December 19, 2006

No power after massive storm in Seattle Photos 12/14, Photos 12/15, Photos 12/16, Photos 12/17

This storm hit late last Thursday night, and has caused more than it's fair share of damage. The storm initially dropped just under 2 inches of rain in about six hours. After a brief respit, the winds started and carried through the night. Top wind speed in the region was 113 at Mount Rainier. Currently, there are over a quater million people without power. Death tolls are rising now due to carbon-monoxide poisoning from people bringing their barbecues inside to heat their homes. Gas stations are mostly closed, and if they are open, many do not have gas to sell. I was one of the lucky ones with power after only a day or so (and even then it has been spotty). Once the storm had passed, we set out in the evening to try to find some food. Most streetlights and all traffic lights were out, so major intersections were a major problem. But the most eerie thing was the smoke from the hundreds of woodburning fires that hung in the valley. The pungent smell blew through the defroster, and headlights emerged out of the smoke from streets that should have looked familiar but didn't. I felt like I was in a war zone. The surrounding hills and towns were all dark, so ones sense of direction was strangely off. Inside stores, if they had any power, people quickly cleared out flashlights and batteries, water and staple food. People quietly shared their stories and one felt that kinship with total strangers after having endured this major storm. Since I did not have my camera with me all that much, above are some excellent groups of photos from the Seattle Times.

posted by ball point head 18 years ago
  • Sorry 'bout the window resizing with the photos. Geez I hate that. I think the smoke has gotten to me.
  • ball point head, I didn't even know about this, thanks for the post. I hope you and the rest of Seattle will have power and heat again soon!
  • I was really lucky- I didnt lose any power. Seems like everyone else did. . . BUMMER!
  • I heard about this on PopCultureJunkMail, because she lives in Seattle, too. She linked to a story about a prominent audiobook reader who drowned in her own basement, which is just tragic. I'm glad you and yours are ok, ball point head!
  • That was really quite an interesting and impressive collection of photos. Thank you. Some were even a bit on the artistic side, particularly the ones of the vehicles going through the water.
  • I was very lucky. I live in a hard hit area and didn't lose power at all, nor did any of my 100 foot trees fall on my house. I have friends with me right now who have been without power for four days now. My dad and my sister are both still without power as well. It's pretty insane!
  • I also never lost power. But that storm DID cause the basement at work to flood. With sewer water. Which I organized the cleanup of. Fun times.
  • I can now understand the phone calls of concerns from out of state friends and family. I live in Belltown (downtown area) and the lights flickered, but never went out. Aside from a department holiday party in Ballard on Saturday night, I really didn't do anything or go anywhere. I'd seen the news reports, but I had no idea how bad it was until I was at work this morning, and people were telling me about how they just got power back this morning or were still without. At least a dozen co-workers are "camping" in hotels downtown, a few more have been spending their nights at emergency shelters.
  • Portland caught a pretty solid edge of this storm. We had almost half a million people out of power, but most of them not for very long. It was plenty exciting though, with winds up to 50mph and gusts higher. I saw something I'd never seen before, too: a sort of "drip devil" - a whirling little cyclone made of water the wind pulled up off the wet street, maybe five feet tall and a couple across. Blew right threw me at about 40mph. Amazing stuff. /me is a heavy weather fan
  • Poor Seattle! One gets feeling a quiet despair after waiting ages for electricity. We had a hurricane do that to us a few years ago; some were powerless for two weeks. So much frozen food discarded! And such an eerie feeling not to be gleaning information from the internet or even tv. The initial intrigue of card games or reading by dim candlelight soon wears thin.
  • I sympathize with those people. It's shocking how much things suddenly change when your whole island is without power. I can't imagine 5 days of it.
  • Similar problems here in BC.
  • Ms. Helper and I are "camped out" at a friend's house in Lynnwood. Our home street in Kirkland is without power, but only just - the street control lights are on west of us, but east towards Woodinville is just dark. In a strange twist, Comcast came by our house an hooked up a generator to power their cable switch on the utility pole in our front yard. At 3pm today, the Woodinville downtown area was just getting power back. An employee of Top Foods suggested they would open at 4pm, but that for now customers really wouldn't want to go in. (Given the scent in our refrigerator, I can just imagine an entire store...) Red Robin had power but wasn't open, Cost Plus decided to close at 3pm, and the movie theater looked like it had power but without customers. Target's parking lot was full to overflowing. PS - Bettas don't survive the cold nearly as well as goldfish do. Birds, neither - luckily we were able to take them with us.
  • Good grief I had no idea. Take care Seattle and BC peoples!
  • Sorry about your fish, HamburgerHelper. It has gotten dang cold o' nights here but I didn't think about all the aquariums that have suffered until just now. :( As for that drip devil, fractalid, that sounds cool!
  • Be safe.
  • Man. One of my friends was supposed to be moving to Seattle on the 18th. Hope his apartment has some power when he gets there. I have a house that is wired for emergency power. Generator and all that. Haven't had to use it. Wonder sometimes why such a thing isn't more common, especially in areas where not having power could potentially be dangerous due to cold, heat, etc.
  • First - Thanks for the concerns from fellow Monkeys. Nice community we have going here. Second - I had no idea there were so many Seattle Monkeys! Wow. I live out near Sammamish, so the photos from that area are very close. There really is no place on the East side that is without trees. I drove by the house we sold a few years back as it had a lot of trees around, including a 30 foot Willow. Alas, the Willow went down, I think from the initial rain that saturated the ground, and then the wind that gave it a push. When living there, I always imagined it heading straight for the house, or at least taking the fence with it if the root ball were pulled up. Neither happened. It fell gracefully northbound, and I was surprised to see just how small the roots were. I snapped a branch from the very top of the tree as it lay on the ground as a reminder of how smart I was to get out of that house. Best wishes to all Seattle Monkeys that your power will be on soon.
  • Monkeyfilter: Sorry about your fish, HamburgerHelper.
  • ball point head, I think what you meant to say was: MEETUP!