Highway conditions have improved in Southern Oregon, especially along I-5 and in the Klamath Basin. However, travel between Klamath Falls and the Rogue Valley remains difficult, as both highway 66 and Dead Indian Memorial Road remain closed.
Interstate 5 is open again at Siskiyou Summit, but driving conditions remain challenging between Redding and Ashland. CalTrans says northbound traffic is being metered on I-5 just north of Redding and a high wind advisory is still in effect between Weed in Siskiyou County and Oregon.
Avenue of the Giants (SR 254) in Humboldt Redwoods State Park is closed due to flooding. Oregon SR 230 was closed from milepost 0 to 23, just east of Prospect due to "treacherous driving conditions," according to ODOT, but had reopened by early Thursday afternoon.
Chris Crabb from the Oregon Department of Transportation said, despite the warning of flood conditions along the Oregon coast, those haven鈥檛 materialized yet.
鈥淲hat we did see at the coast was more related to high winds,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e had a lot of branches coming down, trees coming down, low hanging power lines. That caused a little bit of a problem earlier in the week.鈥�
Crabb encourages travelers to visit , which provides up-to-date road conditions, including closures or chain restrictions.
The electric utility Pacific Power is reporting 949 customers without power in Southern Oregon, almost all of them are in the Klamath Basin. That鈥檚 an improvement over yesterday. But another round of strong winds tonight through Friday afternoon could bring more power outages. The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for coastal areas, Shasta Valley, and areas east of the Cascades. Sustained winds could reach up to 40 mph, with gusts of up to 65 mph.
Total rain accumulation has only been around 2 inches along the Northern California coast, according to meteorologist-in-charge Troy Nicolini at the Eureka Weather Forecast Office. But he said more rain is expected through the week.
鈥淎ll the major rivers are going to rise. We've got a couple in Humboldt County going to significant stages, like the Eel River going to 25 feet, which means Highway 211 will likely be closed at some point this evening,鈥� said Nicolini.
He said that although Thursday鈥檚 wind won鈥檛 be as dramatic as earlier in the week, the risk of damage is greater.
鈥淣ow the ground is wet, trees are wet, and they've been worked by the previous wind event,鈥� said Nicolini.
He cautioned drivers to not be on the road this afternoon and be aware of flooding through Friday.
Emergency managers in Del Norte, Curry, Coos and Douglas Counties all reported heavy rain and scattered instances of downed trees causing temporary road closures or power outages, but no major flooding or reports of damage to buildings.
Heavy rain is expected to continue through Friday night across the region. The Weather Service has upgraded flood watches in Josephine, Curry and Siskiyou counties into flood warnings. It says those areas could receive an additional 3-7 inches of rainfall. Extra caution should be taken around rivers, streams and low-lying areas.