Douglas County Winter Storm Update, March 4

The resiliency of our county is something to be proud of. Community members, volunteers, neighbors, civic organizations and local businesses have spent a great deal of time assisting those in need. We want to thank them for providing their time and efforts to help the community recover and ask the community to continue to assist those still in need. Our current focus is the ongoing recovery efforts. In Elkton, one of the hardest hit areas by the storm, an American Red Cross Shelter was established yesterday (Saturday, March, 3, 2019) and saw its first overnight guests. The shelter remains open equipped with power, heat, food and showers. The shelter is available to those who would like to utilize the facilities, but don’t necessarily want to stay overnight. The Elkton Station is operating on generator power and is open for business selling gasoline, diesel and propane. Utility crews continue the task of restoring power, cable and telephone service to residential customers. It is important to remember these outages are widespread and a significant amount of damage was sustained to infrastructure which will take a substantial amount time to repair. Residents should plan ahead for continued service outages. Debris removal remains a priority for road crews who continue their work today. 90% of all main county roads are open with two lanes. Motorists area asked to slow their speeds and use caution through the affected areas as road and utility crews may be in the work zones. Our staff will be working on a long term plan to repair surface damage, cracks, re-striping, guard rails and signage. A water conservation notice is still in effect for residents serviced by the City of Drain. The following shelters are open and available: American Red Cross Shelter – Elkton High School (739 River Drive, Elkton); Lookingglass Grange (7426 Lookingglass Road, Roseburg); Dream Center (813 SE Lane Street, Roseburg); American Red Cross Shelter – Old Harrison Elementary School (1000 South 10th, Cottage Grove); The Red Cross Shelter at the Foursquare Gospel Center has CLOSED.  The Volunteer Service Center hotline has CLOSED. Requests for welfare checks or assistance for those with specialized medical needs should be directed to the Douglas County Dispatch non-emergency telephone number at (541) 440-4471. Those wishing to make donations to recovery efforts may donate to the American Red Cross or the Greater Douglas United Way.