A Mighty Wind

Well, a huge windstorm hit us here last night (Thursday). Apparantly it's the second largest storm to hit the Pacific Northwest in history. And let me tell you, it was bad. Not Katrina bad, not nearly Katrina bad, but bad. The wind started up around 9-10pm, felt nasty almost immediately with gusts around 50-60+ mph in our area. We have several trees around our house because our backyard is a large greenbelt. There's no real yard to speak of, just miles of trees. So, we hunkered (is that a word? hunkered?) downstairs since that room is partially built into the ground, and hoped that if a tree were to hit our house, we'd have the best chance there of avoiding having our heads crushed like a Kids in the Hall sketch gone horribly tragic.

We lost our power around 11pm, so we just sat downstairs, lit candles, listened to the radio, and tried to do things to distract ourselves from what was happening outside. We tried to sleep, but that just wasn't gonna happen. We heard trees crackle and fall around us on a regular basis for the entire night. Some farthur away, some quite close. It was a very long, tense night, and we did lose a tree in our front yard, but that was all the real damage we incured. Considering how it sounded all night, we consider ourselves lucky. Definitely got off better then other people in the area.

There were nearly a million people in the area without power immediately after the storm. They predict it could be out several days for some, so, in preperation, Scott and a friend went to the store to pick up some dry foods, flashlights and firelogs so we'd be ready. But then of course, a couple hours after that somewhat spendy trip, the power comes back on. Not that i'm complaining, it's just we could have left that stuff for someone else who might need it. We were powerless for around 21 hours or so total, not terrible, but long enough to spoil food in the fridge. We were one of the first grids back up, so many people are still out. Hopefully they'll get their power back soon before it gets too cold. Anyway, here's some pics of the aftermath..

A before pic of the tree that fell..

And after..

Ripped right from the ground..

A large tree that fell behind the house next door..

Another neighbors fence..