This is KGW news at sunrise.
Good morning, thanks for getting up
with us on this Saturday morning.
I'm Evan Watson this morning on
sunrise picking up the pieces after
hail strikes in Eastern Oregon.
We'll hear from those hit
hardest by this storm.
Plus bird flu fierce how the nationwide
outbreak on the avian flu is affecting
the Oregon Zoo of all places.
But before we get to all that,
let's check in with Chris McGinnis for
our first look at the Saturday forecast
and we take you up, up, up, up to Timberline.
Let me show you the view here.
What do you see? You see like a
little blanket of cloud cover here
just below 6000 feet on Mount Hood.
Our camera above that cloud cover.
Typically we can see Mount
Jefferson off in the distance.
We cannot today.
Why am I showing you this?
This is a sign of how thick
the marine layer is today.
It has pushed all the way into the Cascades.
And so with that in mind,
the cloud cover that you see here over
downtown Portland is likely to be
around for several hours this morning.
So one of those typical cloudy mornings,
sunny afternoons,
that's pretty much the forecast for today.
We are waking up to temperatures in
the 60s in Portland, it's 64 anyway,
at the airport you slip out of town though,
we're in the upper 50s, right down Hillsboro.
And the big picture across the
state of Oregon this morning,
nobody terribly cool, 58.
Baker City, 64.
Pendleton and we hop over
to the Oregon coast,
generally in the upper 50s to low 60s.
Alright, the plan for Saturday.
Kick back, relax and enjoy right.
And if you if if you're a
fan of those cloudy mornings,
you're going to like today.
It's going to be cloudy for quite awhile.
We'll start to poke some holes in that
cloud cover late morning by afternoon.
Full sunshine with highs near 80.
Just about perfect heaven.
Thanks, Chris. This morning we're
hearing more from residents and
Walawa following this week's storm,
the mayor there has declared
a state of emergency to help
with the cleanup and recovery.
There have been between 8:00
and 10:00 minor injuries so far,
with most of the damage to windows and roofs.
People in the area now left
to pick up the pieces.
Everyone's in the same boat.
I feel bad for those who have
lost like I have one friend
who lost all their chickens.
I mean, there's been some devastation there.
Nobody has a garden left of so many
people have come down and help
put plywood on people's houses.
My neighbor.
They lost all their skylights in their house.
They got help putting those on.
Officials advise homeowners with damage,
take pictures and get in touch with
their insurance agents so they're
ready to go as the cleanup continues
about 75 miles to the northwest.
Milton Freewater the clean up there
comes after trees snapped in half.
A neighbor in the Green Acres
mobile home site that's off Hwy 125
recorded this video Wednesday night.
This tree totaled 2 cars,
both belonging to the Rodriguez family.
They say they they saw Thunder hail
the size of golf balls and wind
gusts that reached 60 miles an hour.
At least three trees came down in just that
one spot along with an entire power pole.
Marco Rodriguez describes how it felt.
War. It was pretty bad.
It was well, first of all, was like.
It was raining.
Hell, decisive.
Maybe that big.
It was just,
you know,
it was.
It was windy.
It was really
windy and raining hell
and then rain and that's
what caused it. I'm pretty
sure you know all the wind.
And back in the Portland area,
crews had their own cleanup on
Sauvie Island Friday morning.
That's where a tree fell on the PGA lines.
No word on what caused it to fall.
They broke out the chainsaws to get
it all chopped up and at one point,
1400 people were without power.
Now let's get to your wildfire.
Update the Cedar Creek Fire which is
burning outside of Eugene is 0% contained.
The fire has burned nearly 4000 acres.
Here's how crews are fighting it.
Crews tried to fight the fire directly,
but didn't have much luck because
of the steep and rugged terrain,
so crews are working to
secure the fires perimeter.
Right now there are no evacuations,
but there are several closures in the area.
The entire Waldo Lake Wilderness
area and parts of the Willamette
National Forest are closed.
A spike in the number of avian flu
cases across the country and in Oregon
has local officials taking action.
The Oregon Zoo is making big changes
to keep their birds from coming into
contact with wild counterparts.
Allen McCarty has the story.
All
summer long visitors stopped by the Oregon
Zoo to see all kinds of exotic animals.
Birds, like condors and flamingos and Eagles,
sister and brother, Isla and Reed,
were especially excited to see those.
I think they're really cool in
that they they have like they
can hunt fish really well,
but in several habitats the
foul are nowhere to be found.
Almost birds are indoors and
not visible to the public.
Signs apologize and Doctor Carlos
Sanchez, head veterinarian explains
we have moved on level 4 in our response
plan for the avian influenza or the
highly pathogenic avian influenza,
and this basically means that most
of the birds that were in exhibits
now are indoors in order to be
protected from this virus that
it is circulating in the wild.
It's highly contagious and could
be deadly for poultry in particular
like chickens, ducks and turkeys.
When we're talking about dead
within 48 hours, some of our
birds may get sick, some may not.
Some may die, some may not.
But we are trying not to take any chance
at the Clark County fair.
Following recommendations
from the state veterinarians.
You also won't find live chickens on display.
Oregon State Fair officials say they're
canceling this year's poultry show,
though Doctor Sanchez explains
people should not be worried.
Restrict mostly to birds.
Maybe some other animals,
but definitely birds.
So while you can still see Penguins
splashing around in their habitat indoors,
it could be a while until Isla and Reed's
favorite feathered friends return.
Well, it's better to keep them safe.
Yes, it's like helping them.
It's like helping us.
Except it's helping the earth, basically.
Basically, so again, human risk is human.
Health risk is extremely low in
this case in Oregon right now,
according to the CDC,
there are a handful of outbreaks
impacting hundreds of birds across 5
counties in the middle of the state.
There are no outbreaks or
cases at the Oregon Zoo.
An error at the Saint Charles
Health system in Central Oregon
could force some employees to have
to pay back thousands of dollars.
The health system is trying
to recoup $2,000,000 in total.
The error occurred when it's
time keeping provider.
Kronos had an outage from last
November to January of this year.
Saint Charles says some employees
were paid more than they should have
been and it wants the money back.
One nurse says her manager told
her she owes $2900.
Where did they come up with
this calculation? Why has not?
Why has evidence not been provided?
Why has it not been made available
to me to sit down with an accountant
for every individual employee
to sit down and review records
and pay stubs and all of that?
They gave no evidence as to
how they came to this number.
That nurse says she was offered a
payment plan but still feels blindsided.
St Charles says employees were kept
informed through more than a dozen emails.
The health system also says some employees
were underpaid and that's been corrected.
The Oregon Nurses Union says it's
considering legal action on behalf
of nurses being asked to repay money.
There were some very tense moments Friday
at a construction site on the OHSU campus.
That's where a heavy drilling rig tipped
over and trapped the operator inside.
Mike Benner has more on what quickly
became a very intricate rescue.
This was no small job.
Portland Fire and Rescue,
Technical rescue team
suited up for this one,
and they were not alone.
We're told workers at the construction
site played a major role in the rescue,
a dramatic moment.
At a construction site on the OHSU campus,
rescue crews carry the operator
of a drilling rig to a waiting
ambulance following a
frightening and rare accident.
It has not happened on one of
my projects in my lifetime,
Tim Johnson, general manager of
Portland's Skanska office, says.
It all unfolded just before.
11:00 AM Friday a £100,000 drilling
rig tipped over at the site of
OHSU's hospital expansion project.
For those of you familiar
with the OHSU campus,
this is right by the KC I institute.
We're told the accident left the drilling
rig operator who's employed by Pacific
foundations pinned inside the cab.
First responders tell us construction
workers on site used a Jack to
lift the heavy piece of equipment,
allowing firefighters to rescue the operator.
All of this happening in under 15 minutes.
We're gonna do an investigation
with Pacific foundations.
OHSU will probably be involved in ourselves.
And whoever
else needs to be now.
It's unclear if the injured operator
went to OHSU or was eventually
transported to legacy Emanuel.
Regardless, they are getting the
medical attention they need and we
are certainly hoping for the best
reporting in downtown Portland.
I'm Mike Benner for KGW news.
Just two minutes away,
once a year chance to enjoy
Portland's bridges car free,
the annual Providence
Bridge pedal is tomorrow.
We'll look at Rd closures
and traffic impacts.
That's coming right up.