Elphaba

For those TFPers that got hit by the storm, please check in here on how you're doing.

Snowy, if your folks or uncle are still without electricity they are welcome to stay here. The same is true for any tfp member who needs a place to warm up and a hot meal. PM me, if we can help in any way.

We lost half a day of electricity on Wednesday, and then another 54 hours from Thursday night until this morning. Thanks to the fireplace, grill, and lots of candles we did fine. We lost five old growth fir trees, but thankfully they fell away from the house. The worst of our damage is that the garden shed is under a couple of those old trees. The shed and everything inside is toast, but that's why we have insurance. (Hubby is mourning his golf clubs)

I hope everyone has faired well and that life is getting back to normal.

Pen

Sweetpea

thanks pen.

we lost power for several days, but thankfully we're able to make it to my folks' house who had a generator.

quite the storm, we lost a lot of trees. looked like a warzone!

glad to hear you're alright.

sp

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snowy

My parents got electricity back Saturday night, and are glad for it. Fortunately they have a good fireplace, so it didn't get too bad, though from the sounds of it they were very bored.

They were disappointed though because they didn't get any of their Christmas shopping done like they had intended to, and Dad said it was like living in a void--they had to call me or others with power to find out the news.

I'm glad to hear you're okay, Pen. Things in the country can get pretty hairy when the power goes out, and when you're surrounded by big trees

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Elphaba

I remember the storm damage your folks had last year. I should think they would prefer "boring".

snowy

Oh, for sure! And they learned their lesson this time. As soon as the wind started blowing, everything not plugged into a surge protector was unplugged from the wall

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abaya

I concur on the big tree dangers, but in terms of being "in the country"... hmm. My family lived on 2.5 acres in the middle of nowhere for 20+ years, and every time there was a big storm, we'd lose water and electricity for days... (which, I have to admit, I privately enjoyed at times). BUT, we had this incredible woodstove that heated the entire house, and we always had several cords of wood to keep it going through the winter (it was pretty much our only source of heat, even when there WAS electricity!)... so in the event of a power outage, we never suffered for being too cold. We could also heat water and food on top of it, which was very handy.

Now, my mom is living in a suburban cul-de-sac house with gas heating and such... and thank goodness, she didn't lose that (or the water) when the electricity went a few days ago. But if gas lines got damaged somehow, she'd be stranded without heat and no recourse. So, there's something to be said for living in the boonies and having a functioning woodstove!

Glad y'all are okay, and that we get to see you on SATURDAY!!!

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snowy

Yeah, unfortunately my parents do not have a woodstove, given their house was originally a summerhome that has been added on to in order to become a year-round home. They do have a fireplace, but the flue was having issues and sending some smoke back into the living room last year, and Dad doesn't like having fires in the house anyways. This year they had to risk it, though, because the temperature in the house was getting dangerously low.

But yeah, abaya, I know what you mean about the woodstove--when I lived up on Camano Island as a youngin' it wasn't uncommon for the power to be out for a couple of days when a windstorm hit, and we were really thankful for our woodstove when it did happen. When we finally did rip it out, it was only because the area had built up enough that our power was never out for long.

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DaElf

Yea I lost power for awhile. It sucked really bad and I spent so much money on food since the stores still had power. I kind of like when I lose power. It helps me to appreciate the times that I have it.

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Elphaba

Welcome back, DaElf! I was most grateful for the return of a hot shower.

Fly

i wish i'd seen this thread when we got hit.

glad everyone's made it through.

ready for the next one too i hope?

just glad i had a full can of gas kickin' around here for the generator.....the road was closed for 3 days......woulda been screwed if i didn't have the gas as well as a natural gas fireplace.

we just felt bad for the animals........shelter and all,it was damn cold out.......and the wind was too stupid.

thanks for that mother nature.........




*bitch*




make sure you guys all stock up........we're bound to be hit again.....grab all the neccesities.



........and don't forget the petrol

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Average_Joe

Hey, I just read about the big wind storm. Glad to hear everyone is well.

Does anyone remember the wind storm on Puget Sound in January, 1993. I was living in Seattle at the time, and I have never experienced anything like it! Power was out everywhere. It took me over an hour to get from my workplace in Bellevue (near Microsoft) to my apartment in Kirkland, a mere 5 miles apart. One of the floating bridges actually broke apart (I think). I never saw so many trees snapped in half in my life.

How did this storm compare to the 1993 storm?

Elphaba

Was that the one with the heavy wet snow that broke off the tops of most of the trees? We were without heat for over a week in the old "tin can." It was colder inside than outside so we had to bunk in with someone with a wood burning stove. That was far worse for us than this one.

snowy

Casualty-wise, wind-speed wise, and power-outage wise (length and number of customers), this beats the Inauguration Day storm hands down. This storm now holds the windspeed record out at Sea-Tac. But they learned some important lessons from previous storms that led to the closure of the 520 bridge (because the Inauguration Day storm frayed them almost to the point of collapse) until it could be properly inspected, and the closure of the Tacoma Narrows bridge (the first time it's ever been closed for high winds since they built the existing bridge). A lot of us made it out easy, especially here in Oregon, but there are still people in places without power, namely because some major transmission lines went down during the storm. About 175,000 people are still without power, several days after the storm, and Puget Sound Energy says it may take up until the weekend to get everyone in the area back online.

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Average_Joe

No, there was no snow involved with the storm in 1993. I believe it was the Inauguration Day storm that Snowy eluded to. It was a while ago, but I remember the early morning was uneventful as I drove to work, then all hell broke loose later in the morning. It seemed as if the wind storm just came out of nowhere without warning. It was impressive to see the evergreen trees outside my office window bend over almost horizontally with each wind gust. The wind storm seemed to end rather quickly too, like around noon time. I wonder what it would have felt like being on the observation deck of the space needle at the time.