The Big Storm

[cavdad45]

How did everyone do with that last storm? It mostly missed us, that is the winds, but we had a lot of localized flooding and traffic was a nightmare. Only lost power for about ten minutes on Monday. I am really feeling for the folks on the coast who are still without power, phone, cable, even gasoline. Not to mention all the people evacuated from their towns because of the massive flooding.

[Marc Martyn]

Spokane squeaked by with only some wind up to 43 mph, about 1"+ rain and no major problems. Some of the area creeks are high, but no major flooding. I am surprised that we didn't get hit harder as big as the storm was.

[bassackwards]

We were all "dressed up" here in the North, but the "dance" never happened. Many of the crews that were staged up here had to drive AAAALLLL the way around (through Yakima) to get to the hardest hit areas in the South. The media really hyped this one up as "The Big One", but thankfully it missed us up here. My prayers go out to the people who lost their homes and are still displaced.

Our last calculations down South clocked the winds at 97 mph (that's when the power to the meter got cut off)...we've had reports of winds up to 129 mph on the coast....HOLLY CRAP....steel building structures are only rated at 120 mph.

Fires in California, and a drought...and we're getting floods...I think the Russians are at it again

Glad to hear you all dogged it on this round.

[Toni]

It seems that it hit away from my area. I didn't even lose power. The Puyallup and Carbon raised but they didn't hit flood stage.

[iPodrodder]

We were all "dressed up" here in the North, but the "dance" never happened. Many of the crews that were staged up here had to drive AAAALLLL the way around (through Yakima) to get to the hardest hit areas in the South. The media really hyped this one up as "The Big One", but thankfully it missed us up here. My prayers go out to the people who lost their homes and are still displaced.

Our last calculations down South clocked the winds at 97 mph (that's when the power to the meter got cut off)...we've had reports of winds up to 129 mph on the coast....HOLLY CRAP....steel building structures are only rated at 120 mph.

Fires in California, and a drought...and we're getting floods...I think the Russians are at it again

Glad to hear you all dogged it on this round.

129 mph! Wow. I don't think that even last year's Dec. 11 epic windstorm got that high. Our power flickered for just long enough that we had to reset our clocks and restart our other electronics. I thought it was just because of the snow making some weight on trees and power lines.

Drought in California? How about that drought in the Southeast? They have sprinker bans, restaurant restrictions on drinking water, and tons of other repercussions of this dry year. To top it off, Lake Lanier, the main reservoir for most of the South's water, is critically dry, they need some rains soon or they're in deep trouble.

[The Quadfather]

In regards to the storm.... I know I mentioned in another forum post that my Minn Kota was submerged in water.
I just can't believe how we got it here at the house in Seattle.. I mean this is supposed to be Urbia.. all the bad stuff happends out in the country, right?? On Monday morning I woke up to find about 10 inches of water in my basement. This is about an 800 sq. ft. area. So that is actually quite a bit of water. It's the concrete slab and concret foundation walls are about 4ft. high. We use the area to store stuff. Fortunately 90% of what was there was stuff that wasn't to hurt by water, of course the Minn Kota was there along with my new Titelists clubs.
10 inches in the morning...... due to some issues I'd rather not go into... I had to go to work against my choice. When I got home I now had 3 ft. of standing water! There was patio furniture and crap floating everwhere. I literaly could have done the breast stroke in the basement.
Turns out that my furnace, AC, and hot water heater all were under water (the furnace 90% covered)
Insurance doesn't cover this sort of thing unless you have an actuall flood policy, i.e. the folks that live like in river flood plains. Not the folks like me who live right in the middle of Seattle. So a new gas furnace is around 4K, give or take.
I can't even begin to get going on a furnace until I have a new sump pump in place so that it doesn't happen all over again. There is an existing sump pump, but it became clogged I think.

So it's no heat, or hot water. Of course I realize that all you have to do is turn on the TV and see people who have lost much more, but it sure has been a crummy couple of days. If you have any of these type of hazard system protection things within your property, i.e. alarms, pumps, whatever you want to call it.... it's a good reminder to check periodicaly that all is working. I had checked mine this summe, but I think that it failed due to becoming clogged. Oh well.

[iPodrodder]

That's terrible man! Sorry. We live on a little rise on top of a plateau so we weren't badly hit by rain. I was mad because the snow melted though.

[2000subaru]

Quad- Tough break man. As a firefighter we had to go and see many homes that were wet and flooded. I thought that was bad enough, then we had a 3 alarm fire at a McDonalds that afternoon. So I know where you are coming from when you say that you got off better than many did. My family's thoughts go out to those who lost anything in the storm.

[Gringo Pescador]

My basement was bone dry Monday morning - Monday night there was about 10 gallons in the basement. no real damage, just accellerated unpacking the last 10 boxes we had stashed down there since we moved in last April and had to empty my office, pull the carpet up, borrow the neighbors fans, etc..

Quad - I don't know what I could do, but pm me if there is something way I can help. Neighbors have to stick together...

[beresford13861]

i hope everyone that had problems are all ok!

its no joke all this strange stuff going on !!!

we get winds 80-90 everyother month it sucks!

[SPARKY101]

This is wal-mart chehalis, and also a pic in adna raging river

[leahcim_dahc]

...

My squadron just spent the past week on State orders supporting relief efforts. My troop was in Centralia and Chehalis, while others were scattered about elsewhere. I didn't get to see any of the other places, but Centralia and Chehalis were just a mess. The water is receding but there is still a large amount there.

I was not impressed by how the WSDOT operated to get things going again, in particular repairing and reopening I-5...but it got done. The biggest issue I saw and heard about was poor communication amongst organizations and arguing back and forth between the WSDOT and the State Patrol about who was in charge and how they were going to do things. Stories I got, down at Exit 68, State troopers and WSDOT personnel were all but fist fighting over how they were going to open I-5, and how they were going to start letting traffic back trough. At my location, I spoke with a State trooper who told me one thing, while WSDOT told me another. It's not like it is a big deal, but kinda puts us who are supporting them between a rock and a hard spot with regards to who's directions to follow. Especially when it boils down to public safety. In the end...I followed my commanders orders, at least to cover my backside. Either way, the freeway opened, and traffic was again zipping through as it always has.

For the most part, the people down their were extremely grateful for the help. Had I stayed any longer than the week I did, I probably would have put on a few pounds. Just about every day we were there, people would stop by the various traffic control points we had set up and gave us food, drinks, etc.. Everything from coffee to cheese burgers, from apple pie to brownies, and just about any other "licky and chewy" you can think of. For the most part, we really appreciated it...but it almost was too much. At my truck, we started giving some of it away to some of the WSDOT workers and others. Most of the residents or people passing through were good natured about having to bypass the area, but once I-5 opened to commercial traffic...some started getting stupid. Only had to yell at a few people, so it wasn't that bad. About got ran over once at Exit 68, twice at Exit 76...which considering the amount of cars and trucks that came by...those numbers weren't too bad. I have come to the conclusion even though you have a humvee parked across lanes, road flares burning all night, road cones, barrels and a sign that is clearly marked "ROAD CLOSED", people will still try to sneak through whenever they can.

It was quite the experience to say the least. I would definitely do it again, if needed.


Chad

[michaelunbewust]

great job on the volunteering chad. going down with a youth group from tri-cities next week-end to help out. man, between the job and guard and family and fishing and and and, you never sleep. thank all your fellow squad members for us all. you guys make this country tick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! here is a pic of me slaying the parking lot perch in kent,wa.ha!

[leahcim_dahc]

Honestly, I thought we would be doing more than we did. I was fully expecting to be filling sandbags, cleaning up mud and trash...or at the very least wading through waist deep water for whatever particular reason. However, that never happened. I guess they really didn't need us for that. We all had a job to do, and whatever that job is, whether it's high speed and "sexy" or not, is irrelevant. We had a job assigned to us, and we completed it. Personally, I felt it to be a waste of time and assets having us standing at TCP's along I-5. The state could have paid a lower wage employee to do that, as I am sure they have more employee's than the fifteen or so I saw driving around in their fancy WSDOT pickups.

I guess I can't really complain, for the most part the real dirty work, getting people out; delivering food and supplies; etc.; etc.; was covered by someone else...or was done at that point. Just waiting on the water to recede so the real clean-up could begin.

If/when you and your youth group get down there to help, especially if you end up doing some clean-up, take plenty of hand sanitizer and carry some rubber gloves. NAPA has some that are quite thick, rather durable and are fairly cheap. IIRC, they were somewhere around $10 for a box of fifty pairs.

It's kind of a crappy time of year to be loosing a home, family member or whatever from these floods. I hope they can get back to some bit of normal living soon. That includes everyone affected by the flood, whether in Kent, Seattle, Gray's Harbor, Chehalis, or Portland.


Chad

[Fish Antics]

In case anyone knows of people who had their property impacted by the flooding in Western Washington. . Habitat for Humanity has loans available at 1% to repair or rebuild. Also people over 65 may qualify separately. Just passing it on as the water receeds and so many are left to clean-up or rebuild.