If you are trying to telephone the BHM office, we have no long distance phones. Please be patient if you’re attempting to call in and order books or gift subscriptions for Christmas. We’re hoping to get the phones restored soon. It’s the result of the big storm just passed.

Talk about the calm after the storm! Gold Beach is very still and foggy today, with a big tree on top of the home of Luis Lopez, my son Jake’s high school cross-country coach who lives near the BHM office. Luis has moved into a motel. The storm also blew the big sign off the roof of Ray’s Market across the highway from the BHM office.

Even the 911 emergency phone lines were disrupted by the storm, as were the phones of the Coast Guard station out of Brookings. Both are still out, but officials set up alternate emergency lines. The Coast Guard could not respond to at-sea emergencies by boat today, due to waves of 24 to 26 feet breaking across the entrance to the Port of Brookings. Their limit is 20-foot waves, and today the waves across the entrance (the bar) are expected to increase in size to 25-27 feet.

The mouth of Pistol River is clogged with downed trees that have floated downriver, and the tide is so high that there is no beach visible. What a storm it was! Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski declared a state of emergency.

Try telephoning us a little later today, and the gals at the office will tell you all about it.