Surrounded by floodwater, Vernonia residents are getting around town in rafts and finding that supplies, including fresh food, are very limited in the aftermath of the storm that took hold last weekend and streched through Monday night.

City officials told KGW all the grocery stores were closed due to flooding there was no fuel available in town, either.

The local health clinic was also flooded but officials were able to open an emergency clinic and shelter at Cedar Ridge youth facility on Keasey Rd. City water was safe to drink, however, everyone was urged to conserve it.

Rescued by raft

Authorities said as many as 60 people had to be rescued since Monday. Troops with the Oregon Air National Guard used Zodiac inflatable rafts to evacuate stranded residents.

About 100 people were waiting in shelters for water levels to drop.

Oregon National Guard helicopters were able to fly into the area Tuesday morning even though driving there was impossible. They brought some supplies and power generators.

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Floods turn Vernonia into a virtual lake

Vernonia, a timber town with about 2,200 residents, is located about 40 miles east of the coast.

Other towns on the coast were also hit hard by two storms that came in Sunday and Monday.

Red Cross shelters were housing 556 people as of midnight, said spokeswoman Lise Harwin.

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In many areas roads remained closed by downed trees and landslides, communications were spotty at best and power remained out for thousands of residents after back-to-back storm fronts that were among Oregon's worst in recent memory.

More than 10 inches of rain have fallen on some areas of the Coast Range since the storms began.

Most roads connecting the north and central coast to the interior remained closed by flooding and downed trees, but Oregon 6, from Banks to Tillamook, reopened Monday night. Qwest said it had restored 9-1-1 service to the Astoria-Cannon Beach-Seaside areas.

Water from the rising Wilson River ran down the streets of Tillamook Monday afternoon. Oregon's main coastal highway, U.S. 101, was closed in several places.

Most streams, especially those flowing from the Coast Range into the Pacific, were falling, though still above flood stage, meteorologist Tiffani Brown of the National Weather Service said Tuesday.

In some areas swift rivers developed from what normally are just streams.

Evacuation shelters were opened in Vernonia for those displaced by flooding. The shelters could be found at St. Mary's Catholic Church, located at 960 Missouri Street, 7th Day Adventist at 1294 Nehalem Street, Cedar Ridge at 1862 Keasay Road and Lincoln Grade School.

Health officials warned that people should avoid contact with flood waters and consider all water to be contaminated as there is a potential for bacteria to be in the water. Anyone who comes into contact with flood water should wash your hands thoroughly and remove shoes and clothing before entering a home. Children should not be allowed to play in flood water and pets should be washed if they come into contact with water.

A town meeting was scheduled for 3 p.m. at the Washington Elementary School, to help inform the community about all the latest storm recovery details and health precautions.