Washington Storm

[Greg P]

Checking in from Kirkland, WA. Our neighborhood was hit hard. Lights went out 6 pm on Thursday, just got them back at 6 pm Sunday. At one point 1.5 million in the region were without lights. Some living in east KIng County won't have lights restored until around Thurs. We live in a neighborhood with mature firs. In about 1/2 mile radius, I counted at least 10 homes that had trees fall on them with serious damage. We got off light with an 8 foot branch about 5 inches in diamter that speared the roof leaving an 8 inch hole in it. Our motorhome that we keep in a storage yard had a truck camper that was being stored on it's stand blow over against the motorhome damaging the side with dents, punctures and scratches. Unbelievably another motorhome 38 foot class A was blown right off it's leveling stands collapsing them!

That's the bad news. We did have some fun, however. We have sons and daughters in the area, also without lights that helped with the yard clean up and we all spent the evenings playing board games by candlelight. The cairns are fine and are having fun bounding over the debris as we walk the neighborhood.

Here are some photos.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/phot.../localnews1574/

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/phot...news1576/1.html

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/phot...her1572/12.html

[bradl]

Wild pictures.

Grrr, Seattle Times, though, resizing my browser. No cookie for you, Seattle Times!

[goforette]

Brad you're too funny.... HA! - Those are some wild photos.... some of them just make you cringe....

[Barney's Mom]

As a person who lives in Tornado Alley, I am all too familiar with this type of damage, but it amazes me that all this was generated by a wind storm and not a twister! It wasn't a tornado or a hurricane, but did the equivalent of damage. That must have been quite a thing to experience. I am saddened to see all the homes destroyed. Our town has been hit with 3 tornados since I've been married, one of which laid a 40 foot pine tree neatly down our 70 foot driveway, completely missing our house! We spent all day with chain saws clearing it away, but I was so thankful that it didn't damage our property.

Our prayers are with everyone out there in the aftermath.

Mary

Barney's Mom

[Eliz222]

I'm glad everyone is ok and that you only had minor damage to your home.

Playing games by candlelight sounds like fun!

[Greg P]

I heard a report on the radio today that the Humane Society has already been able to reunite some pets with thier owners because they were micro-chipped.

Also, many of the big hotels, who have a no-dog policy took in dogs with their owners who were looking for lodging. The downtown Seattle Sheraton took in over 20 dogs on Saturday.

[goforette]

That's awsome news that hotels are willing to bend their rules to accomodate all family members - I'd never leave mine behind even if that meant I slept in the car with them! HA!

[maggie]

I'm sorry for the property damage some of you have experienced. I am glad you all seem to be physically safe! GregP I'm glad you were able to have fun in midst of your damage!

[mrskti]

wholly crap! I knew there were storms out there, but geeeesh! I better watch the news more often. That is terrible. Now i wonder how many chain saw accidents there will be?

[bradl]

There have been disturbing numbers of carbon monoxide poisonings from people operating generators and grills (!) inside their houses. Yikes.

Cairn-related: we looked out the backyard last night to see four electric company workers and two power company truck spotlights shining on the power pole. They clomped around for an hour, restringing the power line to my neighbors house. Fortunately the dogs happened to be in their crates for dinner. When they left, both gates were left open. Thank heavens they came while we were home so we knew to check the gates before letting the dogs out!

I don't blame them though. I have no doubt they've been working endless hours - and the work has to be dangerous as all get-out. Imagine being dog-tired, hanging by a belt way up in the air, tangled up in a bunch of wires that could kill you. No stress there. Cheers to those crews.

[Toby23]

Hugs to you all, glad everone is making it ok ! Give all the pups ear scratches for me !

[Darcy's Mom]

I was watching the national news, I think Friday evening, and they had some footage I believe from Washington state or maybe Oregon coast. Anyway, the winds were so high they were blowing the caps from the high waves around onto land and it looked like it was snowing. A older guy was being interviewed and he said he had never seen that before.

I'm so relieved everyone is okay. Living in Alabama, we get tornados, the remnants of hurricanes and all kinds of crazy weather. Was this a first for Washington and Oregon? Just curious.

[kcsdogs]

Glad to hear you are all well and got off with little damage. Those pictures are amazing!!! I felt really bad for the guy who had ten trees hit his home . I guess we over here in Eastern Oregon had some pretty good wind too but not nearly what they had on the West side. I went to the park with one of the dogs on Saturday and there were 10 and 12 foot branches of trees sticking straight up out of frozen solid ground, must have been pretty strong wind to do that. I hope all who are without power over there will have a Merry Christmas regardless

[kayharley]

What was that saying....Don't fool with Mother Nature?

It seems lately even the electrical storms that blow through have gotten more intense and damaging.

Glad you're all safe...

Brad, I have a sign on my gate that reads "Dogs in yard, please close gate" but like you mentioned, exhaustion can make even the most diligent worker(and absent-minded teenager) forgetful....

[toomanypaws]

Wow, pictures always make news a realty.

As far as my gates, I keep them locked from the inside and do the unlocking for workers if need be. I can't imagine my gate being left open. I know Abbey and Hannah would stick around, but Kiara would be history.

[Greg P]

This morning we're down to about 250,000 without power. Sadly overnight, another family of 4, along with their pets died of CO poisening using their generator in the garage. A family of 6, using charcoal indoors was discovered in time, and will make it. Experts are calling his the worst CO poisening epidemic in the history of the US.

We get a blow like this about every 10-15 years. Years past however, most of the trees would just fall in the woods. Now we have houses in those woods, so every time a big blow comes through, it has a bigger impact on people.

This is a good reminder for everyone to use good common sense regarding CO safety. Remember our little ones, being close to the floor, are the most at risk.

[bubba]

The last one like this I can remember was the inaugural day storm in the early 90's....that was awful. One of my sisters had a newborn baby and they lived way out in the boontoolies and ended up sleeping at my mothers on the floor. Another sister and her family had no power and they ended up sleeping on our floor for three days. What an experience that was!

It's supposed to get windy again tonight, but it doesn't sound as bad as the storm last week. I think they said up to 30mph winds w/gusts to 50mph. Hopefully, all will be well.

pat.