As the Malheur River in Vale remains at a historic major flood level, county leaders on Wednesday, Feb. 26, issued an emergency declaration.
Malheur County Judge Dan Joyce and Commissioners Jim Mendiola and Ron Jacobs said in the declaration that the court “determines that extraordinary measures must be taken to alleviate the suffering of our citizens.”
The commissioners requested Gov. Tina Kotek to declare an emergency due to “severe and continuing flooding and high water conditions.”
An emergency declaration would enable state agencies to share resources with the county more freely to mitigate the impact of the flooding.
The commissioners write that the major flooding has caused significant damage to the county’s infrastructure and impacted the region economically. The county officials call on Kotek to help the county open transportation throughout the area and “protect or mitigate economic loss.”
On Wednesday, county officials canceled an evacuation alert for Vale after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ inspection of the river levee posed no risk. Still, the officials note that roadways around the county, including Northwest 36th Street between Vale and Ontario and Foothill Drive and Airport Road outside of Vale, remain closed.
County officials are also concerned about a ditch on the south side of Highway 20/26 that broke and is filling a field with water. Once the field is full, the commissioners write, the water would spill out onto the roadway, closing the roadway.
The declaration was sent to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, the state agency that coordinates the process, according to Lt. Rich Harriman, Malheur County emergency manager.
“We are declaring a state of emergency for the purpose and assessment, evaluation and acquiring the ability to provide appropriate available resources,” the declaration notes.
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