Tag Archives: Portland

Woman survives seven days on radiator water after California crash

Angela Hernandez is found at the bottom of a cliff in Monterey County, California, July 13, 2018, in picture obtained via social media. Picture taken July 13, 2018. Monterey County Sheriff's Office/via REUTER

(Reuters) – An Oregon woman who disappeared a week ago was rescued from the bottom of a California coastal cliff where she survived by drinking water from the radiator of her wrecked sports utility vehicle, authorities said on Saturday.

Angela Hernandez, 23, of Portland was found by a pair of hikers on Friday evening after they saw her wrecked Jeep Patriot SUV partially submerged at the bottom of a 200-foot cliff in the Big Sur area, said Monterey County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Thornburg.

Angela Hernandez is found at the bottom of a cliff in Monterey County, California, July 13, 2018, in picture obtained via social media. Picture taken July 13, 2018. Monterey County Sheriff's Office/via REUTERS

Angela Hernandez is found at the bottom of a cliff in Monterey County, California, July 13, 2018, in picture obtained via social media. Picture taken July 13, 2018. Monterey County Sheriff’s Office/via REUTERS

Her disappearance captured widespread attention after she and her vehicle were last seen on a surveillance camera video at a Carmel gas station on July 6, about 50 miles north of the stretch of

Highway 1 where she was found.

The hikers discovered Hernandez conscious, breathing and with a shoulder injury, Thornburg said.

Rescuers managed to get her up the cliff and to a helicopter which flew her to a nearby hospital. She was in fair and stable condition but appeared to have suffered a concussion during the collision, the California Highway Patrol said in a statement.

Hernandez told investigators she swerved to avoid hitting an animal on Highway 1 on July 6 and plunged over the cliff north of Nacimiento Fergusson Road.

She stayed alive “by drinking water from the radiator of her vehicle,” according to the Highway Patrol.

“It’s usually the fall that gets them, or the ocean that gets them, and she was lucky to survive both,” said Thornburg.

Angela Hernandez is found at the bottom of a cliff in Monterey County, California, July 13, 2018, in picture obtained via social media. Picture taken July 13, 2018. Monterey County Sheriff's Office/via REUTERS

Angela Hernandez is found at the bottom of a cliff in Monterey County, California, July 13, 2018, in picture obtained via social media. Picture taken July 13, 2018. Monterey County Sheriff’s Office/via REUTERS

Hernandez was on a road trip from her home in Portland to visit her sister Isabel in Lancaster, Los Angeles County, when she crashed.

“My sister survived 7 days alone 200ft down a cliff on HW1,” her sister Isabel Hernandez said in a Facebook post on Saturday. “This is very traumatic and will be a slow recovery process.”

(Reporting By Andrew Hay; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Thousands Without Power After Deadly Storm Pummels Oregon, Washington

About 30,000 people near Portland, Oregon, were reportedly without power Wednesday morning a deadly rainstorm caused widespread flooding and toppled some utility lines.

The Oregonian newspaper reported the number of outages as of 5 a.m. local time. That number was down to about 6,000 less than two hours later, according to Portland General Electric data.

The outages came after the latest in a line of rainstorms swept through the Pacific Northwest.

The National Weather Service reported that about 6 inches of rain fell on parts of Oregon between 3 p.m. local time on Monday and 6 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The agency reported wind gusts of up to 125 mph at Mount Hood and gusts of at least 60 mph in 12 other locations in Oregon, as well as six in Washington. Those winds reportedly contributed to at least one death.

Authorities told The Oregonian the storm sent a 30-inch-diameter tree crashing through a home early Wednesday morning, pinning a 60-year-old woman in her bed. The woman later died.

In Washington, Puget Sound Energy reported about 73,741 customers lacked power Wednesday morning. There were 329 separate outages reported around Seattle, Olympia and Tacoma.

Winds and power outages weren’t the only thing the storm brought.

The National Weather Service reported at least 36 river gauges in Oregon and Washington were at flood stage, and flood warnings remained in effect for northwest Oregon and southwest Washington. There were multiple media reports of flooded roadways, mudslides and sinkholes.

The Oregon Department of Transportation reported a mudslide closed a portion of U.S. Route 30 near a bridge in Portland and a sinkhole closed state Route 22 in Yamhill County, closer to the Pacific Ocean. The police department of Gresham, a Portland suburb, posted multiple photos on social media that showed a gaping sinkhole opened underneath a road there.

Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services said the heavy rainfalls caused sewage systems to overflow into the Willamette River and Columbia Slough on Monday morning. The bureau is continuing to ask the public to avoid the waters there “because of increased bacteria” presence.

The National Weather Service reported the storm also dropped some snow in higher elevations.

The Weather Channel reported that two more storms are expected to hit the Pacific Northwest. One was forecast to hit the region Wednesday night, while the other was expected this weekend.

The National Weather Service has issued storm and gale warnings off the Oregon and Washington coasts.