Have you heard about Portland, Oregon? Probably not, unless you live near there. The whole country has gotten hit so hard with severe weather in the last couple of weeks, nobody is paying much attention to weather stories outside of their local areas. I guess that’s why I hadn’t heard much about it—here in the Boston area we had a severe ice storm that left over a million people without power in the New England area and then a week later, got two and a half feet of snow.
Well, on December 25th I called my sister-in-law in Portland to wish her a Merry Christmas. Her first sentiment was, “All I want is some Thai food!” Apparently, she’d been holed up in her apartment for nine days—unable to get out to work, the grocery store, or friends’ houses, let alone to any Christmas festivities. Her food supply, her enjoyment of her DVD collection, and her patience with city officials were all running low. And she was not the exception. Apparently, all Portlanders were being told to not venture out into the streets, at all. The whole city had simply shut down; there was no garbage pickup for two weeks, and no mail delivery for a week in some areas.
The problem? Portland had been hit with a 1-2 punch of snowstorms—giving them a total of a foot and half of the menacing white stuff. But wait a minute, here in the Boston area we got two and half feet, and the next day, people were at work. Likewise, cities all over the country had gotten their share of snow as well, and seemed to be able to move their economies forward in spite of the weather. What in the world was going on in Portland? Well, a few things. Portland rarely gets snow, so city officials simply had no contingency plans for a big snowstorm; only a handful of snowplows were on hand to help clear the snow. Portlanders are also famous environmentalists, which is admirable, but in this case, translates into a complete rejection of using any kind of salt, sand, etc. for minimizing the dangerous icy road conditions.
The solution that Portland city officials kept telling its constituents? Well, we’ll just have to wait for a thaw. Until then, stay in your homes, except that you are required to shovel your walks (Does anyone else see some irony here?). Ok, so I know Portland is known for rain, not snow, but it’s not like it’s in the tropics—snow simply cannot be dismissed as unlikely and therefore not planned for. I can understand not wanting to invest in hundreds of snowplows for the once-in-ten-years snowstorm, but city officials can certainly draw up contingency plans for what to do when the severe snowstorm does hits—perhaps jointly invest in many snowplows with other nearby cities and also stockpile materials to reduce icy road conditions (I can’t imagine salt and sand actually go bad and become unusable after a few years, so it should last). As for the environmental concern, here in the Boston area, people are also pretty committed environmentalists, but there is also the reality of icy roads; using salt to clear roads of ice is the chief way to reduce dangerous conditions and allow people to continue with their work and life plans. We’re talking about a major US city that essentially shut down for two weeks due to weather, leaving hundreds of thousands without an ability to go to work, attend to vital health needs, or replenish food supplies, much less celebrate the holidays with their loved ones. Portland’s economic losses must have been vast, much like pouring salt (no pun intended!) into the deep wound of the current economic crisis.
My sister-in-law's car, with more snow still to come
And what happens when something a lot more serious happens? A major earthquake or, heaven forbid, a terrorist attack? I can tell you, I wouldn’t want to be living in Portland for one of those. What would the response be then? Just wait until the wind blows all the rubble away?
All I can say is, right now, it’s snowing outside here, and I can hear that blissful sound of scraping snowplows. Happy New Year!
Has your area been hit by severe weather? What has the response been by your local officials?
