Without power for days, community of Depoe Bay pulls together with help of neighbors, city and fire department

By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews

DEPOE BAY – With no electricity and every business in town closed, Depoe Bay resembled a ghost town Monday afternoon.

But with sunny skies, a gentle breeze and temperatures reaching a balmy 40 degrees it wasn’t long before one resident walking the neighborhoods greeted folks with a “Feels like spring in Minnesota” and “It’s warmer than Portland.”

Then there were the residents making the best of it with generators and happy to share their stories and the community center serving homemade soup and spaghetti along with a sandwich station that rivaled any delicatessen.

“It’s going pretty good,” said Depoe Bay Fire District chief Bryan Daniels as he stopped by the station between power-outage chores. “Our biggest concern is that we have some people who require home oxygen and they are running low on those supplies so we are working with Lincoln County Emergency Management to get those supplies replenished for them so they don’t have to leave their homes.”

Daniels was also monitoring reports from Central Lincoln Peoples Utility District about restoring its main transmission line which should bring in power north of Newport today or, he paused to laugh, “in the next 48 to 72 hours.”

Power did come back online for most of Depoe Bay around 8 p.m. Monday, Daniels reported to YachatsNews via a text late Monday night.

“We are back to normal operations and about 90 percent of our area is online,” he wrote.

He said the fire department would keep an extra engine staffed Tuesday because of an ice storm forecast for the west slopes of the Coast Range “in the same areas which caused the initial impacts to the electrical system.”

Earlier Monday, Daniels said the fire district was trying to get messaging out that if people had the means to leave town, they should go while it was still daylight. If not, he advised they stay home and conserve heat and water.

The Depoe Bay station was fully staffed and ready, he said, and there had been some weather-related incidents with fire alarms going off, and a house fire Saturday caused by a faulty chimney that resulted in about $200,000 worth of damage.

“But other than that, we’ve actually done really, really well compared to Lincoln City and Newport,” Daniels said. “We haven’t had the sheets of ice. We haven’t had the infrastructure collapse with the trees coming down and stuff like that, so we’ve actually fared pretty well with this micro climate here.”

Daniels reminded people that in a rural environment they should be at least “seven days ready” and that if they cannot make it on their own for 48 to 72 hours they should leave town, if possible.

Folks pull together

Ken Davis has been getting buy on generator power, which he needs to keep his fish tanks warm.

“We’re hanging in there,” Davis said. “Were eating cold food. It’s kind of like camping without a camper.”

Davis’ neighbors Bryan Huber and Alana Miller were also getting by with the help of a generator. He has boats so he’s had plenty of fuel and has shared with neighbors.

“I got lucky and had some people give me a generator a couple years ago,” Huber said. “I mean, it’s been kind of cold because we don’t have that good of heaters but we’re doing all right. Better than others. I grew up in North Dakota, so this is a summer day compared to what they’re going through now.”

The generator keeps the refrigerator running but showers not so much, he said.  Miller added that “It is like camping in the house.”

“We’re just trying to get outside and enjoy the sun before tomorrow’s weather,” Huber said. “Hopefully we’ll have power soon, but if not we might have to head to greener pastures.”

Miller suggested a stop by the community center which had opened Monday.

“Those great ladies are down there helping people and providing some warmth for people,” she said.

At the community center, city council president Joyce King welcomed new arrivals with an offer of homemade soup, spaghetti, sandwiches or a hot cup of coffee or tea. Mayor Kathy Short, who had been going door-to-door to invite residents to the community center, was pulled away by an emergency meeting to address the possibility that power might not come back for days.

“We’ve been here since probably nine or 10’oclock this morning,” King said.  “And we had put up generators to have heat and some cell phone coverage for people to plug in their cell phones. And we went on social media to let people know there is hot food available.”

Residents have been bringing in food and cookies and contributing without being asked, “which has just been wonderful, it’s a real good feeling.”

City hall was open earlier in the day as a possible emergency shelter, she said, but there were no takers. If the generators are strong enough to provide lights, the community center, which is outfitted with a full kitchen, will stay open as long as needed.

The mayor’s husband, K.C. Short, took a break from taste-testing the spaghetti a few times to say that Depoe Bay seldom loses power because its main power lines come down Highway 229.

“What makes it so difficult is you can’t predict this stuff,” he said. “Act of God.”

King added that while the town has an active emergency preparedness committee, they have been busy planning for tsunamis and earthquakes, not power outages caused by wind and ice.

“So this is a really good exercise for us,” she said.