Rescue crews in Clackamas County had a busy morning Friday as flood waters trapped a man in a park and a family of six in a car — and a fire broke out at a home whose residents had evacuated.
Molalla Fire Chief Vince Stafford said the first emergency call came in around 7:45 a.m., when a man at Wagon Wheel Park became stranded after the waters of the Molalla River jumped their banks. A Clackamas Fire crew in a boat rescued the man,who was clinging to a tree.
Wagon Wheel Park is located in Liberal, a small, unincorporated community north of Molalla.
[READ MORE: Flooding, landslides, high water inundate Portland area roads Friday: See this list of closed routes]
About 15 minutes later, crews responded for a second water rescue, also in Liberal, when two adults and four children in a car became trapped on South Holmes Road, not far from Oregon Route 213 and South Macksburg Road.
Around the same time, an electrical fire broke out in a home in Shady Dell, east of Molalla, Stafford said. Firefighters encountered several feet of flood waters inside the home but quickly extinguished the flames. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
“The water is receding pretty fast, which is a good thing,” Stafford told The Oregonian/OregonLive Friday morning. “Now we can go out and assess and see what people’s needs are.”
In total, evacuation orders were imposed on 300 homes, according to the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
Empty cots were set up at Clackamas Community College on Dec. 19, 2025.Zane Sparling/The Oregonian
Volunteers with the American Red Cross established a 90-bed emergency shelter at the Clackamas Community College campus in Oregon City.
No one showed up late Thursday on Friday morning in need of a place to stay, but volunteers are ready with sandwiches, coffee, hot cocoa, water, snacks, charging stations or plenty of cots if flooding resumes, shelter site supervisor Kim Falk said.
“If their electricity is out, they’re welcome to come here,” said Falk. “Until the [Clackamas County] emergency management says that we can close, our shelters are open.”
