Flash Flood warning for Friday afternoon in Wallowa County and the Grande Ronde Valley

Published 4:17 pm Thursday, July 9, 2015

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Friday afternoon through the evening for Northeast Oregon, including Wallowa County and the Grande Ronde Valley.

Debris flows are possible in areas with steep terrain, particularlywithin wildfire burn scars, during this weather event, according to a press release from the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Debrisflows are rapidly moving, extremely destructive landslides. They can easily travel a mile or more, depending on the terrain. They will transport boulders and logs in a fast-moving soil and water slurry.

“Recent wildfires have made land less stable,” said Bill Burns, engineering geologist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI). “Heavy rain is a common landslide trigger, so it’s important to be aware of the potential hazard during this storm.”

Other areas that may be affected includeJohn Day Basin, northern and southern Blue Mountains and the Ochoco-John Day Highlands. The northwest Blue Mountains of Washington are also included in the watch.

People, structures and roads located below steep slopes in canyons and near the mouths of canyons may be at serious risk. Caution should be used when traveling. According to DOGAMI, the most dangerous places include:

– Canyon bottoms, stream channels, and areas of rock and soil accumulation at the outlets of canyons.

– Bases of steep hillsides.

– Road cuts or other areas where slopes of hills have been excavated or over-steepened.

– Places where slides or debris flows have occurred in the past.