâand guess what, around these parts youâre not aloneâsome promising news: an early warning system is coming Oregonâs way that could give us valuable seconds to seek protection before its effects hit.
The ShakeAlert Early Warning System will be available to Oregonians from March 11, thanks to a public alert rollout from the US Geological Survey that will ultimately span the entire West Coast.
Although Portland took the brunt of a Valentineâs Day weekend snow and ice storm that rolled into Oregon through the Columbia River Gorge, Linn and Benton counties did not escape unscathed.
Tree limbs grew heavy with thick ice starting about suppertime Friday, and by Saturday morning, trunks and branches littered roads and yards and pummeled fences to the ground.
Sandy Kroker has lived on Loma Drive near Scio for 43 years and doesnât remember an ice storm as bad.
In Saturdayâs predawn hours, Kroker said, she heard âall kinds of popping and bumping sounds.â
When darkness turned to daylight, Kroker said, she found that numerous branches of a willow tree next to her home had snapped and the limbs were covering her car.
As massive slabs of Earth squish into and grind past each other off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, many people may wonder when they will feel ensuing earthquakes. Although the U.S. Geological Survey cannot predict where and when future earthquakes will occur, the bureau, along with a team of organizations, helped create a system that can provide vital seconds of warning
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Hundreds of thousands without power in NW snow, ice storm; I-84 still closed
Eric Patterson/KGW
Gov. Brown declares state of emergency in 9 counties
LAKE OSWEGO, Ore. (AP) A winter storm has blanketed the Pacific Northwest with ice and snow, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power and prompting Oregon Gov. Kate Brown to declare a state of emergency.
Freezing rain left roads, power lines and trees coated in ice in the Portland region. By Saturday morning, more than 1,200 power lines were down, leaving 270,000 people without power.
Snow was expected to continue falling in Washington, Oregon and Idaho on Saturday, with more wet weather expected Sunday night.