GOLD BEACH – Curry County commissioners on Monday declared a county emergency and wrote Gov. Kitzhaber asking that he declare a state of emergency for Curry County as the result of the storms that began on Jan. 17 and continue to occur.

“Our initial estimate of public and private damages exceeds $500,000 countywide,” the commissioners wrote the governor.

“This does not include any estimate of the damage to state highways located within our county. There were, thankfully, no deaths or injuries associated directly with the event,” they wrote.

 “Curry County has determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the County and affected local governments and that supplementary state assistance is required, and further that federal assistance may also be necessary,” the commissioners said. 

“We are specifically requesting that the Governor declare a state of emergency in Curry County, and request federal financial assistance for our qualifying public, private and nonprofit losses and for other assistance as may be appropriate,” they wrote.

The commissioners attached a resolution, noting some of the damage caused by strong winds and abnormal amounts of heavy rain saturated the ground in Curry County, and caused and is causing numerous landslides, flooding and water and wind damage within the County and its cities.

They said the extreme weather requires the removal of large amounts of earth and solid waste disaster debris on roadways and repair of public and private infrastructure, and it is likely that additional damage will be discovered following further investigation.

The commissioners said the extent and severity of the loss is beyond the resources and response capability of the county.

County Emergency Coordinator Don Kendall said at Monday’s meeting he had collected mostly information on road disasters so far but needed to get lists of damage countywide by Friday to submit to the state.

“I’m setting up now for people who do need assistance,” Kendall said.

County Roadmaster Dan Crumley told the commissioners at that emergency meeting that, by Monday afternoon, all county roads were open.

“I can’t certify we have two lanes everywhere,” Crumley said.

He said to fix one slide on a creek near Gold Beach would cost $300,000-$400,000.

“We have $200,000 in cleanup and repairs to do,” he said. “There are other damages besides the county.”

Crumley said the Road Department has already begun cleanup work and that, hopefully, there will be no more damage as the storms continue.

He said Carpenterville Road had been closed.

“They’re looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in road damage,” Waddle said of ODOT.

Crumley praised his road crews.

“I’m pretty proud of them. They never turn me down when they’re called out in the middle of the night,” Crumley said.

“They get pretty tired,” Crumley said.

Sheriff John Bishop said that Gold Beach High School had damage.

“The elementary school at Port Orford reported some damage,” he said.

“Damage reports are still coming. The ground is saturated now. More storms are coming,” Bishop said.

The Sheriff’s Office and Brookings Police Department made the first use of the NIXLE Dial System, a reverse 911 phone service that calls county residents notifying them of emergencies.

Bishop said his office has received positive feedback from all but one person.

“We did get good response. I would like to thank everybody,” Bishop said.

“We can do it countywide, citywide or by neighborhood,” the sheriff said.

He said residents who want to sign up for the NIXLE emergency system for their cell phones can do so on the county or city of Brookings web sites – www.co.curry.or.us for those who live outside Brookings or www.brookings.or.us for those who live in Brookings. 

Commissioner Bill Waddle said that ODOT roads had been hit hard in the county.

“They have a major slide at Cape Sebastian that closed one lane,” Waddle said.