On Monday, Feb. 14, cold air moving west from the Rocky Mountains mixed with precipitation over the Portland Metro area to cause a historic ice storm to wreak havoc on countless homes and vehicles. The accumulation of at least a half-inch of ice on tree limbs led to downed trees and branches, which littered the streets outside the homes of many La Salle students.
Due to the storm, over 730,000 homes in Oregon were without power, with some outages lasting for nearly a week. And according to Governor Kate Brown, residents of Oregon experienced the largest number of power outages ever recorded.