Battening down for the worst wind storm ever.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Wish us luck.
We’re expecting the strongest wind storm since the inauguration day wind storm in 1993.

Ok, I admit, I don’t know if there have been worse ones, but 6 people died in that one.

Hubby is working until tomorrow morning, and may have to stay over if things are bad.

We rarely have power outages, but we did yesterday for 8 hours. I’m ready if it happens tonight.
I have gathered up 6 flashlights, my “headlight” and my book light.
I have instructions on how to light the gas fireplace, which I probably won’t do because it scares me.

I’m frying a bunch of chicken so we’ll have something to eat. (Hubby’s greatest concern… :rolleyes: )

Today is trash day, but I’m not taking the cans down, I think they’ll be safer, full and in the covered area.

On the news, they suggested, if there are tall trees south of one’s bedroom, sleeping elsewhere. We have two 80 year old dogwood trees, one north and one east, but the neighbor has four 100 year old cedars in the southwest corner of their yard. They might be a threat, but not to our bedroom.

I think I’ll be fine, I’m worried a little about the other Dopers that live in western Washington and Oregon.

There’s a Seahawks game this afternoon. The wind is supposed to arrive just about in the middle of the game. That might be a mess, so the football fans outside the area can watch the [del]carnage[/del] storm.

2

It’s already hitting here in Bend, OR. We’re getting hammered- it’s actually hard to walk at times, and garbage cans are flying all over the place. Driving was pretty interesting, as well.

3

Lightnin’, stay in doors, if you can. It’s raining here, but we don’t expect the wind until about 5:00 PM.

I probably won’t post again today. I’m going to shut the computers down and go read a book until I can’t.

4

Heh. I’m at work in Redmond, but I live on Vashon Island. Hopefully the storm won’t really hit until I’m home…

5

I’m waiting too. I live on South Hill in the Puyallup area.

I’m at work right now, and it is eerily calm outside. Unfortunately, I don’t get to go straight home from work. I have a meeting with my daughter and her class advisor at 5:00 pm. After that, I need to pick up a gift for a gift exchange. I’m hoping against all hope that the storm holds off until I’m home.

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I wish everyone in Oregon and Washington the best. A few weeks ago we had 50 mph winds in my little valley - a tree blew over right in front of my house. That was scary enough as it is. Good luck - and batten down the hatches. :wink:

~Tasha

7

You might want to check about the class advisor. The news mentioned many afternoon school activities are cancelled. Some schools are closed for tomorrow.

Ok, now I’m really shutting down.

8

I talked with my Dad this afternoon, and he still hasn’t cleared the trees that have come down so far. They folks live up in skagit Valley, about an hour and a half North of Seattle.

You guys stay inside and stay away from windows.

Hope everything ends well.

9

I look forward (not!) to one of the local television stations covering this eventual storm. They are so over dramatic that the need to change their slogan — “Where the News comes first!” to “All Hype. All Panic. All the Time!”

10

My Mom lives in Bellevue, and we’ve got a cabin in the San Juans. Hope everything makes it through OK. They’re both surrounded by huge trees, and I love those trees as much as the houses. :frowning:

11

Heavy winds started here (Clark County/So. Wa.) in the past hour, had a couple of power hiccups a few minutes ago, kicked me offline. Got my flashlight, portable radio and candles ready.
Those climbers on Mt. Hood picked a lousy time for their assault, it’s going to be several days before search teams can resume. Wind at the summit are forecast at 80 to 100 mph.

12

It’s supposed to hit us overnight (Vancouver Island). Reminds me that I should put up a couple thermoses of hot water in case there’s no power in the AM.
I’ve got power bars and juice and a Brita of fresh water for munching but hoping being close to downtown means if the power goes out it won’t be out too long. We tend to go down if too much of the grid weakens.

What a crazy fall it’s been.

13

120 km/h winds expected after midnight tonight here in Vancouver from this system. It’s already been pretty darned rainy and windy, but overnight it’s going to be insane.

I dug out my travel clock, in case we lose power and my computer and clock radio both fail to rouse me for my quotidian servitude.

14

I left a massage earlier today for my friend who is living in my house. Haven’t heard from him. The house has stood for 72 years, so I’m hoping it’s sturdy enough to survive the winds. As for power outages, I bought a 3kw jenny after the last storm; so my friend will have some power.

15

You can leave those remotely now? Sweet!

16

Just talked to my friend. It’s calm in Birch Bay right now. He was about to head up to the roof to see if there’s any debris in a ‘valley’ that’s causing a leak in the doorway to my bedroom. He says that people on Vancouver Island aren’t getting a break. He says their power gets knocked out, the crews get it back on, and then another storm comes in.

He also says that there may be a repeat of the Big Snow of a couple of weeks ago. He says the current storm is a Pineapple Express, but the temperature is expected to drop next week that may cause more heavy snow.

He’s a believer in global warming, and he says this wacky weather is confirming it for him.

17

Holy cow this is crazy weather. Thanks, picunurse, I hadn’t heard much of anything about it today, except from the guy at 7 Eleven on my lunch break, but I laughed at him, thinking he was just making conversation. I walked out of there, still laughing, and got a mouthful of rain mighty quick. I was running down Market Street with my skirt hitched up over my knees, running as fast as I could to get the hell out. No one was laughing - they were doing similar things. The wind, the rain - it just opened up and dumped. And blew. And blew.

My umbrella is toast. I guess that makes me a true Seattlite, now that it’s gone. :smiley:

My manager called me and told me to finish closing up and go home, don’t worry about the rest of the stuff, we’d take care of it in the morning. The whole building felt like it was shaking, and that’s pretty bad, since we’re part of a long, large building housing several businesses. The lights flickered a LOT, but we haven’t lost power yet. Yet. No flickering here yet, either, but I’m going to dig out some candles and flashlights.

The Hawks are doing okay in the rain - that’s where they shine - just had a good return… we can still win. We’re in our element!

Stay safe, everyone. Tell P. to stay full, picunurse. :stuck_out_tongue:

18

Oh yeah, location-wise, I’m in the Ballard/Crown Hill area. It’s a-blowin’.

19

I’m a little to the east of Capitol Hill. I waited till the 520 bridge traffic cleared out before heading home from the Eastside, so I just got back. Interesting commute–there were no real waves to speak of on the lake, but the wind is kind of gusty. The road through the Arboretum was blocked by standing water; I’m guessing it was in the neighborhood of a foot and a half deep. Had to go up 23rd Ave (the road that goes over the Montlake Bridge). A bunch of buses were stopped in Montlake, presumably due to downed power lines. At one point, there was a miniature mudslide that blocked one lane heading south. A little farther on, the south lanes of 23rd were blocked off entirely by the police. There are a lot of deep puddles everywhere even though it isn’t raining at the moment. Arrived home to find my clocks blinking, though I don’t know how long power was out (even as I type this, my lights keep dimming). I reckon there are some people in Madison Valley who are hating life right about now.

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Stay safe all and batten down those hatches.