Category Archives: Emergencies

Articles, Community News, Emergencies, Weather

Curry County Declares Emergency Following Weekend Atmospheric River

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Thumbnail: In the wake of an atmospheric river that brought flooding to Curry County, the National Weather Service is warning of gusty winds on Wednesday. | Image courtesy of the U.S. National Weather Service Medford office.

A “severe rain event” that led to flooding and road damage in Curry County prompted the Board of Commissioners to issue an emergency declaration on Tuesday.

The same atmospheric river that brought gusty winds to Del Norte County over the weekend caused the Rogue River to flood near Lobster Creek as well as near the mouth, Curry County Director of Operations Ted Fitzgerald said.

Flooding plugged culverts, causing streams to wash out Floras Creek and Six Rivers roads, said Fitzgerald, who also serves as the county’s roadmaster. It also brought down a lot of debris, he said.

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Articles, Community News, Emergencies, Environment, Local Government

Federal Funding Freeze Puts Del Norte Fire Safe Council Fuels Reduction Projects In Limbo

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Thumbnail: Del Norte Office of Emergency Services Public Information Officer Bill Steven snapped this photo of the Smith River Complex wildfires burning above Patrick Creek Lodge and U.S. 199 on Aug. 16, 2023.

(Updated at 12:03 p.m. Friday with a correction: The California Climate Investments grant is a state program and Cal Fire is a state department. There is a $70 million federal grant available, though Del Norte Fire Safe Council County Coordinator Aaron Babcock said he’s not sure how it will be distributed.)

Flames from the Smith River Complex crept within 600 feet of Aaron Babcock’s Gasquet home in August, 2023.

A former firefighter, Babcock is the county coordinator for the Del Norte Fire Safe Council. He said he and his wife chose not to evacuate from the smattering of wildfires burning around the Gasquet area. Instead, he and two of his Fire Safe Council colleagues helped clean out gutters and create extra defensible space for about 50 homes threatened by the fire.

“The houses we had worked on definitely got skipped over,” Babcock told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “Because they had firefighters preemptively clearing around people’s homes in case the fire came through, those homes didn’t have to have anything done [to prevent them from burning], which was great because it lowers the amount of firefighting resources that were needed and helped protect other homes.”

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Articles, Community News, Emergencies, Infrastructure, Local Government

Del Norte Supervisors Endorse SitelogIQ’s Microgrid Proposal, Feasibility Still To Be Determined

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Thumbnail: SitelogIQ laid out two proposed microgrid projects to supervisors back in September. | Screenshot.; Above: Pacific Power brought in large generators to restore power to Del Norte County during the Smith River Complex wildfires in August 2023. | Photo courtesy of Valerie Starkey

Four Del Norte County supervisors endorsed a plan to connect county facilities, including the sheriff’s office and jail, to community solar generation and microgrid projects that could provide backup electricity during emergencies.

But with SitelogIQ in early conversations with the utility serving Del Norte residents and other local potential partners, District 4 Supervisor Joey Borges was skeptical. He said he doubted that Pacific Power would be “OK with our microgrid running through their lines” during a major catastrophe.

“If they’re shutting down [electricity] for a safety reason, it’s going to be shut down, period,” Borges told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday after voting against a letter of agreement with SitelogIQ, the national energy efficiency provider spearheading local microgrid and solar projects.

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Articles, Community News, Emergencies, Environment, Science

Cal Poly Humboldt Prof. Discusses Why Today’s 7.0 Temblor Spawned A 6-8 Inch Tsunami In Crescent City

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Map courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey

Lori Dengler said she wasn’t surprised that Thursday’s magnitude 7.0 earthquake only produced a tsunami that topped out at roughly 8 inches in Crescent City.

But, while Dengler, geology professor emeritus at Cal Poly Humboldt, is still going through the reports and is speaking with the media about today’s temblor, she said one of the outcomes might be a rethinking of how the U.S. approaches tsunami evacuations.

“The Tsunami National Warning Center in Palmer, Alaska has developed a template for if an earthquake happens here and it’s in this magnitude range, this is what we do,” Dengler, whose expertise is in geophysics, earthquake and tsunami hazards and hazard reduction, told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday. “Because this earthquake was so relatively close to the coast and their preliminary magnitude was 7.3, it immediately triggered a tsunami warning from basically Santa Cruz to Central Oregon.”

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