ROCKAWAY BEACH, Ore. — A segment of Highway 101 along the Oregon coast that was closed due to a landslide partially reopened late Wednesday afternoon, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT).
ODOT announced via Twitter early Tuesday morning that a landslide had closed the stretch of the coastal highway in both directions at milepost 47 to the north of Rockaway Beach. One was back open by 5:45 p.m. Wednesday.
"Traffic will be flagged through the single lane until repairs are completed, which may take several weeks," ODOT said.
ODOT tweeted a photo Tuesday morning showing a large chunk of muddy and rocky hillside partially collapsed onto the highway.
Traffic was being rerouted using Miami-Foley Road, which connects to 101 via Highway 53 near Nehalem and reconnects in Garibaldi. The route is length-restricted, ODOT said, so longer trucks will need to use alternate routes.
It's unclear when the landslide began. The timestamp for the entry on ODOT's Trip Check website indicated it was posted no later than 6:33 a.m. Tuesday.
An emergency alert from the Neah-Kah-Nie school district at about 7:15 a.m. Tuesday said buses would be running late due to a rock slide on Highway 101 at the Jetty Fishery, which is in the same stretch of highway that ODOT marked as closed, and advised parents to use the Miami-Foley Road route.
Northwest Oregon and Western Washington have seen heavy rainfall on several days over the last two weeks, prompting to the National Weather Service to issue flood watch notices for parts of the states, although as of Tuesday morning there are no flood watch alerts in place for Oregon.
This story will be updated.