Coos County declares emergency after heavy rain damages roads, causes flooding
COOS BAY, Ore. - Coos County officials have declared a local emergency after snow and heavy rainfall hit Western Oregon this week.
“You know 5 to 7 inches of rain in a 24 hour period, that tests our culverts, our ditches our roads," Coos County Commissioner John Sweet said. "It creates some unusual damages.”
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In Coos County, rivers are swollen with flood waters.
Landslides have damaged roads.
The Board of Commissioners declared an emergency Tuesday at noon. They are sending the declaration to Gov. Kate Brown.
"We apply to the state, the state combines our request for emergency declaration with those coming from other counties within the state and then they apply to the federal government," Sweet said.
Coos County has recorded $740,000 in damages - and climbing.
“We’re doing an initial damage assessment," said Mike Murphy with Coos County Emergency Management. "We’re gathering all the information as to what got damaged, what got destroyed and what its going to take to fix those things."
The goal: to qualify for FEMA reimbursement up to 75 percent.
The county’s emergency declaration is set to end March 19; however it could end early or be extended if necessary.
