Oregon Public Broadcasting

Around the state, schools and roads are closed as officials keep a wary eye on rising rivers.

Marion County has been particularly hard-hit.

Rob Manning / OPB

Many streets in and around Turner remained closed Friday.

A spokesman told OPB Friday morning waters are subsiding for now.

But John Vanderzanden said Saturday could bring more trouble.

"Waters are subsiding to some extent on the smaller creeks that have a tendency to go up and down more quickly than the bigger ones like the Willamette do. The rains have subsided for us for the last few hours so we’re seeing some minimal droppage in some other creeks. But it looks as though there’s another front coming in Saturday afternoon. We're not sure how much that's going to drop on us, but it'll probably have some increasing impact again," he said.

Vanderzanden said residents should not take the situation lightly.

Courtesy: Statesman Journal

"They should be thinking seriously about going and visiting somebody for a couple of days until this subsides, especially if the waters are still coming up. People are going to get hurt if they try to ride it out," he said.

In Salem, city emergency spokesman Pat Dodge told OPB there was some relief.

"The Santiam river and local streams and creeks have crested and are falling. Many of the roads that were closed are now open. We had two manufactured home parks that we evacuated yesterday (Thursday), but those residents can return, so people who were evacuated from the manufactured home parks can return there," Dodge said.

The Salem Statesman Journal reports the crest is expected about 4 p.m.

About 35 streets are closed in Salem, including a few major thoroughfares.

The city says high winds are expected in the next storm, on Friday and Saturday. Because the soil is so saturated, that could bring down trees and power lines.

Salem Fire Rescue assisting in the evacuation of Turner residents

We haven’t determined at least I’m not not aware of serious problems based on the Willamette cresting. We think that will happen later today (Friday) or tomorrow morning (Saturday), the Willamette will crest and then start dropping," he said.

Flooding in Turner

Evacuations are under way in Turner in Marion County. Kristian Foden-Vencil reports from just outside of town.

Smaller creeks were receding early Friday but there were flood warnings around the state.

Many schools were closed including the OSU campus in Corvallis.

Amtrak said there were service disruptions on the Cascade route.

Alaska Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights Thursday.

Though smaller creeks are receding, the Willamette is expected to crest later Friday about two feet above flood stage in Salem.

Mt. Bachelor which had closed Thursday was open Friday, but skiers were urged to carpool because parking was limited.

In Albany, rescuers took two people and two dogs by boat Friday morning.

View Oregon Weather in a larger map. Created by Arashi Young.

Related:

Flood watches

Flood warnings

Latest alerts

The AP contributed to this report.