DEPOT LOSES POWER DUE TO WIND STORM

Published: May 24, 2006

By Karen Hutchinson-Talaski
Staff writer

HERMISTON -- Power was lost at the Umatilla Chemical Depot during the powerful wind storm that hit the area Friday afternoon.

Back-up generators provided power to the depot and the Umatilla Chemical Disposal Facility after gusts of up to 86 mph and wind speeds over 55 mph. No injuries were reported and the UMCDF was not processing rockets at the time of the power outage. No chemical weapons were being transported to the facility either.

According to Army spokesperson Jim Hackett, several power poles and power lines went down during the storm, causing the outage. Crews from Umatilla Electric Cooperative were on site, repairing the downed lines and poles.

"They are still working on power lines," Hackett said. "Normally, our power comes from both McNary and Boardman. The Boardman power lines are being fed from McNary."

Hackett said it would be two to five days before the power lines would return to normal on the depot. Damage assessment is being done, however, inspection of the storage igloos show no damage. Lt. Col. Donna Rutten, commander of the depot, says the igloos are built to withstand the wind the area receives.

"The Umatilla Chemical Agent Disposal Facility and the chemical storage structures are designed to withstand such storms," Rutten said. "Safety and security remain our top priority, and chemical storage operations and munitions processing will not be resumed until the necessary criteria for safe operations is met."

Hackett says the UMCDF did lose their back-up generator capability; however power was restored within 45 minutes. UMCDF personnel were masked as a precaution, despite the fact no agent was being processed at the time and monitoring did not indicate agent was present in the facility. UMCDF administrative personnel were evacuated to a pre-determined depot staging area.