Storm hammers the county with lashing winds and pelting rains
Published 12:11 pm Wednesday, December 17, 2025
County-wide power outages, fallen trees and atmospheric river add to weather strife
Strong winds and heavy rain Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning caused widespread power outages across the county. According to Pacific Power, nearly 27,000 customers in Clatsop County were without power between the hours of about midnight and 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. The outages were not limited to only residents — in Astoria, streetlights went dark and some communications systems failed.
“I believe power went out sometime around midnight,” said Jonah Dart-McLean, interim Astoria city manager. The streetlights, he said, are tied to the same power grid as everything else in the city. “Fortunately, (it happened) at a time when there’s not a lot of heavy traffic going on.”
Dart-McLean said the only city facility to be delayed in opening was the Astoria Aquatic Center. However, in a Facebook post, the city said “the adjacent dock to the west of the 6th Street Viewing Platform collapsed in last night’s wind and rain. The Viewing Platform will remain closed as staff evaluate (the) structure to ensure it was not damaged.”
No major traffic incidents were reported as a result of the outage.
Justin Gibbs, Clatsop County emergency management director, said on Wednesday the county has been in contact with Pacific Power about the outages.
“As of now, they’ve enacted their emergency staffing,” Gibbs said, to help restore power throughout the county.
Gibbs said he received an update from the Oregon Department of Transportation Wednesday morning, indicating that all highways in the county are clear, and crews will be assessing damage and doing spot cleanups as necessary.
School closures
Astoria, Seaside, Knappa, and Jewell School Districts all cancelled classes Wednesday due to power outages.
“We’re closed today,” said Bill Fritz, Knappa School District superintendent. “There’s no electricity at the school or, to our knowledge, anywhere in our community.”
Fritz said the school district attempted to alert residents of its closure through a FlashAlert, but its technology and comms equipment were also down. They were able to notify residents on their website and do a push message to parents.
Landslides? Downed trees
Dart-McLean said the city has not received any reports of landslides, but some instances of downed trees have been reported across the city.
“Overall, we’re not seeing a lot of tree impacts blocking streets … (but) obviously crews are still in the process of assessing and locating issues,” Dart-McLean said. “So that may grow.”
More weather coming
Another atmospheric river is expected to hit the North Coast Thursday and Friday, which is expected to bring heavy rain and even the possibility of snow to some parts of the Coast Range Mountains. But Clatsop County may miss the brunt of it.
“So far,” said Gibbs, “it sounds like we’re going to miss the most of it tomorrow (Thursday).” The worst rain is expected to impact Tillamook County, with some potential impact to Arch Cape.
Gibbs said the National Weather Service will be providing “high-impact” briefings for this series of active weather patterns.
The county has not received any reports of flooding; however, there is the possibility of flooding Thursday and Friday along smaller narrow streams. Gibbs said because the county only has two river gauges — one on the Necanicum south of Seaside and another on the Nehalem in the Mist-Birkenfeld area — it is “challenging” to identify some flood risks.
“I talked to the NWS the other day, and they weren’t projecting … this (coming) event was going to produce anything like we had last week (in terms of flooding),” said Gibbs. “The most significant rainfall that we’re going to see in Clatsop County is going to be down around Hamlet.”
