By CLAIRE RUSH, DREW CALLISTER and JIM SALTER
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Winter storms sowed more chaos across the U.S. on Thursday, shutting down much of Oregon’s largest city with almost a foot of snow and paralyzing travel from parts of the Pacific Coast all the way to the northern Plains.

The nearly 11 inches that fell in Portland amounted to the second snowiest day in the city’s history. It took drivers by surprise, stalling traffic during the Wednesday evening rush hour and trapping motorists on freeways for hours.

Some spent the night in their vehicles or abandoned them altogether as crews struggled to clear roads. Other commuters got off spun-out buses and walked in groups to safety. The National Weather Service, which had predicted only a slim chance of significant snow, planned to review its work.

The weather also knocked out power to almost a million homes and businesses in multiple states, closed schools and grounded or delayed thousands of flights. The system even brought snow to usually balmy Southern California.

Kim Upham endured a 13-hour ordeal as snow brought to a standstill the traffic on U.S. 26, a mountainous highway that connects Portland to the coast. Already treacherous because of its steep grade, the highway was covered in a sheet of ice, forcing some drivers to leave their cars in the middle of the road.

“It was so scary to have semi-trucks behind you and semi-trucks in front of you, and you know you’re on a slope,” she said.

As the hours stretched on, some drivers began to worry about surviving until morning. Upham used a blanket to stay warm and spent the night in her car. To save gas, she turned the vehicle on only intermittently to run the windshield wipers and inch ahead when traffic moved slightly.

“I really don’t want to die on 26,” she added. “I was thinking that quite often, to be honest with you.”

The Multnomah County medical examiner’s office said it was investigating a suspected hypothermia death related to the storm. The agency offered no details.

Amid concern for the thousands of people who live on Portland’s streets, city and county officials said they would open three additional overnight shelters Thursday evening, for a total of six. The sites would be able to sleep about 700 people.

Some reveled in the surprise day off in a place that rarely gets measurable snow.

Joan Jasper snapped on skis and was gliding through a residential neighborhood.

“They always have like ‘snowmageddon’ on the news, and so we kind of ignored it — and 11 inches later here we are!” she said. “This is gorgeous.”

High winds and heavy snow in the Cascade Mountains prevented search teams from reaching the bodies of three climbers killed over the weekend in an avalanche on Washington state’s Colchuck Peak.

Portland residents had expected no more than a dusting to a few inches. The city uses salt on its roads only in extreme situations for environmental reasons, and the chaos Thursday recalled a similar storm in 2017 that left motorists stranded on freeways and shut down the city for days.

The weather service originally predicted a 20 percent chance that Portland would get more than 2 inches of snow. The probability of getting 6 to 8 inches was only around 5 percent.

The forecast changed rapidly as the storm approached, said Colby Neuman, a weather service meteorologist in Portland. He said forecasters would try to figure out why their models were wrong.

“There’s a balance there between crying wolf and also informing people so they can make their own decisions,” Neuman said.

Electrical grids took a beating in the north as heavy ice and strong winds toppled power lines. In California, lines were fouled with tree branches and other debris.

Associated Press writers Andrew Selsky, Olga Rodriguez, Ed White and other AP reporters from around the country also contributed to this report.

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By Adrian Sainz and Bruce Schreiner

The Associated Press

MAYFIELD, Ky. – Sundays at the Bullock home in rural Kentucky were filled with lasting memories: big family dinners, cornhole, basketball and karaoke.

Those gatherings ended the night of Dec. 10, 2021, when a massive tornado obliterated their Dawson Springs house, trapping Chris Bullock, her 17-year-old son, Stevie, and miniature poodle Dewey under a crumbled brick wall in the basement. Chris’ husband pulled them from the rubble with minor injuries, but the house where the Bullocks lived for 26 years was gone.

“There were things we were never able to find,” Chris Bullock told The Associated Press recently. “Our neighbor’s dryer was in our yard. We found our ketchup, but we couldn’t find our refrigerator.”

Four months after the tornado upended the lives of many Kentuckians, Chris Bullock and hundreds of others are arduously rebuilding their pre-storm existence. Thanks to a vast network of municipal workers, contractors, churches, charities and volunteers, communities like Dawson Springs, Mayfield and Bowling Green are edging toward recovery.

The storm system that spawned the tore through a handful of states. The National Weather Service recorded 41 tornadoes on Dec. 10 and 11, including 16 in Tennessee and eight in Kentucky. Eighty-one people died in Kentucky, state officials said. Thousands found shelter with relatives and friends, or in emergency facilities, hotels and state parks.

In Mayfield, a candle factory, a nursing home and government buildings were destroyed. Homes were ripped from foundations and splintered by fierce winds. Crews worked day and night to clear debris and restore power.

Audible evidence of reconstruction in Mayfield has been difficult to miss: the cracking and crashing of excavators breaking apart wood and glass, the beep-beep-beep of heavy machinery reversing, the popping of roofers’ nail guns.

In an AP interview, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said removing debris and finding temporary housing were early priorities after the tornado. More recently, attention has turned to keeping residents in Kentucky.

“These are towns that have almost been wiped off the map,” Beshear said. “We will continue to be concerned about getting people back on their feet and concerned about not losing the population of these towns.”

Some have moved to more permanent shelter, including travel trailers, the governor said. In Graves County, tiny homes were approved for displaced residents, and several larger homes are being built in Mayfield, emergency management Director Tracy Warner said.

“We really hold the future of Mayfield and Graves County in our hands,” Warner said. “And that is scary, yet exciting.”

Although there’s cause for optimism, progress remains slow in places. In Dawson Springs, where Bullock and her family now live in a camper, the 54-year-old registered nurse said she has seen just a few houses being rebuilt, and some friends say they won’t stay.

Bullock and her husband had paid off their home but didn’t have insurance. A disaster-response charity is helping them build a new house on their property, and Bullock hopes to see a day when their family gatherings resume.

“Sundays were fun days. … I just want to have that again,” she said.

Beshear, a Democrat, said millions of dollars in housing assistance payments from a state relief fund are being distributed. Approximately $64 million in federal assistance has been approved for storm victims in Kentucky, with some aid targeting temporary housing, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.

Recovery will take “a couple of years, but it shouldn’t take any longer,” Beshear said. “There are days that it’s a little more frustrating … but we are going to get this done.”

After the storm, bottled water, diapers and other supplies poured in from across the country. Heartland Church in Paducah became a collection point as volunteers with trucks and trailers made deliveries. The Rev. Marc Glass and volunteers loaded a church outbuilding and a donated warehouse with everything from paper towels to toys.

Herschel Evans, a driver for the American Trucking Associations’ Share the Road program, volunteered to drive a 53-foot-long semitrailer full of supplies from Atlanta to Paducah.

“I don’t have a lot of money, but I’ve got skills,” Evans said. “I’ve got the ability to move that truck around the country.”

Heartland’s relief efforts have shifted to rebuilding, with donated furniture and beds for folks who have found new places to live. But Glass said the church’s community spirit goes further than that.

“We don’t simply care about your physical needs, but we care about you as a whole person,” he said. “We care about your soul.”

In Dawson Springs, charity group God’s Pit Crew is rebuilding Chris Bullock’s home free of charge.

The nonprofit, based in Danville, Virginia, relies on volunteers and donated equipment to rebuild houses after disasters ranging from hurricanes to forest fires, said Chris Chiles, a staff member with the group.

Chiles led a convoy carrying about $1 million worth of heavy machinery, tree removal tools and a shower to Kentucky in January. God’s Pit Crew also brings volunteers who counsel victims.

“There’s more healing that goes on with that than putting a tarp on their roof,” Chiles said. “They can sit with someone and let them know that somebody cares about them.”

Bullock and her husband thought briefly about leaving Dawson Springs or finding an existing home rather than rebuilding on their property, “but we lived in that house for 26 years and we raised five children there.”

“It’s just home,” she said. “It just didn’t feel right to be anywhere else.”

Editor’s note: Schreiner reported from Frankfort, Kentucky.

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When somebody’s core temperature reaches 105 degrees Fahrenheit, heatstroke may be imminent.

“Usually you’ve got some degree of underlying dehydration,” said Eric Brentlinger, an emergency room physician at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Southwest Portland, “but you’re going to have malfunction of your neurologic system. And things like confusion, loss of consciousness or seizures are much more likely to happen in people that have heatstroke, and that can just make things worse because the ability to recognize what’s going on and get yourself to a safe place, or get water becomes very impaired because you just can’t think clearly.”

This weekend, temperatures in the Portland-metro area are anticipated to approach 98 degrees. They’re expected to taper off a bit by Monday, but ’tis the season for heat – and outdoor workers should be prepared.

According to Oregon OSHA, most people typically are not acclimated when temperatures climb above 90 degrees – especially when combined with direct sunlight, high humidity and physical exertion. Brentlinger said it has to do with the impact that heat has on certain types of enzymes in the body.

As the body attempts to cool itself through sweating, it loses fluid and salt – the body’s engine coolant. When those fuels are not replenished, symptoms like muscle cramps, light-headedness, nausea and headaches can result.

To stay hydrated, Brentlinger said laborers should drink 24 ounces of water or an electrolyte sports drink before beginning a shift and then consume at least eight ounces of water an hour while working. Oregon OSHA recommends drinking one small cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes.

But the body needs more than just water, and Brentlinger said replacing water without sodium can result in another dangerous condition called hyponatremia; it can cause nausea, light-headedness and confusion. Most sports drinks contain sodium and potassium supplements, but an alternative is salt tablets, which Brentlinger said can be purchased at most vitamin supplement stores.

When it comes to heat exhaustion, humidity plays a major role.

“In Portland we’re pretty lucky in the summer,” he said. “Even though we get a lot of heat, we don’t get a lot of heat and humidity. And it’s the heat index – the combination of heat and humidity – that can really pump up the ability of the environment to cause trouble.”

A new iPhone application called the can be used to assess risk. Users enter temperature and humidity numbers to calculate the heat index and the associated color-coded (from a low of yellow to a high of red) risk level. For instance, a temperature of 100 degrees with 68 percent humidity would equal a “very high to extreme” risk level.

In addition, the app includes links to signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion, first aid tips and OSHA contact numbers.

To prevent heat-induced illness, OSHA recommends that workers: use the buddy system; perform the heaviest, most labor-intensive work during the coolest part of the day; wear light, loose-fitting and breathable clothing; take frequent, shaded breaks; avoid eating large meals; and avoid drinking caffeinated or alcoholic beverages, which dehydrate the body.

In cases of suspected heat exhaustion, OSHA recommends that co-workers move the person to a shaded area; remove or loosen heavy clothing; provide small cups of water every 15 minutes if the person isn’t nauseous; and attempt to cool the skin with cold water or fanning.

If symptoms don’t subside within a few minutes, co-workers should call 911.

Heat-related illnesses strike workers every year. OSHA reports that from 2007 to 2011, 38 people received benefits through Oregon’s workers’ compensation system for heat-related illness. Brentlinger said that each summer, emergency rooms draw numerous people suffering from heatstroke and similar afflictions.

“Eventually, seizures, loss of consciousness and coma will happen to everyone with heatstroke who are not treated,” Brentlinger said, “and that can lead to death.”

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Snow recently hit the Portland-metro area and meteorologists are calling for a 90 percent chance of rain through the end of the week. That is never good news for a construction site, but project teams can plan accordingly.

“You know it’s going to be bad and snowy and whatnot, so you know there’s some things you don’t want to do,” said Gary Beck, statewide safety manager for Oregon OSHA.

For instance, Beck said to avoid sending workers to rooftops if they can do work on the ground floor instead. But if it can’t be avoided, make sure workers clear snow and ice from ladder rungs and the bottoms of boots before climbing up.

During a severe winter in January 2004, falls on wet surfaces and ice generated a 14 percent hike in workers’ compensation claims for the month, according to a 2008 Oregon OSHA article.

Also, employees should possess the appropriate cold weather gear, Beck said. He recommends supervisors hold pre-weather meetings with crews to ask, “Hey, it’s going to be wet tomorrow; does everyone have what they need to do the job?”

Beck said to make sure waterproof boots are insulated and that warm clothes aren’t so bulky that they hinder the ability to perform the job – insulated coveralls are a good option.

“And especially here in the valley, you want to wear clothing that will repel water,” Beck said.

Those precautions are important for both safety and liability reasons. In the event of an accident, Beck will ask, “What have you done to prepare the people? How did you plan or train your people to work in these conditions?”

Of course, one of the biggest risks comes before workers even arrive at a jobsite.

“Part of the issue with inclement weather is just people getting to and from work and getting to the construction site,” Beck said. “Usually that’s in (workers’) own vehicles and not on the employer’s time, but still that’s where a lot of people run into problems.”

With that said, if travel is necessary in inclement weather, be aware of “Snow Zone” signs. According to a safety newsletter from the Oregon OSHA office, they’re areas where vehicles are required, not recommended, to carry or use chains or traction tires.

In some areas, chains are necessary if a vehicle is towing or if it weighs more than 10,000 pounds. In other areas, chains will be required on all vehicles. Chains are also required if the vehicle being towed has a brake that operates while in tow.

Drivers who disobey “Snow Zone” signs are subject to penalties.

For drivers who use traction tires, there are also a few things to keep in mind.

Studs must be made of a rigid material that wears at the same rate as the tire tread, and should extend between 0.04 inch and 0.06 inch beyond the tread surface, according to Oregon OSHA. Studded tires are legal from Nov. 1 to April 1.

Four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles are exempt from chain requirements if they weigh less than 6,500 pounds, have power to front and rear wheels, are carrying chains, have all weather tires on all of their wheels and are not towing.

Beck noted that it’s also a good idea, especially when driving to a remote jobsite, for workers to carry flares, food, water and a blanket in case they get stuck. They also should head out with a full tank of gas.

Basically, preparation is the key.

“You normally know two to three days in advance that this is coming,” Beck said. “It’s just a good idea to plan your work accordingly.”

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Hurricane Irene left millions without power this weekend, but thankfully none of the dozen or so nuclear power plants on the east coast were significantly damaged. The hurricane, which has caused roughly is currently is slowing down and passing into Canada.

Despite affecting 65 million people, estimated to be the largest amount of Americans affected by a single storm, Irene caused only two nuclear power plant shut downs. According to nuclear energy ,  New Jerseys Exelon’s Oyster Creek plant shut down at 5 p.m. on Saturday before Irene hit the area. Constellation’s Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland did not shut down before Irene came blustering through. When the storm hit the area, a piece of aluminum siding was ripped off a building by 90 mph winds and hurled into one of the plant’s transformers, shutting down one of its reactors. Other nuclear plants in North Carolina and Connecticut reduced power production as a preventative measure.

Though this is largely great news, thanks no doubt to the robust emergency plans nuclear power plants are mandated to follow in the case of natural disasters, Yurman did note this unsettling fact in his blog:

The NRC reported that none of the plants in areas hit by the storm on Saturday lost offsite power from the grid. However, several plants reported some of their emergency sirens were knocked offline by power outages. All plants have back-up options for such a situation.”

I’m sure it’s under control. I just hope those “back-up options” kicked in before nuclear sludge spilled into the Atlantic only to form mutated monster lobsters that are plotting an amphibious invasion at this moment. But just like some feared that the storm would cause nuclear meltdown across the eastern seaboard, I doubt the monster lobsters’ nefarious plans will come true.

Photo by via Flickr

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The energy sector on the east coast is bracing itself for widespread disruptions and damage as hurricane Irene careens up the eastern seaboard. The area’s nuclear power plants, natural gas pipelines, power lines and oil ports are all expected to be hit.

According , the region has around 12 nuclear power plants, a massive oil port in New York City, and power lines and pipe lines that service 100 million people. Gloria, the most recent hurricane to hit the area in 1985, left 2.2 million people without power and caused $1.84 billion in damages in today’s dollars.

According to MDA Weathershet, New York City could experience winds of more than of 75 miles per hour. The good news is that at least two, if not all, of the nuclear power plants in the region were built to withstand hurricane force winds.

Utilities throughout the area have enacted emergency plans and are stockpiling materials like diesel to run backup generators.

To track the path of the hurricane, check out or head over to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration’s

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In Oregon, summer can be a busy, hectic season for construction. That’s why industry professionals with substantial summer work experience say effective communication and planning are needed to ensure projects run as smoothly as possible.

Luis Caraballo, director of facilities for Salem-Keizer Public Schools, knows about the hassles of working in summer months. A $242.1 million construction bond is going toward a wide range of projects. He oversaw many during the past two summers, and a 10-week construction period started last week, for 69 projects totaling nearly $30 million at 24 schools.

“The largest challenge is understanding that given the breadth of work at these facilities, only authorized staff need to be present,” he said. “We worked with our communications department to ensure that building occupants and other interested stakeholders understood that most sites would be off-limits to anyone but construction staff.”

This can be difficult in a school because some teachers still need to perform work in summertime, and at least some of the school’s support systems need to remain operable. That’s why Caraballo said it’s important to make sure all stakeholders are informed about projects and invested in them.

“The key is solid planning and buy-in from the total system of affected stakeholders – staff, leadership, community, special interest groups, etc.,” he said. “Leadership provided by our superintendent and (school) board, which clearly gave all stakeholders context of how they were part of this important process, worked very well to allay fears and concerns and to get building occupants to participate in helping with packing, moving and staying out of the building.”

Don Hamilton, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said the agency relies on communication to plan for the busy season. For example, region 1 – which covers the north Oregon coast, through the tri-county area and to Hood River – has 40 work zones planned through the summer paving months.

“There’s no easy formula,” Hamilton said. “It’s about putting in the time doing a lot of talking with a lot of people.”

For ODOT, that may start by ensuring that if a southbound lane is closed on Interstate 205, for instance, then there won’t also be a southbound one closed on its counterpart, Interstate 5.

ODOT officials can write rules into contracts so that companies must work out project plans approved by the state agency. Contractors can be fined if they don’t follow those plans, Hamilton said.

Sometimes, projects nearly bump into one another. For example, TriMet is planning for a light-rail bridge across the Willamette River near the South Waterfront District while Southwest Moody Avenue is being improved, the Block 49 housing project is being built, cleanup is taking place at the Zidell site and work is set to start on the Life Sciences Building.

Coordination becomes essential for project owners and contractors.

“We make a very serious effort to stay in communication with everybody,” Hamilton said. “This includes the city, county, TriMet, private firms (and) the public and emergency services.”

Bart Eberwein, a Hoffman Construction vice president, said that when projects are near each other, communication can become chippy in regard to responsibility for flagging a specific road, or making sure a specific area is closed off. The only solution, he said, is for project owners to maintain constant communication.

Eberwein also said public and worker safety can be threatened when projects take place at busy summer locations. Besides using ample signage and barriers to keep the public out of work sites, Eberwein suggested using work weeks of four 10-hour days.

When problems and delays do occur, both Caraballo and Hamilton said the key is to keep everyone in the loop about potential deadline extensions and to start developing solutions. They recommended holding frequent project status meetings and seeking public input.

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Oregon State University graduate student Kathryn Pfretzschner is writing a thesis about problems that arise when strong winds impact wood structures. But until a recent trip to Joplin, Mo., she hadn’t seen a case study with such a clear illustration.

“It was devastated,” she said. “Houses didn’t even look like houses. Cars didn’t look like cars. It was just scraps, everywhere.”

The tornado in Joplin last month left more than 130 people dead and more than 8,000 homes destroyed. OSU researchers joined a team partially funded by the National Science Foundation and American Society of Civil Engineers to analyze the damage. Some of the lessons learned about the destruction in Joplin could apply to natural events in Oregon as well, researchers said.

“If there is ever an EF5 (level) tornado in Oregon, we might see similar types of damage, but chances of that are very, very slim,” said Rakesh Gupta, a professor in the Department of Wood Science and Engineering at OSU.

“All of these kind of events – whether they are seismic or high wind speed – introduce a lateral load onto the structure,” said Arijit Sinha, an OSU graduate and researcher. “The concepts are the same, and there are similar construction problems.”

Winds greater than 200 miles per hour toppled buildings not constructed to withstand such force. But some of the devastation resulted from structural issues in buildings.

“A lot of it has to do with not designing for uplift; walls and garages were not anchored to the foundation” and were blown away, Pfretzschner said.

“Even the more expensive, custom-built, newer homes were completely destroyed,” Gupta said.

“Some of the damage was due to lack of or weaker connections at critical locations in the building,” such as between walls and foundation or between roof and walls.

Sinha called the problems “connection issues” – such as excessively small washers, and anchor bolts connecting walls to foundations spaced too widely. Issues also arose from unreinforced masonry – a buzzword in Oregon for buildings lacking seismic strength.

There are ways to mitigate this sort of damage in the future, Sinha said.

“It’s not that you can’t design for the wind speed,” he said. “And you have to make sure that construction practices are adequate to the design.”

Stricter code enforcement and a more collaborative design process could help, Pfretzschner said.

“A lot of houses aren’t designed by an engineer,” she said. “An engineer would be able to look at a house in a location and say that you have to anchor it down.”

Depending on the location and hazard risk of a house, designers should “use codes that help them calculate design loads for wind and seismic,” Pfretzschner said.

Sinha noted that certain engineering codes, such as the International Building Code, are better at addressing residential construction issues.

The research team’s recommendations will be limited to an analysis of wood-framed houses, but there is more to be done, Gupta said.

“Even the bigger buildings, like Walmart, Home Depot, Joplin High School and Joplin Middle School, were completely destroyed even though they were not wood-frame construction,” Gupta said, “partly due to the high wind speed, but my guess is partly due to construction quality issues.

“We could always look for high-tech materials, but the question there is: If they are more expensive, is a homeowner willing to pay for it? We can always make our codes stricter, but enforcement and construction quality remains a problem. I believe the solution is in education.”

Builders, contractors, framers and inspectors should be educated about proper construction techniques, he said. “This may not eliminate the damage, but will definitely reduce the damage, especially for the lower-rating tornadoes.”

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Northeastern snow storms have caused ripples in construction employment numbers nationwide, including in Oregon.

Unemployment in February in the sector was 21.8 percent, which marked a slight decline from the 22.5 percent reported for January, according to and .

Numbers for the two months came out relatively recently, due to some reconfiguring of statistics gathered by the U.S. Labor Department, said Ken Simonson, chief economist for AGC.

In January, the sector hit a 14-year employment low, dropping to 5.455 million workers across the country. In February, the sector added 33,000 jobs to that overall, Simonson said.

“The numbers are kind of bouncing along the bottom,” Simonson said. “Some of that could be due to weather – because projects that might have been scheduled in January or February were put off for a little while because of cold or snow.”

The Labor Department statistics are gathered by looking at one pay period each month, typically around the week of the 12^th, he added.

Snow delays don’t seem to have hurt employment just in the region in which they happened, though. During weeks with big snowstorms in the Northeast, ripple effects appear to have carried over to Oregon, said John Killin, executive director of ABC’s Pacific Northwest Chapter.

“In January I would see a bunch of members one week, and they’d be on the uptick saying things were good,” Killin said. “Then I’d see them the following week and they’d say things were bad – it was on this two-week ebb and flow that was kind of a mystery until we looked at Northeastern weather.”

What probably happened during the bad weeks is that snowfall shut down corporate offices and banks, which tend to make financial decisions and approve materials orders for construction companies on projects around the country, Killin said.

“So if an office shuts down on the East Coast, if they can’t get into work to approve things, then it ends up delaying things here,” Killin said.

Still, both Killin and Simonson said they think the numbers will finally start to slowly increase from the January low – especially as the weather around the country improves.

“It’s a little early to get excited,” Simonson said. “I think it’s fairly safe to say, though, that construction is close to bottoming out. I think we’ll start to see some positive numbers start to crop up soon.”

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Workers from Multnomah County and independent geotechnical advisers are still investigating a landslide that has left a section of Northwest Thompson Road in the West Hills closed since Jan. 25.

The slide happened on a downhill portion of the road, and underground streams could complicate efforts to shore up the hillside, said Mike Pullen, a spokesman for the county.

“They haven’t decided on the repair yet,” Pullen said. “It would either be something that we could do relatively quickly, but it also might be something larger that requires permitting. They’re weighing the scale of the repair.”

Because crews discovered underground streams that contributed to the slide, the county might have to work with the Department of Environmental Quality to make sure the site is protected before shoring up the hillside, Pullen said.

If that is the case, the road could remain closed for several months, he added.

In the meantime, drivers can get around the area by using Northwest Cornell Road. Thompson Road is often used as a through route by drivers, he added.

“Sometimes we can also open one lane of traffic, but I’m not sure if that will be an option or not,” Pullen said.

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