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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend January 1, 2006 Storms of ’97, ’05 are miles apart By MARK FREEMAN Mail Tribune National Weather Service forecaster Rick Holtz vividly remembers spending New Year’s Day of 1997 working to fortify neighbors against the intense rains and stream runoff he earlier predicted. "I was in Central Point helping fill sandbags for people dealing with flooding from that storm," Holtz says. But he’s calling for a more conventional holiday today, when stream levels should subside and flooding should ebb despite another wave of rains. That means Holtz expects not to reach for more sandbags today. Just for the remote. "This New Year’s? I’m hoping to be able to relax and watch some football," he says. Advertisement Despite relentless rains that caused spot flooding throughout Southern Oregon and triggered the evacuation of hundreds of residents, the current New Year’s storm is far from a repeat of the ‘97 variety in both tenacity and viciousness. And cities hit in the last flood have taken steps since then to lessen damage from overflowing streams. Weather conditions and rainfall amounts have been less severe than nine years ago, when intense, warm rains put Ashland’s Plaza under water and burst Bear Creek at its seams, and pushed the Rogue River into low-lying homes in western Jackson County. This weekend’s rains fell on a smaller snowpack and brought cooler weather than the tropical "Pineapple Express" storm of last decade. Another wave of rain forecast for today is expected to drop less than a half-inch in Medford. Also, the jet stream has shifted south of here, helping bring cooler temperatures and a freezing level of 4,000 feet today — less than half that of the flood nine years ago. The Rogue did crest Friday at a whopping 14 feet above flood stage at Agness in eastern Curry County and pockets of flooding hit several waterside neighborhoods throughout the Rogue Valley. But the storm that at first felt eerily similar to ‘97 is turning into a minor event, Holtz says. "There were some different things going on in ‘97 that made it worse than this one," Holtz says. "I don’t see a repeat. Not anything even close to that." Had conditions mirrored the ‘97 event, many of the communities inundated then are better equipped now to withstand rising waters. Bear Lake Mobile Estates near Phoenix had to be evacuated Friday, but a seven-foot berm built there post-’97 kept the creek out of the 26-acre park and allowed residents to return to dry living rooms Saturday. "We had to evacuate but we didn’t get any water in our place," says Ann Doyle, whose house abuts the berm. "I think it did its job, so far." Downtown Ashland suffered the brunt of the ‘97 damage when Ashland Creek barreled through Lithia Park and overtook the Plaza, leaving millions of dollars in damage. Ashland then embarked on a $2 million project that rechanneled parts of the creek, fortified its banks and replaced the Winburn Way bridge to move Ashland Creek out of town as gently as possible. The only water in the Plaza from this storm came from the sky, not the creek. "I think these improvements totally did the job," city Public Works Superintendent Mike Morrison says. "It’ll take everything ‘97 had, plus some more. "Even if it got worse, we were in pretty good shape," Morrison says. Not everyone has escaped unscathed, however. Ashland’s Nauvoo Park Estates in Ashland flooded, but residents say it is far less an inundation than 1997’s. Areas around the cities of Rogue River and Grants Pass saw damage after the Rogue crested about four feet above flood stage Friday. Flash floods, mudslides and downed trees closed roads, including Interstate 5 over the Siskiyous. Cars were traversing in both directions again by Saturday morning. And the Ashland Airport was closed Friday after heavy rains flooded the runway, Morrison says. It was still closed as of late Saturday afternoon. Holtz says today’s spate of rain will leave as much as 1½ inches in parts of the Southern Oregon coast. Locally, rainfalls should be much lighter, triggering another short spike in stream flows but lower than Friday’s crests. "It’s not going to be anything like what we’ve dealt with the past few days here," Holtz says. "I think the worst is over, in terms of rainfall." Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 776-4470, or e-mail Storms of �97, �05 are miles apart ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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