Residents of the Dodson unincorporated community in the Columbia River Gorge may return home after authorities on Saturday night withdrew an evacuation order issued last week due to floods and landslides.
Meanwhile, county emergency management officials said in a press release that they were still working to recover the body of a local woman whose car was dragged by a stream of rubble as she drove home on Jan. 13. Work continued on Sunday as teams removed the debris from the slip zone, according to an email from Chris Liedle of the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Communications Unit.
Last week, the sheriff identified the missing person as Jennifer Moore of Warrendale, 50. She disappeared after the SUV she was driving was overtaken by a landslide near the intersection of Northeast Frontage Road and the exit from Ainsworth State Park off I-84, near Dodson.
In the early hours of the morning of January 13, authorities asked approximately 25 families in the area to evacuate after excessive rain caused several landslides and debris flows in and around the community.
Multnomah County officials suspended evacuation orders after reviewing a preliminary report by engineers hired by the county to assess the southern slopes of Dodson, according to a county press release. The area was burned in the Eagle Creek forest fire in 2017.
Geologists hired by the county “noted that there are inherent risks of living in this area of the Columbia River gorge, and that the risk of debris flow at the site location should be considered higher than nominal levels,” according to the county.
County officials plan to release a final version of the geologists’ report.
– Hillary Borrud