Waves crash on the rocks below the Cape Arago Lighthouse early Sunday afternoon after several days of stormy weather dropped more than 5 inches of rain along the Southern Oregon Coast during the weekend. World Photo by Lou Sennick

LIBBY - "It's a foot lower already," Anthony Atteberry said Sunday afternoon, wearing black rubber boots and carrying a Christmas tree through flood waters to his home on Red Dike Road.

Atteberry's home, like several others on the South Coast, was surrounded by water left from a storm that dropped a record 4.05 inches of rain on the region Saturday. It broke the 1946 record of 2.37 inches of rain for Dec. 13. Including Sunday's smattering of rain, this year's total so far is 57.87 inches - almost an inch lower than normal rainfall for the same time and about 8 inches more than last year, according to the National Weather Service.

Though slogging through water was a hassle, Atteberry said it wasn't as bad as last year. He and his family spent three days in a motel waiting for waters to recede. The water was higher than the tops of his boots, he explained.

The Coquille River flooded, turning valley fields into Winter Lake. Crews cleared debris from the bridge near Sturdivant Park in Coquille Sunday, allowing the river to flow freely again, while Highway 42S, Fishtrap Road and several of the smaller roads in the valley were under water.

The North Fork of the Coquille River crested at 37.14 feet early Sunday morning, more than 2 feet above flood stage. The South Fork crested at 42.61 feet around 5 a.m. Sunday, more than 4 feet above flood stage. Warnings Friday and Saturday indicated extensive damage to houses, farms and roads could be expected, along with moderate erosion along the banks of the North Fork.

The Siuslaw River near Mapleton also reached its flood stage of 18 feet, which, as the National Weather Service warned, could cause minor flooding of low-lying dairy land and some structures along the banks of the river.

As of this morning, a flood warning remained in effect for the Coquille River at Coquille and the warning for the South Fork at Myrtle Point had expired. The Coquille River should fall below flood stage by this evening, forecasters advise.

Sunday morning brought other weather to the coast region: a mix of thunderstorms, some rain, some hail and, very late Sunday night and early this morning, freezing temperatures and frost.

Storm-generated waves pounded the coastline Saturday, and the beaches were busy with storm watchers Sunday. At least one surfer braved the elements Sunday afternoon at Sunset Bay.

"It's a good surf day," Spike Richardson said as he returned to his truck and began putting his surfboard away. Richardson said there were probably some better waves elsewhere but that the moderate waves at Sunset provide some easy fun.

Despite being pelted by heavy rain during the weekend, Pacific Power customers in Coos County was spared the power outages that plagued much of inland Douglas County, according to Joe Litzinger, regional community manager .

While more than 5,500 customers went dark Saturday night in Douglas County - with 3,000 still without power this morning - only "scattered outages" were reported in Coos Bay and none in the southern part of the county, Litzinger said.

"We only had outages to individual homes, at most five to 10 customers at a time," he said. "We didn't have a circuit or substation go out."

It was much the same story in Lakeside and Reedsport, where Douglas Electric Cooperative Inc. reported only a fraction of the outages that put as many as a third of its 9,000 customers in the dark countywide. According to company spokesman Todd Munsey, the few degrees that separated coastal temperatures from those inland forestalled the snow that elsewhere burdened - and snapped - trees and power poles.

"Except for a broken pole Saturday, we didn't have any outages in the Reedsport-Tenmile Lakes area," he said. "If (the problem) were wind," rather than snow, he added, "It would have been just the opposite."

Outages in Douglas County began about 5 p.m. Saturday and most were repaired by 10 p.m. Sunday.

Meanwhile, the swollen creeks did provide for some amusement.

"It's one way we can find the kids' basketballs," Atteberry said, pointing across the road at water-filled ditch, where two basketballs had popped to the surface and were stuck in an eddy near a pasture. "They always pop up."