COUNTY REPAIRS COMMUNICATION SERVICE FOLLOWING MAJOR STORM

Please note: The information provided is INCOMPLETE but with a little imagination you can fill in the blanks. 73 Moe

Published: December 8, 2007

By Valliant Corley

Pilot staff writer


GOLD BEACH – In the aftermath of last weekend's major winter storm, which knocked out virtually all communications in Curry County, most of the services, including the 911 system, were back up by Friday, officials said.

"We've got 911 services back, the long distance lines are back up," County Emergency Services Director Michael Brace told Curry County Commissioners on Wednesday.

"Basically, all our communication went out," Brace said. "Backup ham radio was destroyed, backup to the backup was down. It was completely wiped out.

"There's nothing we could have done short of putting people in cars," Brace said. "Power lines were down. What could we have done? How could we stop the wind?"

The storm, which hit Sunday and continued through Monday, brought winds of 80 to 100 mph along much of the Oregon Coast, with the Curry County cities of Gold Beach and Port Orford taking the brunt of the wind.

During the storm the microwave dish sending signals from Grizzly Mountain, four miles east of Gold Beach, to the courthouse in downtown Gold Beach was destroyed. Two other dishes were knocked out of alignment.

"We had ham radio equipment in the annex, not to have all our eggs in one basket," Brace said.

The storm took care of both, as well as the private ham radio that was located at Grizzly Mountain to be used as backup.

"Thank God I've got no report of injuries or deaths," Brace told the commission.

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