Oregon Public Broadcasting

Mudslides, downed trees, and standing water made a mess of many roads in northwest Oregon Friday.  Pete Springer reports.

The heavy rain and snow are blamed for a variety of road closures and detours in the northwest part of the state.

Peter Murphy is a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation. 

He says the rain helped destabilize many hillsides that were already saturated from previous storms.

Peter Murphy: “Now it’s given way in different ways, in different places.  In some cases, it’s tree down, in some cases, the wind has knocked power lines down.  In other -- just masses of water.  So across the Northwest part of the state, it’s just been a whole series of conditions and we’re doing out best to ride them out.”

ODOT crews are working to clear landslides on Highway 26 east of Sandy and a slide north of Cloverdale on Highway 101.

Other roads are flooded or blocked by downed trees.

For the lastest updates on road closures and detours, ODOT recommends calling 5-1-1 or going online to tripcheck.com.