Will the wild weather yield for the weekend? Check our local weather coverage.
In case you missed it, here are some of the top stories of the week:
A tornado tore through Battle Ground at about 11:20 a.m., sending emergency personnel to downed power lines and damage to buildings, trees and fences, according to Clark County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Fred Neiman. No injuries have been reported yet, he said.
Multiple power lines were down near Southeast Fourth Street and Southeast Grace Avenue, Clark County Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Dawdy said.
Crews responded to heavy damage, the brunt of which was felt in the area surrounding South Parkway Avenue and Southwest Scotton Way, Neiman said, though crews were still taking stock.
Read more about damage from the tornado.
WOODLAND — Mounds of dirt, a few trees and several boulders — one as big as a car — slid onto Interstate 5 just north of Woodland on Wednesday, shutting down the northbound lanes of the busy freeway until Thursday morning at the earliest.
The slide occurred shortly after 3 p.m. Wednesday a couple of hundred yards north of the onramp from Dike Access Road. No injuries were reported.
Washington State Department of Transportation spokeswoman Tamara Greenwell said crews from the department were clearing a ditch in the area to fight flooding when they heard rumbling.
“They got out of the way, and shortly after, the slide occurred,” she said.
Learn more about the landslide.
Heavy rainfall Monday caused localized flooding, spin-out crashes and a landslide that damaged a condominium complex north of Hazel Dell, displacing about 10 residents.
Almost 2 inches of rain fell at Pearson Airfield from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
Read about the damage and flooding.
The Vancouver Fire Marshal’s office shut down a downtown hip-hop nightclub Friday night because C-Tran’s construction on a bus rapid transit center is blocking access to the business’s rear exit, making the building unsafe for occupancy.
“Our No. 1 concern is for fire and life safety,” said Fire Marshal Heidi Scarpelli. “In the history of the U.S., some of our largest-loss fires have been due to exiting problems. … This is a very serious concern to the fire department. Exiting is a crucial function of any nightclub.”
Last month, C-Tran officials informed Q Nightclub and Lounge owner Adrian Kallimanis and Wayne Magnoni, owner of the club’s building at 704 Main St., that they had been using C-Tran’s property for garbage access and a fire access without permission. They were given 30 days to find an alternate fire exit and garbage access, Jeff Hamm, C-Tran’s executive director/CEO, stated in a Nov. 2 letter. C-Tran would not be able to grant them an easement or any permission to continue using the property in the future, he wrote.
Learn more about the club’s closure.
The Cowlitz Indian Tribe has secured financing from the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority for construction of a $550 million casino-resort on its 152-acre reservation near La Center.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority, an instrument of the Connecticut-based Mohegan Tribe of Indians, announced Monday it had closed the deal with the Cowlitz Trial Gaming Authority, an entity owned by the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.
Learn more about the casino funding.
CAMAS — Now is a lucrative time to be in the firearms business. In just the past 10 weeks, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office has issued more than 1,400 new concealed-carry permits. According to background check data, 2015 is on track to set a new record in gun sales.
But at SafeFire Indoor Shooting Range & Retail, which opened Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting, owner Danna Olson is aiming for more than selling guns.
Read more about the new place to go and shoot.
They all said it wouldn’t work. A brewery in the tiny Columbia River Gorge community of Carson? Please.
Yet, just three years after opening, Backwoods Brewing is expanding its production at a new facility at the nearby Port of Skamania.
“We’re excited — we’re a family-owned business,” brewmaster Kevin Waters said. “We’re really excited to add jobs. We’ve got 30 to 35 employees right now, and at the very minimum, at least four more jobs are on the way.”
Learn more about the Carson brewery.
