The women who had gone missing during the Oregon flood was found deceased on Sunday, Feb. 9, according to a press release issued by the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office.
The 62-year-old woman, Janet Tobkin Conley, was reported missing on Saturday from the Bar M Ranch area, according to the news release. Neighbors recalled being in contact with her the day before on Friday and said that Conley expressed that she wished to stay home. At the time of the contact, floodwaters were rising in the area.
The news release stated that there was a search effort for Conley on Saturday, where several volunteers from the Umatilla County Search and Rescue and rescuers from the Oregon Air National Guard searched for the 63-year-old. Searchers and neighbors in the area found Conley on Sunday morning on the Bar M Ranch property after the flood event, according to the news release. It seemed that she was swept away by rushing water during the flooding.
Dwight Johnson, sergeant of the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office and the incident commander, offered his condolences, saying, “Our sympathies go out to the family and friends of Ms. Conley in this difficult time,” according to the news release.
Oregon Live reported that Conley’s death was the only reported fatality as a result of the flood.
As reported by Fox News, the flood resulted from a combination of heavy snow in the mountain area, heavy rain, and warming temperatures, which sent torrents of floodwater into the city of Pendleton as well as several rural communities. As a result of the flood, several other people had to be rescued from the rising water.
Oregon Live reported that 51 people were rescued from the flood, with 25 of them airlifted to safety as Oregon National Guard troops dispatched their teams to conduct rescue missions during the weekend.
Christopher Ingersoll, a spokesperson for the Joint Information Center Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office, stated that the number of people being rescued slowed down as weather conditions changed.
“With dry weather over the next couple of days in the forecast. We are expecting that to assist with water receding,” Ingersoll said, Oregon Live reported.
A meteorologist at the National Weather Service, Mary Wister, said the weather is improving. They expect no further flooding in the next seven days, at least, as there aren’t any instances that could cause more flooding according to weather reports. Colder temperature and clear skies are anticipated in the upcoming days, and this could slow the ice melting, which would help clear out the flooding, according to Oregon Live.
“For the short term, things are looking good,” Wister said.