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DPChallenge Forums >> General Discussion >> How did west coasters fare in last night's storm?
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12/15/2006 09:19:52 PM · #1
We had record winds, up to 100mph. Our place was fine but there was a LOT of damage around the area- hundreds of trees down, dock broken loose where the houseboats moor, even trampolines rolling away!

I didn't sleep much. All I could picture was the two HUGE firs in our neighbour's yard and how they would land directly on our two upstairs bedroom. You could hear the big gusts coming with a roar before they hit, then the whole house shuddering while small branches rattled against the roof and walls. When I opened the front door (in the lee of the wind) the noise was deafening. I'm still amazed we didn't have as much as a single broken window.

The other thing we didn't have, though, was power for 12 hours. Imagine, no DPC!!!

Sooo, how about the rest of DPC'ers in the Pacific Northwest? Everyone okay?
12/15/2006 10:12:24 PM · #2
Wowzerz Bee Cee!
We call that a hurricane, only they aren't that cold. Weather can be brutal. Glad you have your DPC back, and not too much severe damage. There are some outstanding ways of looking at things in your portfolio. Calm and about 75F here in the swamp.
12/15/2006 10:35:39 PM · #3
I live in Forks, WA---on the outside edge of Washington's Olympic Peninsula. We had very strong winds and some trees down. Only lost power in town for a couple of hours in the wee hours of this morning (we had more extended outages in late November when we had a pretty wild storm too). I have family in the Puget Sound area---My mother lives right close to the big Bellevue Mall and she has had no power all day, the mall and much of that part of Bellevue are still down, with no word when things will be back on. My aunt lives in West Seattle and has no power. My mother in law lives in Orting, WA and they have no power and a nephew in Auburn, WA has none. These are all areas that do not usually have extended outages, so the damage must be pretty bad. It was not a nice night last night.
12/15/2006 10:53:25 PM · #4
What a mess! A large tree fell and took out the power lines at about 10PM last night. They didn't get it fixed until 4pm today. We had to use our camping coffee pot on the charcoal BBQ to make coffee this morning. Luckily, we had just enough charcoal to make coffee and cook some bacon. :D

My parents live at the coast near Lincoln City and their power is still out. The news is saying that some communities may not get power back until Sunday or even Monday. There are so many power outages that they're bringing in crews from California to help.

12/15/2006 11:03:45 PM · #5
Still no power in Seattle (just south in Federal Way). Nearly 24 hrs now. Just restored cellular coverage (T-Mobile & Verizon - still no Cingular). Thank God for extended laptop batteries & Cellular cards !! :O)

Trees down everywhere - it's like a war zone.
12/15/2006 11:10:52 PM · #6
Our house survived even without losing power. The columbia basin is pretty used to high winds so most power lines are underground. 50,000 homes did lose power in the greater Portland Area. We have a tree or two down in the greenbelt behind our house though.

My parents, who live in Redmond/Woodinville, however did not fare as well. Only 20 yard from their driveway a woman was crushed by a falling tree in her car. She later died at the hospital. My father had come home literally a minute before. He was pulling into the garage when it happened. Quite a close call and very unfortunate for whomever was killed.
12/15/2006 11:17:20 PM · #7
Local Seattle news reports that 1 Million homes still without power:
//www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_121506WABstorm_poweroutagesDS.f148d0b.html

Guess i'm not alone...
12/15/2006 11:33:42 PM · #8
Hurricane Wilma trashed our neighborhood a little over a year ago, and my heart goes out to those of you who have injuries or loss of property. It's a stressful ordeal to recover from a major storm like you just had, and even more so with cold weather involved.
12/16/2006 01:00:12 AM · #9
This was the third storm in a week, but by far the worst! The first two hit the coastal areas harder but this time the wind was from a different direction and MUCH stronger. Yeah, it was a little scary in the wee hours, when all is dark so only the imagination tells you what's going on out there...

eta; apparently hurricane-force winds are classed as those over 118kmph.... ours were up to 158kmph (99mph)

Message edited by author 2006-12-16 01:06:07.
12/16/2006 01:05:41 AM · #10
I live up in Anacortes, WA (70 miles or so N of Seattle) and we had I'd guess 70 MPH+ winds. Lots of trees down, past three onto homes on way into around town today. We are lucky as we only lost power for about 10 mins, others in town are still without power. One friend who lives in the woods lost between 15 and 20 trees, luckily none into his house. From were I sat it was the second largest storm in the 35 years I have lived here.
12/16/2006 01:10:36 AM · #11
Wow that's some stiff wind!!!

I think hurricane category 1 starts at 75MPH sustained (not gusts)

Originally posted by BeeCee:

This was the third storm in a week, but by far the worst! The first two hit the coastal areas harder but this time the wind was from a different direction and MUCH stronger. Yeah, it was a little scary in the wee hours, when all is dark so only the imagination tells you what's going on out there...

eta; apparently hurricane-force winds are classed as those over 118kmph.... ours were up to 158kmph (99mph)
12/16/2006 01:38:42 AM · #12
Originally posted by Ristyz:

Wow that's some stiff wind!!!

I think hurricane category 1 starts at 75MPH sustained (not gusts)



Totally right :) The news said the one weather station (I believe the one at Race Rocks) recorded sustained winds of 78mph and gusts to 99.
12/16/2006 02:04:34 AM · #13
Didn't get a chance to wander in search of shots but took these on the way over to my mom's.

Playground... or at least it's supposed to be! The entire park looked like this.



And this sidestreet was closed, for some strange reason....
12/16/2006 03:37:06 AM · #14
Ay okay in Eugene, OR. We're pretty far inland (50 miles), but we got some nasty gusts here and power flickered a few times. Some of the more rural areas around town lost power though. Lots of the rural highways and backroads were closed due to trees and the wind itself.

My parents who live in the middle of Washington State said they lost power. I'm pretty sure they're back up by now though.

Here's my brief brush with the winds (just to feel cool too):
I was stuck working, but managed to sneak out for lunch/dinner. So much fun! I have a little civic, and I was being blown all over. Rain wasn't even hitting my windshield, but it was pouring! The wind was blowing the rain almost completely horizontal. Not having to use windshield wipers in the pouring rain felt so weird. The poor girl at the Carl's Jr. drive thru was drenched every time she opened her little window even though she was under a complete 10ft+ awning. The howl of the wind was very eery under that thing.
12/17/2006 04:18:25 AM · #15
Well... we finally have power after a VERY long 49 hours (seemed like longer). What an ordeal.

Funny thing is - the lack of power was merely an inconvenience. It was the lack of HEAT that made it tough. We had 3 fireplaces going 7/24, and could only maintain ambient 50 degrees in the house. Brrrrrr.

12/17/2006 03:14:15 PM · #16
bump for the day crowd
12/18/2006 12:39:01 AM · #17
Owww, 49 hours! Apparently the outlying areas are going days and days powerless, but at least most of them expect it and have generators.

Anyone else have any good storm stories to share? :)
12/18/2006 12:41:58 AM · #18
Bee, thank you for the photos. I'm sure that there will be many more posted as everyone gets out to clean up the mess. I have family living in far north Ca, but I don't think they got much of this storm.
12/18/2006 01:59:34 AM · #19
I had to dig my car out of this at whistler:



Then the plow came and buried it again before I moved the car.

Luckily, my anger was subdued by the fact that there was 58cm of fresh powder waiting to be enjoyed on the mountain...

Also, on the drive home on friday, I saw some pretty huge trees down through Stanley Park. Like, 2 feet wide, 200 feet tall kinda trees. Scary.

Message edited by author 2006-12-18 02:03:48.
12/18/2006 08:46:04 PM · #20
Originally posted by option:

I had to dig my car out of this at whistler:



Then the plow came and buried it again before I moved the car.


At least we didn't have to shovel :D
Tho' they did bring out the snowplows to clear the streets of branches and debris...

So, did you ever get the car out?
12/18/2006 09:12:51 PM · #21
My wife's cousin was called in from Utah to help work on getting the power restored a couple days ago. So far he isn't sure if he'll even be back home in time for Christmas.
12/18/2006 09:32:10 PM · #22
Originally posted by BeeCee:

So, did you ever get the car out?


Haha, yeah... I was pretty pissed at first, and almost left to go ride and deal with it in the afternoon, but I had to get back to vancouver that night and I realised that if it happened to get warm and rain in the valley, it would take alot more effort to get it out...

Took me about an hour in total to dig it out (twice)
12/18/2006 11:01:35 PM · #23
Yippeeeeeee, after FOUR days without electricity (also no landline phone, and no cell coverage), we finally have power again!

Thank heavens for our two gas fireplaces that kept us warm.

Plenty of people are STILL without power :-(
12/19/2006 06:29:38 AM · #24
Welcome back, Beetle :D
I wonder how many DPCers are still missing?
12/19/2006 07:17:40 AM · #25
Originally posted by BeeCee:

Welcome back, Beetle :D
I wonder how many DPCers are still missing?


the CNN frontpage says that there are still ~200,000 homes without power, so there's bound to be a few DPC'ers in that bunch (we have a LOT up in this neck-of-the-woods).

ps. welcome back Beetle. :o)
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