March 19, 2025 4:00 a.m.

Douglas County government is still at an all-hands-on-deck response to the severe winter storm that hit the county on Sunday.

A county release said their team in collaboration with local cities, tribal government, regional agencies and private contractors continues to monitor, triage, and respond to ongoing issues related to the flood event. Crews continue to be deployed to new slides, downed trees, and debris cleanup efforts all over the county.

Douglas County Public Works and private local contractors have worked continuously to get all county-maintained roads operational and open with at least one-lane of travel access. One slide, at the 2700 block of Hubbard Creek Road in Umpqua completely washed out about 35 feet and both lanes of the road on Sunday afternoon. Public Works were alerted to the incident at 3:00 p.m. Sunday and were able to mobilize county crews and local contractors who worked non-stop through the night and were able to open one lane to traffic early Monday morning.

The release said one of the biggest stories during this weather event was Galesville Dam. It acted as a flood control device saving several communities from even greater flooding and additional carnage. During the height of the floodwaters the dam reached near maximum capacity, but the Public Works – Natural Resources Division staff employed a strategic approach to the measured storage and release of water from the dam into Cow Creek. This approach avoided an uncontrolled, catastrophic spillover of the dam, while keeping the release of water at the highest level possible without contributing to additional flooding downstream.

Motorists are asked to be patient and expect delays or detours due to heavy equipment, work crews, and flaggers that are in the impacted areas dealing with cleanup from the historic storm.