Landslide in Curry County - from the Curry Coastal Pilot

Coos slide knocks out some phone services

Written by Charles Kocher, Pilot staff writer May 03, 2011 11:06 am


A landslide in Coos County destroyed two miles of Frontier Communications fiber optic line late Monday night, interrupting some long distance and cellular services as far south as Brookings.

The Frontier cable was cut about 9:30 p.m. by the slide along Highway 42, east of Coos Bay, but there are no highway traffic alerts for that area.

Frontier officials said crews have been working all night to string a temporary line, and expect repairs to be completed by mid-day Tuesday.

Local phone, high speed internet and emergency services are not impacted. Both Frontier and the Curry County Sheriff's Office said 911 calls were not being affected by the outage.

Cell services were interrupted, the company explained, because some cell services are routed from their towers into the fiber optic network.

Watch for a complete report in the Wednesday, May 4, edition of the Curry Coastal Pilot.

Governor Kitzhaber Applauds Federal Approval for Curry County Disaster Assistance

(SALEM, Ore.) –The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced it will fund repairs and replace damaged public infrastructure in Curry County just four days after Governor Kitzhaber sent a formal request for a Federal Disaster Declaration to President Obama. The Port of Brookings-Harbor was damaged by tsunami waves that hit the Oregon Coast on March 11. “I am grateful for the speed with which our Federal partners have made this assistance available,” Governor Kitzhaber said. “It will help us quickly rebuild the port and get Oregonians back to work.” State and federal disaster assessment teams estimated damages at $6.7 million to the Port of Brookings- Harbor. Curry County met the state’s criteria to request federal disaster assistance. FEMA will now begin working with Curry County and the state Office of Emergency Management on scopes of work, design and construction schedules and reimbursements. The Federal share of assistance is not less than 75 percent of the eligible cost for emergency measures and permanent restoration. The remaining 25 percent is the responsibility of the applicant. With the Federal declaration, damage assessments will begin in Coos and Lincoln Counties, where ports were also damaged, to determine if they meet assistance thresholds. “We’ll continue to work with Curry County until they are back on their feet. We’re also looking toward the future to make sure we’re prepared for an emergency,” said Kitzhaber. Attached is a summary of the Federal Disaster Declaration. The Governor’s website has easy access to make donations to recovery efforts in Curry County and in Japan. For more information please visit: http://www.governor.oregon.gov/ For more information about FEMA’s Public Assistance Program: http://www.fema.gov/government/grant/pa/index.shtm For the formal request to President Obama: http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/docs/032111presidentobama.pdf

Don't wait until the power goes out again - the Curry Pilot

http://www.currypilot.com/20100120114569/Opinion/Editorials/Dont-wait-until-the-power-goes-out-again

January 20, 2010 01:09 pm
Imagine a time when there was no such thing as Internet, e-mail, ATM and credit cards, cell phones or 911 service. Now think back further to a time when they was no electricity – no TV, refrigerators, electric heaters or water pumps.
How did people survive without such amenities?

Many Curry County residents found out Sunday as power went out from Port Orford to the California border for eight to 12 hours.

All it took was high winds – which are forecast to continue through Friday.
While Brookings-Harbor and the surrounding area escaped the brunt of the storm physically, individuals and businesses throughout the region found themselves unable to connect to the Internet, use e-mail, cell phones and fax machines. Shoppers had to use cash and write checks because ATM and credit card machines were inoperable.

Here at the Curry Coastal Pilot we couldn’t e-mail news alerts or post important information on our Web site for our readers. It was frustrating, to say the least.
We were also alarmed to hear that, during Sunday’s power outage, many motorists were not stopping at unlit intersections, placing other motorists in mortal danger. Oregon state law states that all interections where traffic lights are inoperable are to be treated as four-way stops.

This week’s series of storms is showing just how vulnerable we and our technology are to Mother Nature’s malevolence. It’s important that we have the means to survive, for days if necessary, without power, Internet, cell phones and our credit cards.
This means having enough food, water, first aid kits, candles, batteries, flashlights, blankets, gas in the car and cash. If you don’t have these things, get them now before the power goes out again.

This wasn’t the first major storm of winter. It won’t be the last.