We hadn't looked at the weather forecast. At midnight I took the dog out and it was calm. An hour later all hell broke loose with the wind and branches hitting the roof and decks and our outdoor furniture flying around like it was made out of paper.
The power went out almost immediately. It had been about two months since the last storm that knocked the power out. The generator which is under our back porch refused to start and I didn't have any starting fluid in the house. We live on a small airport so I had to make my way to the hangar. When I peaked around the corner of the house it felt like I was sticking my head out the window of the car on the freeway. It was an exciting walk with all the limbs and cones coming off the trees and debris flying around. I didn't get hit by anything that weighed very much.
After replacing the spark plug and spritzing the a little starter fluid in the hole, the generator started up. After that I have to switch from gasoline to natural gas, by closing the gasoline valve and then opening the natural gas valve when the engine starts to run rough.
Usually, we just lose power, but this storm took out the power, the internet and the nearby cell towers. The next door neighbor to our south lost a patch of roofing. His house is 3 stories high with a steep pitch on the side that was damaged. He is in his 70s and is not good on ladders. It took me almost as long to set up a couple ladders and tie them off to get to the area as it did to do the repair.
A tall fir from our property fell onto the neighbors' house to the North. Some of the branches poked holes in the roof over their main structure. The trunk of the tree smashed a covered area over their deck and broke their cut their hot tub in half. I spent all day today chain sawing the 3 foot diameter 100 ft. tall downed tree into 18 inch sections that we were able to throw off of their smashed up deck.
We had damage to the house we are moving back to in Tacoma as well. A big branch damaged the roof on one of our dormers.
I mention this storm because it is now making its way across the country, and it is pretty violent and came on very fast here. I hope that it moderates as it travels east. It is a reminder to be prepared for things that are out of the ordinary. We got our power, phones, cell phones, and internet back a couple hours ago and it is very welcome. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to start cleaning up the devastation in our yard.
Glad you are okay but this storm sounds pretty nasty. I know Chicagoland has a wind advisory for tomorrow with something like 50mph winds forecasted for the suburbs just south of the city.
We live on Whidbey Island. Were out the Thursday before Christmas until noon Christmas Eve. Then again last Thursday for about 6 hours. I applaud the great effort of PSE working through all these windstorms!
Sorry about your damage...we have 5 acres of branches down but no major damage.
The electric grid is pretty fragile...
They should be glad they are doing their part to combat global warming.
Overtime bump for the hourly PSE electrical workers. Front line guys will make $5K easy.
Me too. Live on an airport. Saw the flashes if electrical about 1:30. Power out. fired up the generator, even got some internet about 6:00 am then it went off too. apparently Puget Power Decided to kill all power to Covington. Now back up but lots of areas still out. No warning on the storm. Planes started flying in the AM.
Is there weather “Karma” with the winds “protesting” all the wind farms??? /sarc
Guessing there were a lot of blow-downs in the Cascades.