Drip, drip, drip. It’s the happy sound of ice melting but it could mean flooding

Ice-covered roads started to melt Saturday in the Tri-Cities under sunny skies.

But slick roads continued to make driving dicey around the region Saturday morning.

A Morrow County sheriff’s deputy was injured just after 1 a.m. Saturday when he hit a patch of ice on Interstate 84 as he was responding to a report of a fight involving about 15 people in Heppner.

Deputy Lance Bose had been heading west toward a rollover crash involving two semi trucks and trailers, when the call about the fight came in.

He turned around and was heading east when his car hit a patch of ice and left the road, rolling several times in an area with dirt, sagebrush and rocks, according to a Morrow County police report.

Emergency responders had to free him from the car. He was breathing and able to talk to responders when he was taken to the Hermiston hospital, according to police reports.

Interstate 84 also was slick east of Hermiston.

It was closed Saturday morning eastbound in several places, including near Pendleton, La Grande and Baker City. A potato truck rolled over near Baker City, leaving the roadway covered with spuds.

The Oregon Department of Transportation warned drivers of difficult-to-see black ice even as the interstate reopened by noon.

In the Tri-Cities side streets were still covered on Saturday morning with a coating of ice from freezing rain.

But temperatures that reached 48 degrees by 2 p.m. under sunny skies in the Tri-Cities were melting snow, ice and icicles.

The warmer weather led to a flood warning through Sunday morning for the Walla Walla River near Touchet.

Walla Walla got so much freezing rain that police were cautioning people to stay home Friday afternoon because of the many tree limbs and some power lines in the streets.

Some 4,815 Pacific Power customers in Walla Walla and 175 customers in Umatilla County had no power Saturday morning. Restoring service was expected to take until Saturday evening.

The Yakima River was rising Saturday, but was predicted to remain many feet below flood stage.

The Tri-Cities should continue to dry out at least until Thursday, when another storm system might bring rain or snow, according to early predictions by the National Weather Service.

Temperatures will be cooler than Saturday in the coming week.

Highs are predicted to drop back to the mid 30s Sunday and then to the low 30s through Wednesday. Lows should be in the 20s through at least Wednesday night.

Sunday should be another mostly sunny day, with clouds increasing through Wednesday. Patchy fog is forecast Monday and Tuesday nights in the Tri-Cities.

The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin contributed.

This story was originally published December 30, 2017 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Drip, drip, drip. It’s the happy sound of ice melting but it could mean flooding."