By Dan K. Cummings, City Manager
On the early morning of August 21, 2023, the Ontario, Oregon, area experienced excessive rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Hillary. Planning for emergency operations started on Saturday August 19th, including preparations for potential resources required in a major flooding event. An incident command post has been set up at Ontario City Hall under a unified area command structure, with Chief Clint Benson (Ontario Fire Department) and Chief Michael Iwai (Ontario Police Department) serving as incident commanders for the Hurricane Hillary Rainfall Incident.
Several City of Ontario staff members, department heads, and community members make up the incident command team for this incident. Currently, there are no damage assessments available to report and there have been no reports of injuries or fatalities resulting from this incident. Monday morning, a sandbag filling station was set up on NE 3rd Avenue (see attached map) and remains in place. The hours of operation are Monday August 21st until 10:00 PM, and the sandbag filling station will re-open at 8:00 AM on Tuesday August 22nd and will remain open until noon that day. Command staff will assess the need for the sandbag filling station to remain open at that time.
Sand and sandbags are available at the site, as well as staff and volunteers to help assist or fill bag for the elderly or those who may need assistance in filling the bags.
Community members are needed to assist at the sandbag filling station and should contact Volunteer Coordinator John Breidenbach at 208-739-1640 to sign up to help.
