PORTLAND Ore (KPTV) – With cleanup efforts still underway across the area, it's hard to drive more than a few minutes down the road without seeing some type of damage caused by the winter storm.
Many cities are still experiencing active road closures due to downed power lines, trees, and more.
According to PBOT, the number of road closures dropped from more than 70 to 32 as of Monday night. One of those roads that remains closed is SW Tower Way from Pendleton Street to Canaan Dr.
“I was lucky compared to some other people,” said resident Ray Johnson, whose house a tree fell on. “Just a few holes in the ceiling and I can fix them myself.”
Johnson shared photos of the tree that fell on his home, as well as a crew that removed it on Monday.
“Anyone who needs some free firewood, come here,” Johnson said. “There's a lot of it.”
See also: Portland metro area parks are recovering from severe winter weather.
Another resident, Kevin Murray, describes the winter storm, as well as last week, as hectic.
“Saturday afternoon, we started seeing some of these big trees swaying,” Murray said. “We weren't thinking much, and then suddenly someone fell in front of the house and we thought, 'Okay. We've got some bigger trees on the leeward side that started moving. Everything started collapsing immediately and we thought, 'Okay, we've got to get out of here.'” We thought some “He'll come down on the house. Eventually one of them came down on a house. Three came here around the corner. It was a lot.”
He says they lost power on Saturday and got it back on Thursday. Murray says he eventually went out and bought a chainsaw to help remove trees that weren't on homes or power lines. He still considers them lucky.
“We didn't get the worst of it,” Murray said. “There was a house right down the road where two huge trees fell on the top floor. We were very lucky to be surrounded by as many trees as we were. No one got hurt.”
See also: A group of Portland schools remain closed due to winter storm damage.
PBOT crews have moved from 24-hour duty, but continue to work closely in coordination with Urban Forestry, Portland Parks & Recreation and Portland General Electric to reopen roads as quickly as possible.
PBOT says there is still a lot of cleanup to be done after this storm; They are still working to collect tree debris left on the side of the road. Once crews clear tree debris from the road, they also say they will need to check the road ditches for debris and blockages to prevent those areas from flooding during heavy rains.
To see current road closures in Portland: https://www.portland.gov/transportation/weather/winter-weather-road-closures-and-chain-advisories
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