PILOT ROCK — Ray Arriola stood in the muddy middle of Main Street and watched water sluicing over a parking lot that sits between rushing East Birch Creek and a second hand store called “Jer and Ter’s.”

He gestured toward a twisted length of metal safety fence at creekside that rushing water had flung aside like nothing during Wednesday’s flooding of downtown Pilot Rock.

“The power of water is amazing,” he said shaking his head, “but I think we’re over the hump now.”

Arriola lives on the other side of the creek. A row of sandbags did its job, keeping water out of his home.

Residents are still a bit shellshocked at how quickly the creek overflowed its banks and flooded Highway 395 where the road curls through the downtown core. Water had receded somewhat by Thursday morning, but the Pilot Rock Market parking lot was still a lake. The highway remained closed to through traffic.

On the west side of 395, sandbags were stacked high around J&D’s Food Mart, making an effective barrier that kept the store and the gas pump island relatively dry. The card slot of the store’s outdoor ATM machine blinked invitingly. Someone withdrawing money would have had a nice view of the highway and water rooster-tailing from the tires of passing emergency vehicles.

At nearby Coffee Station No. 1, patrons sipped the local brew and exchanged information about where the creek is jammed up and whose basements are flooded. At City Hall, Pilot Rock Police Chief Bill Caldera had been up almost 30 hours straight. He and his officers had knocked on doors to warn homeowners of rising water and helped wherever they were needed. He marveled at the esprit de corp of the city’s residents who flocked to two sandbagging stations at opposite ends of town. Caldera said the Red Cross took three evacuated families and put them up at Pendleton hotels.

Clint Young talked on his cell outside Jer and Ter’s, which belongs to his grandmother, Terry Arbogast. When he hung up, he said water had flooded the basement of the place, which is also Arbogast’s home. Family members had worked to move valued items, such as a drum set that had belonged to his grandfather, to safer spots. But nothing could save the old Cadillac out back. Young said the vintage car, which he and his wife had driven away in after their wedding, was a mess.

Kristen Smith sat at her desk at Eastern Oregon Waste Management, right next door to the Pilot Rock market. Somehow the business had come away comparatively unscathed with only a little water damage. Smith, who is secretary at EOWM and the city clerk, joined the sandbag brigade yesterday, finally leaving at 10 p.m. Pilot Rock’s team spirit, she said, is inspiring.

“It was heartbreaking, yet heartwarming with everyone working together,” she said. “It’s an amazing place.”

The damage is still coming to light. County Commissioner John Shafer said county road crews were out Thursday attempting to assess and work on the most impacted areas, though Pilot Rock appeared to have suffered the worst of the floods. There’s been no confirmed reports of bridges that have been washed out, but Shafer said the approach to one on West Birch Creek Road in Pilot Rock was impassable and some residents are currently unable to reach their homes in the area.

“Our road crews can’t get out there to work on it until the waters recede,” he said. 

Butch Wilson, of Pacific Power, drove through Pilot Rock on Thursday morning on the way to Pearson Creek, where reportedly a power pole had fallen into the creek.

Wednesday’s and Thursday’s flooding was the result of excessive rainfall throughout the region in recent days. The rainfall reached record levels for the Pendleton area Wednesday. According to the National Weather Service in Pendleton, the area received 1.11 inches of rain Wednesday, shattering the previous record for May 20 that was set in 1894 at 0.79 inches. 

The recent rainfall led to rising levels in rivers throughout the region and surrounding streams, including the Umatilla, Walla Walla, John Day, Grande Ronde and Imnaha rivers.

The National Weather Service in Pendleton extended minor flood warnings until Thursday afternoon for the Gibbon area located on the Umatilla Indian Reservation and along the Umatilla River, which was recorded above flood stage at 7.4 feet at 4:15 a.m. Thursday by the Northwest River Forecast Center. 

The river levels were expected to decrease throughout the day, and were recorded below flood stage by the forecast center at 6.7 feet as of 11:15 a.m. 

Flood warnings were also extended until 9 p.m. Thursday for Pendleton and western areas of the Reservation while the Bureau of Reclamation attempted to manage levels at the McKay Creek Reservoir by increasing out-take levels to 1,400 cubic feet per second. Shafer said the reservoir reportedly peaked at an in-take level of about 5,000 cfs Wednesday night, but those levels had dropped rapidly to 2,200 cfs by Thursday morning. 

“The plan is to maintain the 1,400 cfs to allow for enough space in the reservoir to be established to protect against future rain events as well as the impact on residents along McKay creek,” a release from the city of Pendleton stated Thursday. 

According to the Northwest River Forecast Center, the Umatilla River near Pendleton was at 12.26 feet as of 11 a.m. Thursday, which is less than half an inch below its flood stage of 12.3 feet. 

Road crews also responded to Nolin Grade Road near Echo on Thursday morning, Shafer said, and will be inspecting the Coombs Canyon area along the Umatilla River near Rieth. 

Though it feels a bit like groundhog day after historic flooding ravaged the county in February, Shafer said initial reports indicate that county infrastructure damages won’t come close to the $25 million dealt by floodwaters months ago. 

“The peak is over and we’re starting to see the end of it,” he said. “I think we’ll be all right as long as it stops raining.”