Collective Guard response bests Oregon disaster Published Jan. 9, 2008 By Tech. Sgt. Mike R. Smith National Guard Bureau ARLINGTON, Va. -- In the wake of heavy rains, hurricane winds and flooding in early December, Oregon Army and Air National Guard personnel complimented each other, bringing expertise and equipment to bear in their state's recovery efforts. When Pacific Northwest storms flooded towns, knocked out power and covered roadways with trees and mudslides, making them impassable, the governors of Oregon and Washington called up nearly 800 Air and Army National Guard personnel to support recovery efforts. It was bad enough that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, through the President, announced major disaster declarations for multiple counties. When flood waters inundated the small town of Vernonia, about 40 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon Air and Army Guard members used Zodiac boats and specialized trucks to rescue and evacuate several hundred people trapped there Dec. 3. With their boats loaded up on trucks, 24 Guardmembers followed the Oregon Department of Transportation as it cleared a debris-covered roadway leading to the town of about 2,200 residents. "On our way into Vernonia our guys cut through some high water and came upon a vehicle that was stranded between two parts of the road that had been washed out," said Maj. Michael Braibish, an Oregon Guard spokesman. The Guardmembers discovered two families stranded there. "They were just illuminated when they saw the National Guard coming through the dark of night to rescue them," Baribish said. Working from Veronia's emergency operations center, Air Guard members from the 125th Special Tactics Squadron went door-to-door with the Zodiacs while Soldiers with the 141st Brigade Support Battalion drove their large trucks through high water to get to stranded residents. Throughout the night the National Guard rescued more than 350 people and evacuated 200. Power outages were widespread. In all, the Oregon Guard distributed 60 generators. Braibish said that when the AM radio station KAST in Astoria, still broadcasting through the storm, said they might lose power, the Guard responded. Within minutes, a knock at the door brought Guardmembers carrying a generator. "There were a lot of little stories like that," said Braibish. Together, Oregon Citizen-Soldiers and -Airmen also evacuated five teachers and ten kids who were stranded at their high school by fast-flowing water. They transported supplies, potable water and sandbags. At Camp Rilea Military Reservation, on Oregon's Pacific coast, the Guard fed 1,169 people and lodged 74. Along with Army and Air Guard teamwork, Braibish said the Guard units worked with a number of state agencies and had liaisons stationed in the state's emergency operations center. "That includes the department of transportation, the department of health and human services, the Red Cross and communities in five counties to provide support," Braibish said. Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski said that the state's recent disaster exercise, which integrated Guard, federal and civilian responders, helped in the storm response. "Thanks to the practice we received in the TOPOFF 4 exercise, Oregon had a head start in dealing with this disaster," said Kulongoski in a Dec. 5 press release. TOPOFF 4 was a Department of Homeland Security, multi-agency response exercise held earlier this fall in Oregon, Guam and Arizona. During the exercise, the Oregon National Guard stood up its first-ever Joint Task Force. The exercise also joined Guard and civilian agencies in disaster recovery efforts. "It enhanced the mindset that we have had in the state that we can anticipate that there are going to be disasters," Braibish said. "Exercises like TOPOFF help us coordinate and prepare and see things beyond the scope of what we just do."