Oregon Local Risk Guide
Oregon local risk and household disruption guide.
Which disruptions are realistic where you live in Oregon, which months deserve extra attention, and how your household keeps water, warmth, clean air, and contact when the systems around it pause.
Last reviewed October 2026
By Dan Whelan, founder of New World Survival
Researched from government agencies, university extension services, and other published sources. See our sources
Why this page exists
Oregon's hazards are real, but they are not spread evenly.
A household in Newport plans around a tsunami evacuation walk. A household in Portland plans around ice storms that ride east winds out of the Columbia River Gorge, and around summer heat. A household in Bend or Medford plans around wildfire, smoke, and evacuation levels. A household in Burns or Ontario plans around drought, distance, and winter roads. The state's 2025 hazard mitigation plan tracks twelve natural hazards, and it divides Oregon into eight regions because they behave so differently.
This page helps you sort out which of those hazards apply to your address, when in the year they tend to show up, which agencies will warn you, which household systems tend to fail together, and which preparations cover several hazards at once. It focuses on warning, continuity, and recovery. When you finish, you should know your forecast office, your county alert system, your evacuation level vocabulary, and the first three things worth doing this month.
Related guide
Choosing land or comparing places in Oregon? The main Oregon land and self-reliance guide covers the statewide score, five land-search regions, prior appropriation water law, wells and rainwater, cottage food and right-to-farm rules, growing conditions, the true cost of raw land, insurance budgeting, and a parcel checklist. This Local Risk guide focuses on warning systems, household disruption, continuity, and recovery once you live here.
Start here
Find your county, your forecast office, and your alert system.
Oregon has 36 counties, plus tribal nations that run their own emergency programs. Emergency alerts, evacuation orders, shelters, and burn restrictions are issued locally, so the first job is to know which county you are in, which National Weather Service office forecasts for it, and how your county reaches you. If you live near a county line, enroll with both counties.
Sign up for county alerts
OR-Alert is the statewide doorway to local alert systems. Search by county, city, or ZIP code, then complete your county's sign-up form. Each county runs its own list, so enrollment is not automatic.
OR-Alert sign-upFind your emergency manager
The Oregon Department of Emergency Management keeps a directory of county, city, and tribal emergency managers. Your county office is the source for local evacuation routes, shelters, and hazard plans.
Local and tribal emergency managersLook up your address on a hazard map
DOGAMI's HazVu viewer lets you enter a home, school, or work address and see mapped flood, Cascadia shaking and tsunami, landslide, volcano, coastal erosion, and soft-soil layers. Not every hazard is fully mapped everywhere.
Oregon HazVu geohazards viewerOn the coast: find your tsunami zone
The tsunami evacuation zone viewer linked by the state shows whether your home, workplace, or school sits in a zone and where high ground is. Check every place you spend time, not only home.
Tsunami evacuation zone viewerNWS offices serving Oregon
County assignments are from the National Weather Service zone list. Forecast zones in the mountains do not always follow county lines, so confirm your office by entering your address at weather.gov.
Statewide baseline
Ten preparations that cover several Oregon hazards at once.
Wherever you live in Oregon, these ten preparations reduce disruption from more than one hazard. Each connects to risks described later on this page.
Two or more ways to receive warnings
Enroll in your county system through OR-Alert, keep Wireless Emergency Alerts turned on in your phone settings (they also carry ShakeAlert earthquake alerts in Oregon), and add a battery-powered NOAA Weather Radio. Evacuation orders, tsunami warnings, and boil-water notices can come through different channels, so one channel is not enough.
Two weeks of water and food
Oregon's emergency management agency asks every household to be 2 Weeks Ready, because after a large Cascadia earthquake, help and supply lines may take that long or longer to reach many communities. Its guidance is one gallon of water per person per day, which is 14 gallons per person for two weeks, plus what your pets drink. Build toward it in steps; three days is a fine start.
An earthquake-ready home
Everyone in the household should practice Drop, Cover, and Hold On, with adaptations for anyone who uses a wheelchair, walker, or cane. Secure tall furniture, the water heater, and anything heavy stored up high. Stored water belongs low, where it will not fall.
An evacuation plan that fits Oregon's three levels
Know what Level 1 (Be Ready), Level 2 (Be Set), and Level 3 (Go Now) mean before you hear them. Pick two routes out of your neighborhood, decide where you would go, and keep the vehicle's tank at least half full during fire season and winter storms, since outages can stop gas pumps.
A clean-air room for smoke days
Wildfire smoke reaches far beyond the fires that produce it. Choose one room you can close up, and plan a HEPA air purifier or the state's do-it-yourself box-fan filter for it. Cloth, dust, and surgical masks do not stop smoke particles; properly fitted NIOSH-approved N95 or P100 respirators may help adults.
A cooling plan
Not every Oregon home has working air conditioning, and fans stop helping in extreme heat. Decide now how you would keep one room cool during a multi-day heat event, and where you would go if you could not. In the 2021 heat dome, half of the people who died in Multnomah County had only a fan.
Light, charging, and heat that do not need the grid
Ice storms, windstorms, and wildfire-season power shutoffs can all leave you without electricity for days. Keep battery lanterns, a charged power bank, and a car charger. If you heat only with electricity, plan a safe backup or a place to go. Never run a generator inside the home or garage, or near a window or vent.
Medication continuity and a utility medical certificate
Keep a written medication list and as much reserve as your prescriber and insurer allow. If someone in your home needs electricity for a medical device, register a medical certificate with your utility before an outage. Utilities use the list to reach vulnerable customers ahead of outages and shutoffs. It does not guarantee your power stays on, so plan a backup.
A reunification plan that works without cell service
Earthquakes and fast-moving fires can separate family members at work, school, and on the road. Agree on an out-of-area contact, a meeting place outside your neighborhood, and a second one in case routes are closed. Write the numbers down.
Documents and coverage you can reach
Standard homeowner and renter policies usually do not cover flood or landslide damage, and earthquake coverage is generally a separate rider with a high deductible. Know what you carry, keep copies of policies and identification in a portable container, and store a second copy online or with someone outside the area.
Hazard profile
What can happen, where it matters, and your first decision.
Each row ties a hazard from Oregon's 2025 mitigation plan to the household disruption it tends to cause and the first decision it asks of you. The last column links to the guide with full before, during, and after steps. Rows are grouped, not ranked.
| Hazard | Where it matters | Higher-attention period | Warning character | Likely household disruption | First planning decision | Full guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cascadia and other earthquakes | Strongest shaking on the coast; very strong across the Portland metro and Willamette Valley; felt east of the Cascades. Other active faults are localized statewide. | No season | None in advance. ShakeAlert may give seconds of notice by phone before shaking arrives. | Several minutes of shaking, damaged roads and bridges, broken water and gas lines, long utility and supply interruptions | Could your household manage for two weeks at home without running water or a store? | Earthquake guide → |
| Tsunami | Coast, bays, and tidal rivers, including Columbia and Umpqua estuary communities | No season | Local Cascadia tsunami: the shaking is the warning, with first waves in as little as 10 to 20 minutes. Distant tsunami: hours, with official warnings. | Need to leave on foot immediately; homes, roads, and harbors in the zone damaged; waves can continue for a day or more | From home, work, and school, how long is the walk to high ground outside the zone? | Tsunami guide → |
| Wildfire | Mainly southwest, central, and northeast Oregon, with localized risk statewide, including Cascade foothill canyons and wildland edges near towns | Summer through early fall; wind events can drive fast spread | NWS fire weather watches and red flag warnings flag dangerous days; evacuation levels can change quickly when wind shifts | Evacuation, road closures, power shutoffs, loss of home, smoke | If you received a Level 2 notice tonight, what would you load and which route would you take? | Wildfire guide → |
| Wildfire smoke | Statewide; valleys can hold smoke for days | Summer and early fall, during and after active fires | DEQ air quality advisories and the Air Quality Index; conditions change hour to hour | Closed windows during heat, breathing problems for sensitive people, canceled outdoor work and school activities | Which room becomes your clean-air room, and how will you filter it? | Oregon AQI map → |
| Winter storms and ice | Statewide. Freezing rain is most disruptive in the Portland metro, the Gorge, and the Willamette Valley; snow closes passes and isolates eastern and mountain communities. | December through February | NWS winter storm watches and warnings issued ahead of the storm | Multi-day outages from ice-laden trees and lines, impassable roads, loss of electric heat and well pumps | If the power is out for three days in an ice storm, how does your household stay warm and supplied with water? | Ice storm guide → |
| Floods | Localized statewide: west-side rivers in atmospheric river storms, coastal rivers, eastern rain-on-snow and flash floods, and burn scars | November through February on the west side; spring snowmelt and summer thunderstorms east of the Cascades | River floods: a day or more of forecast lead time. Flash floods and burn-scar debris flows: minutes to hours. | Closed roads, damaged homes, contaminated wells and water systems, displacement | Is your home or either of your usual routes in a mapped flood area? | Flood guide → |
| Landslides and debris flows | Every county; steep western slopes, the Coast Range, the southern coast highway, and recent burn areas | Intense or prolonged rain, mostly in the wet season; also during earthquakes | Little or none for the slide itself; flash flood and debris flow warnings cover some burn areas | Blocked roads and highways, damaged homes on or below slopes, broken utility lines | Is your home on or below a steep slope or a mapped landslide, and do you have a second way out? | Landslide guide → |
| Extreme heat | Statewide; highest consequence in homes without working air conditioning | Late June through September | NWS heat watches, advisories, and warnings issued ahead of the event | Dangerous indoor temperatures, heat illness, strain on people living alone, higher electric demand | Where will each person in the household cool off if the house reaches the 90s for several days? | Extreme heat guide → |
| Windstorms | Statewide; strongest on the coast and exposed ridges, with damaging events reaching the Willamette Valley | Most damaging storms have come between fall and spring | NWS high wind watches and warnings issued ahead of the storm | Falling trees, widespread outages, blocked roads | Which large trees could reach your roof or driveway, and where does the household sleep during a high wind warning? | Power outage guide → |
| Public Safety Power Shutoffs | High fire-risk areas served by utilities that use them | Hot, dry, windy periods in fire season | Utilities work to notify customers directly ahead of a planned shutoff; lines are inspected before power returns | Loss of well pumps, cooling, refrigeration, and powered medical devices during hot weather | Does your utility have your current phone number, and what runs your essentials if power is off for a day or two? | Power outage guide → |
| Drought | Generally east of the Cascades, with localized risk statewide; a low snowpack year can affect most of the state | Builds over seasons; felt most in late summer and fall | Slow onset; snowpack around April 1 is an early signal | Falling well levels, water use limits, longer and harder fire seasons, livestock and garden stress | If your well yield drops in August, what is your backup supply? | Drought guide → |
| Volcanic hazards | Cascade Range and central Oregon; valleys below Mount Hood, including the Sandy River drainage, are in lahar paths | No season | USGS monitors Cascade volcanoes and issues volcano notifications; lahars travel down river valleys. | Evacuation of valley communities, ashfall, road and water system disruption | Is your home or route in a mapped lahar zone, and how would you get to high ground? | Volcano guide → |
| Dam failure | Localized, below high hazard potential dams | No set season | Depends on the dam and the cause; may be short | Sudden downstream flooding and evacuation | Is there a dam upstream of you, and does your county have an inundation map for it? | Dam failure guide → |
Operational risk regions
What you prepare for depends on where in Oregon you live.
These eight regions are the ones Oregon itself uses for hazard mitigation planning, so they line up with the state and county plans you will find in official sources. They are different from the five land-search regions in the main Oregon guide, which are organized around soil, water, and property.
Region 1: Oregon Coast
Clatsop, Tillamook, Lincoln, Coos, and Curry counties
This is where Cascadia shaking would be strongest and where a local tsunami could arrive within minutes. Winter windstorms, coastal erosion, and landslides are routine; slides on the southern coast in Curry County repeatedly affect US 101. State planners expect coastal towns to be cut off from one another after a Cascadia earthquake, which is why two weeks of supplies matters most here. Coos and Curry counties are forecast by the Medford NWS office; the rest by Portland.
Three things to verify locally:
- Whether your home, job, and school are in the tsunami zone, and the walking route out of each
- Your county's alert sign-up and any local tsunami siren or evacuation drill schedule
- Which highways your household depends on, and whether you could stay put if they closed
Region 2: North Willamette Valley and Portland Metro
Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, and Columbia counties
Cold east winds through the Columbia River Gorge set up freezing rain that can halt the metro area, bring down trees and lines, and close I-84. The June 2021 heat dome hit this region hardest. Cascadia shaking here would be very strong, on top of river flooding along the Columbia, Willamette, and their tributaries. Valleys below Mount Hood, especially along the Sandy River, sit in historic lahar paths, and the 2020 wildfires reached Clackamas County.
Three things to verify locally:
- Your backup for heat and water during a three-day ice storm outage
- A cooled room or nearby cooling center for heat events, and who checks on neighbors living alone
- Whether your address is in a mapped flood, landslide, or lahar area on HazVu
Region 3: Mid and Southern Willamette Valley
Marion, Polk, Yamhill, Benton, Linn, and Lane counties
Ice storms are a repeat event: the February 2021 storm brought a federal disaster declaration for Benton, Linn, Marion, Polk, and Yamhill counties, and a December 2016 ice storm hit the Eugene area. Willamette basin flooding follows atmospheric river storms. In the Cascade foothill canyons east of Salem and Eugene, wildfire and evacuation are the defining concerns; Marion, Linn, and Lane counties were all in the 2020 wildfire declaration.
Three things to verify locally:
- If you live up a canyon road, a second way out and your county's evacuation zone name
- Whether a well pump or electric heat leaves you without water or warmth in an outage
- Flood status for any property near the Willamette, Santiam, McKenzie, or Yamhill rivers
Region 4: Southwest Oregon
Jackson, Josephine, and Douglas counties
Wildfire and smoke shape summer here, and the inland valleys see regular summer heat, with past events above 100 degrees. The 2020 wildfire declaration included Jackson, Josephine, and Douglas counties. Winter brings flooding on the Rogue and Umpqua and snow or ice on I-5 over the Siskiyou Pass, which can close the main route south.
Three things to verify locally:
- Your county alert enrollment and your evacuation zone
- A filtered clean-air room you can keep cool at the same time
- Whether your utility uses Public Safety Power Shutoffs in your area, and its notification list
Region 5: Mid-Columbia
Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Morrow, and Umatilla counties
Winter storms in the Gorge can close I-84 for hours at a time. Strong wind, drought, wildfire on grass and rangeland, and summer heat are recurring. Thunderstorms can bring flash floods down steep side canyons. Hood River County is forecast by the Portland NWS office; the other five counties by Pendleton.
Three things to verify locally:
- A winter vehicle kit and a plan for where you would wait out an I-84 closure
- Whether your home or route sits in a canyon bottom prone to flash flooding
- Livestock water and evacuation arrangements for fire season
Region 6: Central Oregon
Deschutes, Crook, Jefferson, Wheeler, Klamath, and Lake counties
This is Oregon's fastest-growing region, and wildfire, smoke, and evacuation are its main summer concerns. Drought hits the Klamath Basin and the high desert hard. Winter storms bring cold and close mountain highways. Volcanic hazards are part of the long-range picture around Newberry and the Three Sisters. Klamath and Lake counties are forecast by Medford; the rest by Pendleton.
Three things to verify locally:
- Your evacuation zone, and whether your subdivision has more than one road out
- Well depth and recent levels, if you rely on a private well
- A winter plan for heat and travel if passes close
Region 7: Northeast Oregon
Union, Wallowa, Baker, and Grant counties
Long distances, mountain valleys, and winter weather define planning here. Heavy rain on snow can flood valleys, as it did in February 2020, when Union and Wallowa counties were included in a federal disaster declaration. Wildfire is a summer concern, and many communities are a long drive from larger towns and their services. Baker County is forecast by the Boise office; the rest by Pendleton.
Three things to verify locally:
- Two weeks of medication and supplies, given travel time to services
- Flood status for property near the Grande Ronde, Wallowa, Powder, or John Day rivers
- Which NWS office covers you, so you watch the right forecasts
Region 8: Southeast Oregon
Harney and Malheur counties
Oregon's least populated planning region, with fewer than 40,000 residents. Drought, rangeland wildfire, summer heat, and hard winter cold are the recurring hazards, and distance is part of every one of them. Flash flooding still happens: a June 2023 storm brought a federal declaration for the Burns Paiute Tribe. Both counties are forecast by the NWS office in Boise, Idaho.
Three things to verify locally:
- Weather alerts from the Boise office, not Portland or Pendleton
- Water reserves for household and animals if a well falters in a dry year
- Fuel, food, and medication margins sized to your distance from town
Seasonal readiness
An Oregon household readiness calendar.
Oregon's weather hazards follow a wet season and a fire season, but none of them is impossible outside its usual window. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic activity have no season at all, so the earthquake tasks belong in every quarter.
| Period | Higher-attention hazards | Household task |
|---|---|---|
| December – February | Ice storms and snow, atmospheric river flooding, landslides, windstorms, pass closures | Keep backup heat, lighting, and water ready. Check TripCheck before mountain or Gorge travel and carry chains where required. Watch slopes and drainage around the house during heavy rain. |
| March – April | Late storms, snowmelt flooding east of the Cascades, early drought signals as snowpack peaks | Read the spring water supply outlook if you rely on a well or irrigation. Rotate stored water. Review insurance renewals, including flood and earthquake decisions. |
| May – June | Fire season preparation; first heat events, which arrived in late June in 2021 | Clear vegetation and debris around the house. Set up and test the clean-air room and cooling plan. Confirm your utility has current contact information for shutoff notices. |
| July – September | Wildfire, smoke, heat, Public Safety Power Shutoffs, drought, east wind events in late summer | Keep the car at least half full and the evacuation bag packed. Check the Air Quality Index daily during smoke events. Check on neighbors who live alone during heat. Follow burn restrictions. |
| October – November | First atmospheric rivers and windstorms; debris flows on recent burn scars | Service heating equipment and clean gutters. If you live below a recent burn, learn the debris flow warning plan. Restock anything used during fire season. Practice Drop, Cover, and Hold On. |
| Any time | Earthquake, tsunami, volcanic unrest, landslides | Work one step at a time toward two weeks of supplies. On the coast, walk your tsunami route with every household member at least once a year. |
Cascading disruptions
How one failure leads to the next.
Oregon's hazards seldom stop at one problem. These five sequences come from the state's own planning documents and recent events. Preparing for the chain, not just the trigger, is what keeps a household functional.
Gorge ice storm chain (Portland metro and Willamette Valley)
Cold east wind through the Gorge under warmer rain → freezing rain coats trees and lines → limbs and lines come down across neighborhoods → multi-day outages → electric heat, well pumps, and refrigeration stop → icy, debris-blocked roads keep households home and slow repair crews.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: A backup heat plan that does not need grid power, stored water, a cold-weather pantry, and a safe charging method. Generators run outdoors only, away from windows and vents.
Fire weather chain (summer and early fall)
Hot, dry, windy forecast → utility de-energizes lines in high fire-risk areas → well pumps, cooling, and medical devices stop → a fire starts and evacuation levels rise → smoke forces windows shut during heat → air purifiers and air conditioning need the power that is off.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: Current contact information with your utility, a utility medical certificate if needed, stored water, a battery or generator plan for one room, and a decision in advance about when you will leave rather than wait for Level 3.
Burn scar chain (the winter after a fire)
Wildfire strips a slope → first heavy rains of fall or winter → debris flows and landslides below the burn → roads close and homes are damaged → drinking water quality drops in affected systems. The state's mitigation plan documents this sequence after the 2020 Labor Day fires.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: If you live below a recent burn, sign up for county alerts, learn the debris flow warning plan, and leave when told, even if your home survived the fire.
Cascadia chain (statewide, worst west of the Cascades)
Several minutes of shaking → local tsunami on the coast within minutes → landslides, bridge and road damage → broken water, sewer, and gas lines; power out over a wide area → coastal and mountain communities cut off into islands → fuel, food, and medical supply delayed for two weeks or more in places.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: Two weeks of water, food, sanitation supplies, and medication; secured furniture and water heater; a reunification plan that does not need phones; on the coast, a practiced walk to high ground.
Snow drought chain (a dry winter becomes a hard summer)
Low snowpack and a warm winter → low streamflow and earlier dry-out → falling groundwater and some dry wells → water use limits and governor drought declarations → longer fire season with more smoke days. In 2015, 25 of Oregon's 36 counties received state drought declarations.
Preparation that reduces the consequence: Know your well's depth and recent level, keep reserve water for people and animals, and report a dry well to the state if it happens, which helps the state track the problem.
Household situations
What changes for your household.
Oregon's hazards land differently depending on how and where you live. Each overlay answers three questions: what changes, what to verify locally, and the first practical improvement.
Renters and apartment residents
What changes: You control less of the building: tree trimming, furniture anchoring on walls, and backup heat may need permission. Oregon law adopted in 2022 generally bars landlords from prohibiting tenants' portable air conditioners or evaporative coolers, with limited exceptions such as building code or electrical capacity, and restrictions must be in writing.
Verify locally: Any written cooling-device rules in your lease, what your renter's policy excludes (usually flood and earthquake), and where stored water can safely sit low.
First improvement: Get renter's insurance and a portable cooling plan for one room before summer. Apartment guide
Manufactured-home residents
What changes: Manufactured homes and RVs used as homes were among the housing types Oregon's post-2021 cooling study identified as most vulnerable to extreme heat. Older units may also lack working air conditioning.
Verify locally: How your home is tied down and supported, your park's evacuation route, and the nearest cooling center.
First improvement: Plan where you will go during multi-day heat and during high wind warnings, and time the trip.
Rural private-well households
What changes: No power means no water, whether the cause is an ice storm, a windstorm, or a planned power shutoff in fire season. A dry year can lower the well itself.
Verify locally: Whether your pump can run safely on a generator or battery system, your well depth and recent water level, and your livestock water needs per day.
First improvement: Store enough water for people and animals to cover several days without the pump. Rural household guide
Older adults and people living alone
What changes: In Multnomah County's review of the 2021 heat deaths, most people who died were older adults, nearly all died at home, and most lived alone. Living alone also makes smoke, outages, and evacuations harder to manage.
Verify locally: Cooling centers near you, through 211info, and whether a neighbor or relative will check in by phone or in person during heat, smoke, and outages.
First improvement: Set up a daily check-in arrangement with at least one person before summer. Guide for households with older adults
Electric-only heat or cooking
What changes: A winter outage takes away heat and cooking together, and west-side ice storms and windstorms are recurring causes of winter outages.
Verify locally: Whether a wood stove or a heater rated for indoor use is allowed in your home, and where the nearest warming center is.
First improvement: Choose one warm room, gather blankets and sleeping bags for it, and decide where you would go if the house gets too cold.
Medically dependent households and people with mobility needs
What changes: Oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines, powered wheelchairs, and refrigerated medicines all depend on electricity. Smoke worsens heart and lung conditions. Oregon's evacuation guidance asks people who need more time to leave at Level 1 or Level 2 rather than wait.
Verify locally: A utility medical certificate on file, battery runtime for each device, and a ride arrangement for evacuation.
First improvement: Register the medical certificate and write down how long each device runs on battery. Medical equipment guide
Pets, service animals, and livestock
What changes: Wildfire evacuations move fast, and trailers take time to hitch and load. Oregon's evacuation guidance suggests moving pets and livestock early, at Level 1.
Verify locally: Where your county shelters or fairgrounds accept animals during evacuations, and who could haul livestock if you are away.
First improvement: Practice loading animals once before fire season. Pet preparedness guide
Warning systems
How warnings reach your household.
Oregon's warning chain runs from federal monitoring through state and county agencies to your phone, radio, and door. Knowing each link helps you notice when one is missing.
Federal detection and forecast
Four NWS offices (Portland, Medford, Pendleton, and Boise) forecast for Oregon. The National Tsunami Warning Center issues tsunami alerts, USGS operates ShakeAlert and monitors Cascade volcanoes through the Cascades Volcano Observatory, and the Northwest River Forecast Center forecasts river levels.
Outlooks, watches, and warnings
An outlook means a hazard may develop in the coming days. A watch means conditions are favorable, so get ready. A warning means the hazard is happening or imminent, so act. Tsunami messages have four tiers: warning, advisory, watch, and information statement.
Evacuation levels
Oregon uses three levels. Level 1, Be Ready: danger in the area, pack and plan, and leave early if you need extra time. Level 2, Be Set: significant danger, be ready to leave at a moment's notice, and leave if you feel unsafe. Level 3, Go Now: leave immediately and do not return until officials say it is safe.
Wireless Emergency Alerts and ShakeAlert
Imminent-threat alerts, including ShakeAlert earthquake alerts since March 2021, reach most phones automatically with no sign-up, as long as emergency alerts are enabled in settings. ShakeAlert can give seconds of notice: enough to Drop, Cover, and Hold On, not enough to drive anywhere.
County alerts through OR-Alert
Evacuation levels, boil-water notices, and road closures usually come from your county. These systems require enrollment. Start at oralert.gov; an Everbridge community profile can connect you to more than one county.
NOAA Weather Radio and local broadcast
A battery-powered weather radio receives NWS warnings without cell or internet service. Test yours at home to confirm it picks up a station that covers your county. Local radio carries county information during long events.
On the coast: the earthquake is the warning
If you are near the coast and feel a strong earthquake, see the ocean suddenly rise or drain, or hear a loud roar from the ocean, Oregon's guidance is to Drop, Cover, and Hold On until shaking stops, then walk inland and up to high ground and stay there. Do not wait for an official warning or a siren.
Roads, air, and power
TripCheck (or 511) shows ODOT road conditions, closures, cameras, and chain requirements. The DEQ Air Quality Index and OregonAIR app show smoke conditions. Your electric utility's outage map and notices cover outages and planned shutoffs.
Prepare, endure, recover
The three phases of household readiness.
Prepare
Actions you can finish before the next season or within the next month.
- Enroll in your county alerts through OR-Alert and confirm emergency alerts are on in every household phone.
- Look up home, work, and school on HazVu, and on the tsunami zone viewer if you are near the coast.
- Start toward 2 Weeks Ready, beginning with water: one gallon per person per day. Our first two weeks guide breaks it into steps.
- Secure the water heater, tall furniture, and heavy items stored up high.
- Set up a clean-air room and a cooling plan before July.
- Update your contact information with your electric utility, and register a medical certificate if anyone depends on powered equipment.
- Decide consciously on flood and earthquake coverage after reading your policy's exclusions.
Endure
Household decisions during the disruption. Official instructions from your county, the NWS, and fire agencies come first. These notes supplement the full protocols in each hazard guide.
- Earthquake: Drop, Cover, and Hold On until the shaking stops. On the coast, walk to high ground as soon as it does, and stay there until officials give the all-clear, since waves can continue for many hours.
- Evacuation notice: At Level 2, leave if you feel unsafe; you do not need another notice. Leave at Level 1 if anyone in the household moves slowly or you have animals to haul.
- Smoke: Stay inside with windows and doors closed, run filtration in the clean-air room, and if it is too hot, run air conditioning on recirculate or move somewhere cooler.
- Heat: Drink more water than usual, even if you are not thirsty, check on people without air conditioning or who spend much of their time alone, and go to a cooling center if your home stays hot.
- Flooding: If water across a road or path is above your ankles, turn around. Six inches of fast-moving water can knock a person down, and many cars can be swept away in less than two feet.
- Outage: Keep refrigerators and freezers closed, use battery lights rather than candles, stay clear of downed lines, and run any generator outside, away from windows, vents, and the garage.
Recover
First steps after the event.
- Return only when officials lift the evacuation level or say the area is safe.
- Photograph damage before cleaning up, and contact your insurer as soon as you safely can.
- If a federal disaster is declared, apply at DisasterAssistance.gov or through the FEMA Helpline at 1-800-621-3362.
- Dial 211 or use 211info for shelter, food, utility assistance, and disaster services.
- After wildfire, the state's recovery site at wildfire.oregon.gov lists cleanup, housing, and drinking water help. If your well was in a burn or flood area, ask your county health department whether to test it before drinking.
- Hire licensed contractors, get written estimates, and do not pay the full amount up front.
Ten-action checklist
Ten high-value actions for Oregon households.
Each action is specific, addresses more than one Oregon hazard, and can be done free or at low cost. Each one is phrased so you know when it is done.
- Every adult in the household is enrolled in county alerts through OR-Alert, and emergency alerts are switched on in every phone. Enroll in both counties if you live or work near a line.
- You have looked up home, work, and school on the HazVu viewer and written down which hazards apply. This turns a statewide list into your own list.
- If any household place is in a tsunami zone, every member has walked the route to high ground at least once. Time the walk; it is your real margin.
- The household has at least three days of water stored, with a written plan to reach two weeks. One gallon per person per day, plus pets.
- The water heater and the tallest furniture are strapped or anchored. Heavy items that tip or fall are a hazard in any strong shaking.
- You can name your evacuation zone, two routes out, and where you would stay. Write them where everyone can see them.
- One room can be sealed and filtered for smoke and kept cool during heat. A HEPA purifier or the state's box-fan filter instructions both work.
- The house has battery lighting, a charged power bank, and a heat plan that does not depend on the grid. Generators, if you use one, stay outdoors.
- Your utility has your current phone number, and a medical certificate is on file if anyone relies on powered equipment. This is how shutoff notices reach you.
- A written contact card names an out-of-area contact and two meeting places. Every family member carries a copy.
Official resources
Oregon state and local resources by task.
Organized by what you need to get done, with a note on what each link lets you do.
Receive warnings and alerts
- OR-Alert: Find and join your county's alert system.
- ShakeAlert in Oregon: How earthquake early warnings reach phones and what to do when one arrives.
- National Weather Service: Enter your address for local forecasts and active warnings.
Check roads and evacuation information
- ODOT TripCheck: Road conditions, closures, cameras, and chain requirements.
- Oregon evacuation levels: What Be Ready, Be Set, and Go Now mean, in several languages.
Check fire, smoke, and burn restrictions
- Oregon Wildfire Response and Recovery: Statewide fire dashboards, evacuation information, and recovery help.
- Oregon Smoke Information: Current smoke advisories and protective steps.
- DEQ Air Quality Index: Station-by-station air quality; also available as the OregonAIR app.
- ODF fire restrictions: Current burn bans and fire season rules on lands ODF protects.
Check earthquake, tsunami, landslide, and volcano hazards
- DOGAMI HazVu: Address lookup for mapped geohazards.
- Tsunami evacuation zone viewer: Zones and routes for coastal communities.
- OEM tsunami preparedness: What to do near the coast before, during, and after.
- USGS Mount Hood: Monitoring status and hazard information for Oregon's highest-threat volcano.
Check rivers, floods, and drought
- Northwest River Forecast Center: River level forecasts for most Oregon basins.
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center: The official flood map for your address.
- OWRD drought page: Current conditions, drought declarations, and a form to report a dry well.
Prepare for outages and power shutoffs
- Oregon PUC power outage preparation: Public Safety Power Shutoffs, utility outage links, and the medical certificate program.
Find county emergency management and preparedness help
- Local and tribal emergency managers: Contacts for every county and many cities and tribes.
- Be 2 Weeks Ready: The state's free step-by-step tool kit, in several languages.
Find shelter, food, housing, or recovery assistance
- 211info: Dial 211 or 866-698-6155 for shelters, cooling centers, food, and utility assistance.
- DisasterAssistance.gov: Apply for federal assistance after a declared disaster.
Review the state hazard mitigation plan
- 2025-30 Oregon Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan: The state's analysis of its twelve natural hazards and eight planning regions, approved by FEMA in October 2025.
What Oregon has learned
The 2021 heat dome: a fan is not a cooling plan.
In late June 2021, a heat dome brought the most intense heat on record to the Pacific Northwest, and Portland reached 116 degrees. Multnomah County's final review counted 72 heat deaths in the county that year, 69 of them from that one week. In a typical year there are none.
The review is specific about who died and where. Nearly all died in their own homes. At least 48 lived alone. Most were older adults. Half had only a fan, and of the few who had air conditioning, most had units that were unplugged or not working. At temperatures in the upper 90s, the report notes, a fan mostly moves hot air.
The decisions that mattered were ordinary ones: whether someone checked on a neighbor, whether a home had one cool room, and whether people went to a cooling center. Afterward, Oregon passed a 2022 law limiting landlords' ability to ban tenants' portable air conditioners, adopted a workplace heat rule, and studied cooling needs in the housing most at risk.
What you can do now: before summer, decide where each person in your household will cool off, and agree on who checks on whom.
Limits and methodology
What this page can and cannot tell you.
Statewide information cannot determine property-level risk. Whether your address floods, sits on a landslide, lies in a tsunami or lahar zone, or has a defensible route out of a fire are property-specific questions. Use the HazVu viewer, the FEMA flood map, and your county planning office.
Historical frequency is not a forecast. Past events show what is possible, not when the next one will come or how large it will be.
Maps and designations change. Flood maps, tsunami zones, and fire-related designations are revised over time, and some have been changed by the legislature. Check the current version before relying on one.
Official instructions during an event come first. During an evacuation, tsunami warning, or other emergency, follow your county, the NWS, and fire and law enforcement agencies over anything on this page.
Methodology and sources
Hazards and regions follow the 2025-30 Oregon Natural Hazards Mitigation Plan (Oregon Department of Emergency Management and Department of Land Conservation and Development, FEMA-approved October 2025), which profiles twelve natural hazards across eight planning regions. Emphasis on this page reflects household consequence and warning time, not a single risk score.
Cascadia probabilities: the state plan estimates the conditional probability of a full-margin Cascadia earthquake at 16 to 22 percent in the next 50 years, and 37 to 43 percent for a partial rupture affecting the southern Oregon coast. Some state webpages cite about 37 percent for a magnitude 7.1 or larger megathrust event; that figure corresponds to the southern partial-rupture estimate. Local tsunami arrival of 10 to 20 minutes and waves continuing for a day or more are from the same plan.
Wildfire figures: the state plan reports that the 2020 Labor Day fires burned more than 1.2 million acres and destroyed more than 5,000 homes and businesses, and that nearly two million acres burned in 2024.
Heat: Multnomah County Health Department, Final Report: Health Impacts from Excessive Heat Events in Multnomah County, Oregon, 2021 (June 2022). Statewide totals differ by source and definition; the state plan reports more than 100 Oregon deaths across the June and August 2021 heat events.
Disaster declarations (DR-4599, February 2021 ice storm; DR-4562, 2020 wildfires; DR-4519, February 2020 flooding; DR-4733, June 2023 Burns Paiute flooding) and the 2015 drought declarations are from the state plan and OWRD. NWS office assignments are from the NWS county zone list (api.weather.gov), checked October 2026.
Protective actions are from Oregon Department of Emergency Management, Oregon DEQ smoke advisories, the Oregon Public Utility Commission, and the state's evacuation level guidance. The renter cooling provision is Oregon Laws 2022, chapter 86 (SB 1536).
External links verified October 2026.
Common questions
Oregon local risk, answered.
Which hazards matter most for Oregon households?
It depends on where you live. Oregon's 2025 hazard mitigation plan tracks twelve natural hazards. Winter storms, windstorms, extreme heat, and wildfire smoke can reach nearly every county. Cascadia earthquake shaking is the defining long-range hazard west of the Cascades, tsunamis are a coastal concern, and wildfire and drought weigh most heavily in southwest, central, and northeast Oregon and east of the Cascades.
How much warning will I get before a Cascadia tsunami?
Very little. The state plan estimates that a local tsunami from a Cascadia earthquake could reach the coast in as little as 10 to 20 minutes. Oregon's guidance is to Drop, Cover, and Hold On until the shaking stops, then walk inland and up to high ground without waiting for an official warning. Tsunamis from distant earthquakes take hours to arrive and come with official warnings.
What is a Public Safety Power Shutoff?
It is a planned outage. During extreme hot, dry, and windy weather, electric utilities may turn off power in high fire-risk areas so their lines do not start a fire. Utilities work to notify customers directly, and after summer wind events they inspect lines before restoring power. Keep your contact information current with your utility, and register a medical certificate if anyone in your home depends on powered medical equipment.
What do Oregon's evacuation levels mean?
Level 1, Be Ready, means there is danger in the area, so pack and plan, and consider leaving early if you need extra time. Level 2, Be Set, means significant danger, so be prepared to leave at a moment's notice and leave if you feel unsafe. Level 3, Go Now, means leave immediately and do not return until officials say the area is safe.
Why does Oregon ask households to be 2 Weeks Ready?
After a large Cascadia earthquake, damaged roads and bridges could leave many communities cut off, and help may take time to arrive. Oregon's Department of Emergency Management asks households to have a plan and enough supplies for everyone to get through at least two weeks. For water, that means one gallon per person per day, or 14 gallons per person, plus water for pets.
Which NWS office forecasts for my part of Oregon?
Portland covers northwest Oregon, including the north and central coast and the Willamette Valley. Medford covers southwest and south-central Oregon. Pendleton covers central and north-central Oregon and the Blue Mountains. Boise, Idaho, covers Baker, Harney, and Malheur counties. Enter your address at weather.gov to confirm.
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The first 72 hours guide walks through the core preparations that matter no matter which Oregon hazard sets them in motion.
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