Yachats Oregon Writer Rick Schultze

Well I’m an optimist and according to the press, radio and TV reports this wild, wet and destructive weather is going to take a break for a few days. Hopefully it won’t give Mother Nature a chance to catch her breath so she can start blasting away full force again, but you never know, as they say; “You can’t fool with Mother Nature!”

I’ve lived in Yachats for many years and remember vividly a few years ago when two houses slid down the hillside in Waldport when the hill collapsed due to the rain and loose soil. Now just on the other side of that same hill is a home teetering on the edge of a gaping slide which slammed into a home below, buried a car and closed the road. Fortunately no one was injured but it’s a mess and has had crews working feverishly cleaning it up. It was so weird to see the slide on the same hill that had let loose earlier; I can only imagine what the other home owners that are on top of the hill must be thinking.

After surveying the scene in Waldport I crossed the bridge and headed out into the Bayshore area. Turning left at the Bayshore Beach Club I headed south towards the end of the area and stared in amazement at the sand which had literally covered several houses and gave the appearance of being in a wet and soggy Sahara Desert. The little backhoes had cleaned up the road somewhat and the sand was stacked high on the roadside like snow drifts up in the mountains. In the meantime the wind was howling and sand was plastering my car and visibility was limited.

That was enough of my sightseeing trip there and I returned to Yachats to keep an eye on the trees near my house as the wind was ripping through them with an eerie sound. All the way back to Yachats I saw shore pine trees that had been blown apart by the wind gusts, branches snapped like twigs.

It’s easy to become used to the rather tame weather we’d been having when this sudden onslaught of wildness hit so I dutifully brought in more firewood, checked all my emergency supplies and battened down the hatches!

Of course we’ve all seen the pictures from Portland and all over the rest of the Northwest of homes sliding, being buried and flooded. Not pretty pictures to say the least so let’s all think positive thoughts for all the folks that have been impacted by this and hopefully when you read this we will have re-acquainted ourselves with sunshine and maybe, just maybe, we’ll all be able to go outside once again and enjoy the great outdoors with Mother Natures blessing!

To reach Rick Schultze email yarick@pioneer.net