PORTLAND, Ore. — When snow, ice, winds and below-freezing temperatures hit the Portland area in January, Multnomah County responded with its largest-ever severe weather emergency response: opening a dozen warming shelters that hosted over 1,300 people overnight at the height of the event.
But that triumph for the county was quickly undermined by what came next. Relying on a forecast for warming temperatures, the county shut those shelters down. But below-freezing temperatures lingered for the next several days, as most of Multnomah County's homeless residents were sent back out to camp on streets still covered in snow and ice.
Now, months later, Multnomah County has released an after-action report detailing the entire event and identifying areas for improvement.
A deadly storm
As temperatures started to plummet on Friday, Jan. 12, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson declared a state of emergency for the county. Temps reached 21 degrees as snow blew in, fueled by strong winds, over the next day. By Sunday, temperatures near the gorge had dropped to roughly 10 degrees, and freezing rain helped make the frozen snow into a solid sheet of ice throughout the county over the next several days.
Between the ice and the winds, downed trees and power lines caused widespread outages. At its peak, Portland General Electric reported having 165,000 customers without power, while PacifiCorp tallied another 46,000 at their height.
"In other words, from January 13, approximately 633,000 people, or nearly 80% of the county’s population were without power (throughout the storm)," the county after-action report noted.
Some families were without power for nearly a week straight as below-freezing temperatures continued. Things got especially dire out in Corbett, where frozen valves also left at least 260 households without water. The Corbett Fire Department responded to several warming-related fires at homes or outbuildings, and some of the community's fire hydrants weren't working.
There were multiple casualties related to the storm. Multnomah County reported four deaths believed to be caused by hypothermia in just the first few days — all of them before the warming shelters closed.
The Multnomah County report also mentioned that one person died of "currently unknown causes" after being taken from a shelter in an ambulance on Jan. 20.
Downed trees or power lines caused another four deaths. In one case, a tree fell on an RV parked in Southeast Portland, taking down live power lines and sparking a fire that killed one and injured another. Power lines also fell on a young family as they tried to get into their car; killing a father, a pregnant mother and her 15-year-old brother. Only their 9-month-old baby was saved when a courageous neighbor rushed and carried the child to safety.
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The county's post-mortem
After the bitter cold of that week receded and the Portland metro area started to recover, Vega Pederson asked county officials to hammer out a review of the event, identifying what the county did right or wrong. While it's not an unbiased, third-party review, it does make note of some obvious shortcomings.
After acknowledging the unprecedented response shouldered by the county during the storm, the report pointed to the county's system for gathering shelter volunteers and its metrics for closing shelters as in need of improvement.
On the positive side, Multnomah County's peak of 1,300 people sheltered was a 19% increase over the previous record. The county filled 3,500 volunteer shifts, double the prior record, with a total of 1,200 people — a 50% increase over the prior record.
Nearly half of the shelter volunteers were Multnomah County staff, while only 7.9% were from the city of Portland. The rest were primarily a combination of nonprofit workers, Oregon state employees and members of the general public. In terms of shifts, county staff shouldered even more of the burden — 56.6%.
That ended up being one of the report's takeaways: The county needs to negotiate more support from partners like the city of Portland when a severe weather event happens.
Because the county had so many shelter locations open at the height of the storm, that also spread volunteers extremely thin. As a result, the report recommended that Multnomah County use fewer locations with more capacity next time, maximizing the number of people served per volunteer.
Another problem was that the county did not have a full reservoir of volunteers to call upon when it needed. While the county did eventually put out a call to the general public for help, it was too little, too late — particularly when each volunteer required training before being cleared to work a shift. The report recommended that the county put out the word and train more volunteers year-round so that it has a roster to call upon when severe weather hits.
Finally, the report drove home that the county needs to be prepared for weather forecasts to change and act accordingly, making sure staff are available to stay on duty if the severe weather sticks around. The report did not directly address county metrics for making decisions on whether to open or close shelters, which hinge on forecasted temperatures.
"The County must plan for contingencies beyond past events, as well as be nimble to respond to emerging situational challenges during each activation," the after-action report concluded, in part. "In order to better serve our communities, the County will provide more training, better utilize existing skill sets, and clarify expectations for staff. The improved relationships built through the planning process will result in strengthened relationships and procedures to sustain the use of County infrastructure, facilities, and utilities."
According to a spokesperson for Multnomah County, some of these recommendations have already been put into action. During a much milder winter storm in February, the county planned for the worst and had staffing and supplies geared up for the occasion.
Since the report also recommended that shelters be staffed with security, Multnomah County said that it has already implemented that as well. Finally, they've had discussions with the city of Portland about working together more effectively during severe weather events.