NW Storm Check-in

[Miniv]

Hi! We're back! Power came on late last night.......Thank God for our small woodstove.

We had a huge Spruce tree topple infront of our house night before last and pull down the electric and phone lines to our house -- transformer exploded too. Poor Brianna was standing at the livingroom window when it happened and it scared the dickens out of her!

Everything went black, and I heard this little voice calling out, "Momma! Momma! Where are you?......there are sparks and I think the telephone pole fell over!" (It was the tree.)

Because we were an isolated incident on our road, it took twice as long to get an electrician AND the power company coordinated via cell phone. Unfortunately our water is pumped into the house with electricity so we had to go out to our irrigation water holding pool and bring buckets in to flush toilets. We used bottled water to drink and make coffee with.......Coffee was made in our camp perculator set on top of the wood stove. Flashlights and a dozen candles were the method of light........And the three of us slept bundled together with a couple of dogs and at least one of the cats. (I moved our two birds into the living room to keep them warm.....as the house got down to 55 degrees both nights.)

Once Brianna's fear of the sparking transformer was over, all of a sudden she considered the whole thing as an adventure!

All things considered, we were extremely lucky. The 40 foot Spruce fell in such a way that it missed the house AND the fencing. Plus, Larry estimates we have about a cord of wood for next winter out of it.

MA

 

[Shari]

Am glad you and your family are OK MA!

We saw a lot of transformers popping all over the hills too. Rather impressive!

 

[Shortpig]

Shari

This is Marie here in Scappoose, I have several blankets up to I believe 50" is you know what size I would

be quite willing to loan you a blanket for Ella or whoever else you might have that needs one. I don't think

we have even begun to see the cold weather this winter. I have nice warm dry barns for my horses so

they can live without their blankets. Besides I have many extras.

Let me know and then we can figure out how to get you one.

 

[Shari]

Shortpig that is very sweet to offer. But I do have lots of blankets for the horses & Ella.

Hubby and son did get the twisted horse shed cleaned up this morning..so the safety issue from that is no more.

Am pricing out sheds right now...so will see what I can do.

I hope the rest of the winter is mellow!!!!!

:

 

[Loren&Rocky]

Well, I am just fine. But then again, I am in Palm Springs CA!! :lol:

I hear my horses are wet though. :no:

 

[Valerie]

Hi all! I am happy to report after 2 days without power & phones, heat, etc, we now have power & all back up & running. We noticed when the power came back on the thermostat read 46 degrees inside the house, it was unbelievably cold inside and outside for that matter.

We lost one large part of a big pine tree, it looks like a tree that grew & forked 3 ways at the top & the larges section came down across the driveway, but luckily not near enough to the house to do damage & it went the correct direction rather than through the fence into the pasture.

All the animals are all fine, the cat started shivering inside today, so hubby & she wrapped up in a blanket and she seems quite happy again.

I understand there are still several hundred thousand people without power but it sounds like the power companies are doing their best to get everyone up & running again. I did hear it could be anywhere from 4 to 10 days for some folks, I just am so thankful ours came back up tonight.

Anyway, wanted to check in & let all know we are fine & no major damage to home or barn or animals!!

Hope everyone else is safe!

Valerie

 

[MooreAcres]

Just checking in...

Our power was out for two days. Because we are on well water, that means we go without that as well. Luckily I had topped off the horse and dog water buckets just prior to the power failure so they were good to go. We had trees down everywhere and of course they took down plently of power lines along with them. We survived though, even though is was mightly cold in this old house last night. Had to burro under about 5 blankets just to stay warm enough to sleep good.

Horses are holding up fine. Tango comes into the barn at night, but not to get away from the weather, its more from the bossy mares (hehehe). Chip stays out in his field and munches his hay and beetpulp/grain mix under his 8x8 shelter. The two girls (Rosa and Squaw) do the same in their field. Everyone seems happy, a little wet some mornings but no worse for the wear.

Glad to hear from the rest of you though. Stay safe and warm!

Erin and gang

 

[susanne]

Keith and I just returned from helping clear storm damage at my mom and sister's place...we barely made a dent.

It looks as if a tornado blew through. My father built the place in the 1950s and I grew up there. I remember the Columbus Day Storm in the 1960s, and we had nowhere near the damage that this storm caused.

Three large fir trees were uprooted, one of which knocked their garden shed off its foundation and sent a garden cart flying into the neighbors' yard. The resulting holes in the ground are deep enough for my sister to keep her large dog, Rhodie, within sight at all times.

A monster cottonwood out by the road fell against the house, wiping out 3 birches and a 50-year-old weeping willow. My sister, not one for hyperbole, said that the birches died to save the house, which may just be true. As it is, it only took out a corner of their roof and a first floor overhang.

Keith and my brother Larry set about with chain saws, cutting anything small enough for them to tackle, which only included smaller branches, but at least they cleared the way for a tree service to get in and get the cottonwood out. A huge branch hung high overhead, suspended from the last standing birch...rather scary. Carla cut limbs with her D saw, and I attacked what seemed like a million thin willow branches with the loppers...then raked and hauled and built piles for the chipper.

My poor sister spent this past summer planting planting shrubs to bolster their green privacy wall and shut out the huge development that has gone in across the street from their once-isolated property. It will take decades to recover from what came down in one good blow.

But...

Nobody was hurt. Terribly shaken, but uninjured. The downed trees, especially the willow, were old friends that shaped the personality of my chldhood, but a good sized woods remains, and everyone will adjustMy sister's side garden will become a sunny bed rather than a shade garden. One of my brothers once commented that my father built that house like a tank, and that appears to be true.

 

[Miniv]

Susanne,

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who compared this storm to the Columbus Day Storm........ Should I DARE ask how old you were???

: (It was the day before my 6th birthday) But I remember it!

We were in the Portland west hills and it took 10 days before we got our power back on.

I realize that the linemen for the electric companies AND the phone company are getting major overtime for working, but I just want to mention how amazing our guys were -- getting us back up. They had been on the job for *36* HOURS and said they still had 8 more calls to make! (It took them about an hour and a half to get our transformer replaced and everything re-connected!) It was amazing to watch them.......at night, one scaling the electrical pole, another in the cherry-picker, and a third guy crawling around on our roof. God bless 'em......

I remember back in 1966, after 10 days in the dark.....when the lights finally came on we all applauded. And last night......it had only been two days, when those lights came on -- we hooted and clapped too!

MA

 

[Shari]

Am just so glad everyone came out of this ok!!

I was lucky I only had the power out for 22 hours. Hear you about being cold....we have Electric and when that is out.

:

That is great Susanne that you and Keith helped your family out! Sorry about the Willow tree....always wanted on of those.

So has everyone checked in?

 

[Valerie]

Has anyone heard from the Crabby Chickens? They are South of us and I am sure the wind hit them pretty hard as well.

I know my Dad has a really, really big car port and it's closed on both sides (most of the way) and he said the wind moved the building over, it had hurricane straps on it and the wind snapped the straps & moved the building over & hit his camper & broke 3 out of 4 campers jacks. He said he had filled his propane for the camper incase he needed to move out & sleep in it, thank goodness he didn't.

Dad is down in Salem Oregon so it sounds like they got it pretty good too, except the lucky guy, he didn't lose power.

I know this was the scariest wind storm I have been through, our poor dog Molly tried climbing through the screen door to get in the house & that was before the storm even started brewing, she obviously knew something was up. I woke up around Midnight hearing big limbs hitting the house, thank goodness none of them came through windows. Our yards look like a warzone with branches all over, now that the power is back up, I think today will be spent cleaning up.

The funniest thing out of all of this is, we didn't lose a single strand of x-mas lights that we had hung on the house & the wreath we hung up on the outside of the house stayed put also. Amazing.

I would second what MiniV said about the power crews, they are doing an amazing job, I know on the phone message it said they were working around the clock to get everyone up & running as soon as they can.

 

[susanne]

MA,

I was 4-1/2, so it's one of my first real memories (prior to the Beatles!) All of us kids went to stay with my aunt in Portland, as we generally did on Friday nights, so we weren't surrounded by the woods, but I can still see the row of poplars by her apartment bending to the ground, and being told that if I went outside, I'd be blown away. I also remember coming home and looking up to see the chuck of our roof that was torn off.

I don't remember my mother's place being affected at all by the storm of 1995.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I think we're still missing ClickMini and a couple of others. Come on guys, how are you?

Leia

 

[jayne]

I thought of someone else who hasn't checked in: ClickMini (Amy) in Monroe, WA.

I don't think they got it too bad there, but it would be nice if we would hear from her too!

Jayne

(edited to add: oops! I should have read the message above mine first!) Either way, we're thinking of you and hope you're OK!

 

[nootka]

I spoke with Kim (Crabby Chicken) on the phone a few times since the storm. I believe they have power, but the damage in their outlying areas has been significant. Horses and people are just fine, though Falcon found a way to have a little adventure in the recent days!

Anyway, we're still w/out power. Crews are working their way towards our house, but the Trees, Inc. crews have to precede them to get the trees out of their ways. I am so glad to see the power crews and if I had the means, would be making SURE they had all the hot coffee and cookies they could handle. *LOL* (dang, can't run my stove on my generator).

It was COLD last night and I am getting to where a hot bath in a heated room is something I would beg, borrow or kill for! *LOL*

They say there are still about 3,000 people in our county w/out power, and we will probably be some of the last few hundred to complete repairs to since we are at the very end of a supply line.

Sure get a feel for what it was like "back when" living this way. I have lots of offers to move out and in w/friends for a few days but I can't leave my horses and the kitties for more than a day or so, not and be able to relax.

I sure hope we hear from everyone else, soon....!

Liz

 

[ClickMini]

Hi everyone, thanks for thinking of me. Another to worry about is Stacy Score of Mountain Meadows...haven't heard from her yet.

We do not have any big damage to our home as some others have so am very thankful for that. Our power is still out. I am at my parent's house tonight, so borrowing a connection.

No power, no water, no word on how long it will be but it will be long. The lines in our area are very badly damaged and also power poles. We have run out of our emergency water stash so that is a huge concern.

We have no heat in our house. We were suggested that we should relocate, but that is not really an option for us with all of the animals.

I brought 4 water tubs in my truck to my parent's house tonight, so we filled those and hopefully won't spill too much out on my way home, or we will have to go to another plan...what I don't know. Everything is freezing over also...this is such a headache.

But we are all safe and sound and for that I am so grateful. There are many in worse shape.

Tomorrow I will be clearing out our two refrigerator/freezers and making a run to the dump with all of the spoiled food. What a bummer.

Anyway, we are all safe and sound, and so glad to hear about the rest of our NW friends. Let's think good thoughts for Stacy, she is up in a very wooded area. We were hit VERY hard through our area, you can't even begin to imagine the damage.

 

[Crabby-Chicken]

Yes we are here and very lucky. Our power went out a couple times the night of the storm and I was TERRIFIED my horses were going to be crushed. But we didn't lose any big trees. I can't see why we didn't. It was an amazing storm. And when I was driving to work in the dark the next day, it was darn terrifying driving over lines all over and trees being held up by other trees or power lines. NOT something I would like to do again. Anyone want to come and take a few huge trees home with them???? I am NOT loving them anymore.

Hope everyone gets power soon.

 

[Miniv]

Amy, It may be my imagination but I think Stacy posted early on and said she was okay........?

Do you realize just how lucky ALL of us were??? With all the damage, injuries, and those that perished from this storm -- ALL of us just had relatively minor damage and inconveniences. I do believe we had Guardian (Horsey?) Angels watching over us.

:

Tonight our area is supposed to drop to a low temp of ONE DEGREE. (It's 9 pm right now and 15 degrees). I am giving thanks that we got our power back on in time for this.......to keep our water trough heaters going.

MA

 

[nootka]

Yes, we were indeed very lucky. Even being w/out power for five days (and it has been COLD), we were fortunate to have the resources to buy a generator, and keep our refrigerator running, also to run the tv during the evenings, and firewood for the woodstove, and to be able to stay in our house during this.

So many people were injured and I have heard of several deaths.

A tree just missed my barn, and after I saw it, I had such a sick feeling of what I would be doing if it had NOT missed, but also relieved that it did.

I don't know that many of us that live in the trees realize that you can have someone come out and assess the health on the trees and make recommendations to help manage them before things like this happen.

Trees are beautiful and I love having them around, but they can be deadly, and even though they "look" ok, they have problems that make them prone to coming down in a windstorm.

I believe an average 40 ft. tree weighs thousands of lb. so something to think about when the weather clears up and before it is a necessity as in having to have it removed from your house, car, or barn...

The damage around here is pretty immense, but so far, everyone we've heard from has been ok, just had a few hard nights and days following.

Liz

 

[hobbyhorse23]

My parents and I spent all afternoon yesterday clearing branches and windfall out of the arena and it was a humbling experience. Bright chunks of freshly broken heartwood littered the ground from where a major limb had exploded from the impact of another high up in the boughs, and two major trees had uprooted themselves and are held up only by a tiny crook of a branch on another tree just outside the fence. They topped a rotten giant on their way down and the sections of trunk now lie in the brambles, explaining three or four of the major booms we heard. Our neighbor and my aunt and uncle are still out of power. We are so grateful for our power and for being spared any damage. We've got a couple of fencelines bent or loose, but that's it.

Amy, do you need us to bring anything? You are least are close enough for me to do something about!

Leia

Oh, forgot to mention: Gas was darn near impossible to find on Friday. All of the stations were completely sold out! I've never seen anything like it in my life. Bellevue Mall actually had to close ten days before Christmas- I can't even imagine the economic damage that did. On the other hand even the mall-phobic went to Lynnwood and Everett just to get a warm meal and pass the time so for them business was booming.