Oregon wakes up to some flooding. What happens now?

Oregonians woke up to flooding, which was gradually dissipating the morning of Dec. 19, following a third atmospheric river that dumped 2-5 inches of rain in just 24 hours across northwest Oregon.

Many schools were delayed or canceled, some roads were closed and around 18,000 people were without power.

Heavy rain the night of Dec. 18 led to many roads being flooded across the Willamette Valley. But with only sporadic rainfall in the forecast, meteorologists said standing water should gradually drop.

Stream levels were still high and in some cases still in flood stages, on the Santiam, Clackamas and other smaller streams like the Pudding and Luckimute. But many had crested and were dropping as of the morning of Dec. 19.

“The rivers and creeks that respond rapidly will be coming down in next few hours, but some of the other larger streams are still on their way up and won’t crest until Saturday in some cases,” said Sebastian Westerink, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Portland.

Where did rivers flood their banks?

The most serious situation was on the Clackamas River near Estacada and Oregon City, where the river reached major flood levels.

Closer to Salem, moderate flooding was seen on the Santiam River in Jefferson while the Luckimute, Molalla and Pudding rivers were also still rising into major flood levels.

The Willamette River in Salem will continue to rise above action stage and not crest until Dec. 20, likely leaving some low-lying roads and sites like Minto-Brown Island Park closed.  

24 hour rainfall totals (7 a.m. on Dec. 18 to 7 a.m. on Dec. 19)

• Eagle Creek near Estacada: 2.77

• Cascade Foothills: 4-6 inches

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 18 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on X at @ZachsORoutdoors and BlueSky at oregonoutdoors.bsky.social