December 21, 2012
Major Route Closed by Slide
Nearly five inches of rain fell in Florence over a 48 hour period through this morning… even more in the Coast Range. All that water caused several transportation problems. One of those is a complete closure of Highway 126 about seven miles east of Mapleton. A slide of trees, rock and mud oozed across both lanes of the highway around nine o’clock yesterday morning. Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Rick Little said a snow plow operator was near the scene at the time and witnessed most of it. Nobody was injured and no vehicles were involved in the slide.
A contractor started work on clearing the debris at daybreak this morning. Little said they hope to have the debris cleared by late this afternoon and restore traffic. Until then, he added, the detour via Highway 36 remains open.
Highway 38 advisory
Highway 126 wasn’t the only through-way experiencing problems yesterday. Highway 38 east of Reedsport continues to be under a ‘debris flow’ advisory. Officials say to exercise caution when driving that way because water and mud could be flowing across the road surface in several areas.
Latest road closure information is available at O-dot’s trip check.com.
Spruce Street closed due to collapse
It wasn’t over the surface flows that caused problems in Florence yesterday. Shawn Penrod with the City of Florence said high flows on Munsel Creek caused problems.
Shawn Penrod – “We had a culvert collapse. It’s that culvert that carries Munsel under Spruce.”
That means traffic that would ordinarily be able to travel from Highway 126 to points north on Spruce Street needs to find an alternative route.
Shawn Penrod – “We are going to have Spruce Street between 12th and 15th closed indefinitely. We’re asking the public to detour through Coastal Highlands.”
A contractor began evaluating the collapse this morning.
Candy Cane Lane is Open!
One road that’s not closed today is Candy Cane Lane. Volunteers with the Soroptomist Community Christmas Basket project are operating the toy and gift give-away today at the former Oldfields Furniture store next to Grocery Outlet. Low income families with children under 12 are invited to ‘shop’ the selection on hand and pick out a gift for each child. Organizer say no children will be allowed on site. That runs through this afternoon.
Candy Cane Lane is the first of a two-day Christmas Basket distribution that runs through tomorrow. Ingredients for holiday meals for as many as 425 area households are being assembled today at Florence Food Share in anticipation of the giveaway tomorrow. The food box giveaway begins at ten tomorrow morning. Recipients are being asked to use Spruce Street to access the parking lot at New Life Lutheran and from there they can access the drive up distribution at Food Share.
One Size Fits all gift idea.
The 11th Florence Winter Folk Festival is still a month away, but Hal Weiner has a Christmas Gift idea for folks who aren’t sure what size, color or style to get their friends. It’s a ‘one-size’ fits all idea.
Hal Weiner – “We’re going to have something totally different on Sunday afternoon. We’re going to have an old fashioned Hootenanny so you can sing along to the songs of Peter Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio.”
Weiner is the music director of the Winter Folk Festival set for January 25th through the 27th. The Sunday afternoon headliner on the 27th will feature sing-alongs of 50s and 60s folk favorites. Here’s the gift idea… weekend passes for the entire festival are only $45 says Weiner and include the Hootenanny as well as festival seating for the eight daytime performers as well as reserved seats for the Saturday night headline show… Trippin’ the 60s with Barry McGuire and John York. Tickets are available online at winterfolkfestival.org.
