- Joined
- Jun 4, 2004
- Messages
- 22,242
- Reaction score
- 19
My comments: There's a pretty BIG power outage and it's pretty dark and there's also a big mess of trees down and the list goes on. The power didn't go out here, but my friends home did get power outage and even my work at 2 sites, the one of the site is not out. It is the worst windstorm since the day on Jan 20th in 1993.
When I was driving to work on Wednesday evening, there was a really bad storm with gusty winds, lightning and VERY heavy rain and I couldn't see anything out there and the storm drains were overwhelmed and it gushed out water from the drains. There was lot of flooding on the streets, too.
This was before the Thursday-Friday's windstorm, which was stronger than the Wednesday one.
There was nearly 100 mph winds at the coast of Oregon, too.
Record winds leave 4 dead, more than 1 million in the dark
Story Published: Dec 14, 2006 at 8:16 AM PST
Story Updated: Dec 15, 2006 at 6:15 PM PST
By Associated Press
Watch the video
SEATTLE (AP) - More than a million people were without power Friday after the worst windstorm in more than a decade tore through western Washington, killing at least four people.
One woman died after being trapped in the flooded basement of her home, while falling trees killed three others.
It was the worst windstorm to hit the state since the Inauguration Day storm on Jan. 20, 1993, which killed five people, destroyed at least 79 homes, and caused about $130 million in damage, said Clifford F. Mass, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor.
Winds gusted to a record 69 mph about 1 a.m. at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old mark of 65 mph set in 1993. Winds were clocked at 90 mph near Westport on the coast.
Power was knocked out at one of the airport's concourses until late Friday morning. Dozens of flights were canceled, including all American Airlines service through the morning hours.
In Seattle, firefighters cut a hole in the floor in an attempt to rescue Kathryn Fleming, 41, from her flooded basement after neighbors heard her screaming. She was pronounced dead after being taken to Harborview Medical Center.
"Somehow, the door shut, and she couldn't open the door because of the water pressure," Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said.
In Grays Harbor County, a 28-year-old man was killed around midnight when the top of a tree snapped off, crashing into his home in the Brookside Trailer Court in McCleary, 18 miles west of Olympia.
The 40-foot section of the tree crushed the man, who has not been identified, while he slept, Chief Ron Pittman of the McCleary Fire Department told The Daily World of Aberdeen.
"The tree came down and flattened everything down to the floor. It just came right down on him," Pittman said.
In Pierce County, Harold J. Fox, 47, of Eatonville, was killed Thursday when a tree fell on his vehicle on State Route 7 near Roy, the Washington State Patrol said, and a woman died and her husband was critically injured when a tree fell on their pickup truck after they stopped because of fallen trees southeast of McKenna.
About 700,000 customers of Puget Sound Energy, the state's largest private utility, were without power early Friday and about three-fourths of the circuits were down in the company's nine-county service area, spokesman Roger Thompson said.
Some people could be without power for as long as three days, said Dorothy Bracken, a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman.
Other outages affected about 171,000 customers in Seattle, 120,000 in the Snohomish County Public Utility District north of the city, 70,000 to 80,000 to the south in Tacoma and 22,000 in the Grays Harbor PUD on the coast.
There was no estimate of how long it would take to restore all service, but Neil Neroutsos of the Snohomish PUD noted that repair crews were busy for more than a week after the 1993 storm.
The hardest hit area was King County, which includes Seattle, where drenching rain accompanied the first wallop as the storm hit Thursday afternoon, slowing commuters to a crawl. The winds picked up again around midnight.
Winds were clocked in the 80s along the Strait of Juan de Fuca leading inland toward Seattle, 74 mph at the Hood Canal floating bridge, which links the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas and 63 mph at the Evergreen Point floating bridge, one of two linking Seattle with the suburbs east of Lake Washington.
Nearly an inch of rain fell in one hour Thursday at the weather service's north Seattle office. The total rainfall of 2.17 inches was a record for the date, breaking the old record of 1.24 inches set in 2002.
At the Green Firs Shopping Center in University Place, just south of Tacoma, people lined up out the door of Starbucks, near a 40-foot fir tree that had blown over in the storm.
Terry Hayes said he first realized his power was out shortly after midnight when the machine he uses to treat his sleep apnea quit working and he couldn't breathe.
The high wind peeled all of the shingles off the roof overhang covering his deck.
"I don't know where it is," hayes said. "All I know is the wind took off the whole covering."
On Mercer Island east of Seattle, Dale Frank's 70-foot-tall fir crashed across the street, narrowly missing his neighbor's house, pulling down power lines and breaking a water line. Frank was using a shovel to unearth the pipe and search for the break so crews would be able to repair it more quickly.
"I assume we're pretty low on the totem pole for getting help out here," Frank said.
Peak Gusts From The Storm
* Vail: 76 mph
* Hood Canal Bridge: 74 mph
* Ocean Shores: 70 mph
* Seattle (Sea-Tac Airport): 69 mph
* Tacoma: 69 mph
* Oak Harbor: 69 mph
* Coupeville: 68 mph
* Port Angeles: 68 mph
* Black Diamond: 68 mph
* Montesano: 68 mph
* Seattle (Alki Beach): 67 mph
* Everett: 66 mph
* 520 Floating Bridge: 63 mph
* Forks: 59 mph
* Seattle (Magnolia): 58 mph
* Hoquiam: 58 mph
* La Conner: 58 mph
* Seattle (Boeing Field): 56 mph
* Burlington: 55 mph
* Bellingham: 55 mph
* Shelton: 53 mph
* Olympia: 53 mph
* Renton: 51 mph
When I was driving to work on Wednesday evening, there was a really bad storm with gusty winds, lightning and VERY heavy rain and I couldn't see anything out there and the storm drains were overwhelmed and it gushed out water from the drains. There was lot of flooding on the streets, too.
This was before the Thursday-Friday's windstorm, which was stronger than the Wednesday one.
There was nearly 100 mph winds at the coast of Oregon, too.
Record winds leave 4 dead, more than 1 million in the dark
Story Published: Dec 14, 2006 at 8:16 AM PST
Story Updated: Dec 15, 2006 at 6:15 PM PST
By Associated Press
Watch the video
SEATTLE (AP) - More than a million people were without power Friday after the worst windstorm in more than a decade tore through western Washington, killing at least four people.
One woman died after being trapped in the flooded basement of her home, while falling trees killed three others.
It was the worst windstorm to hit the state since the Inauguration Day storm on Jan. 20, 1993, which killed five people, destroyed at least 79 homes, and caused about $130 million in damage, said Clifford F. Mass, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor.
Winds gusted to a record 69 mph about 1 a.m. at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old mark of 65 mph set in 1993. Winds were clocked at 90 mph near Westport on the coast.
Power was knocked out at one of the airport's concourses until late Friday morning. Dozens of flights were canceled, including all American Airlines service through the morning hours.
In Seattle, firefighters cut a hole in the floor in an attempt to rescue Kathryn Fleming, 41, from her flooded basement after neighbors heard her screaming. She was pronounced dead after being taken to Harborview Medical Center.
"Somehow, the door shut, and she couldn't open the door because of the water pressure," Fire Department spokeswoman Helen Fitzpatrick said.
In Grays Harbor County, a 28-year-old man was killed around midnight when the top of a tree snapped off, crashing into his home in the Brookside Trailer Court in McCleary, 18 miles west of Olympia.
The 40-foot section of the tree crushed the man, who has not been identified, while he slept, Chief Ron Pittman of the McCleary Fire Department told The Daily World of Aberdeen.
"The tree came down and flattened everything down to the floor. It just came right down on him," Pittman said.
In Pierce County, Harold J. Fox, 47, of Eatonville, was killed Thursday when a tree fell on his vehicle on State Route 7 near Roy, the Washington State Patrol said, and a woman died and her husband was critically injured when a tree fell on their pickup truck after they stopped because of fallen trees southeast of McKenna.
About 700,000 customers of Puget Sound Energy, the state's largest private utility, were without power early Friday and about three-fourths of the circuits were down in the company's nine-county service area, spokesman Roger Thompson said.
Some people could be without power for as long as three days, said Dorothy Bracken, a Puget Sound Energy spokeswoman.
Other outages affected about 171,000 customers in Seattle, 120,000 in the Snohomish County Public Utility District north of the city, 70,000 to 80,000 to the south in Tacoma and 22,000 in the Grays Harbor PUD on the coast.
There was no estimate of how long it would take to restore all service, but Neil Neroutsos of the Snohomish PUD noted that repair crews were busy for more than a week after the 1993 storm.
The hardest hit area was King County, which includes Seattle, where drenching rain accompanied the first wallop as the storm hit Thursday afternoon, slowing commuters to a crawl. The winds picked up again around midnight.
Winds were clocked in the 80s along the Strait of Juan de Fuca leading inland toward Seattle, 74 mph at the Hood Canal floating bridge, which links the Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas and 63 mph at the Evergreen Point floating bridge, one of two linking Seattle with the suburbs east of Lake Washington.
Nearly an inch of rain fell in one hour Thursday at the weather service's north Seattle office. The total rainfall of 2.17 inches was a record for the date, breaking the old record of 1.24 inches set in 2002.
At the Green Firs Shopping Center in University Place, just south of Tacoma, people lined up out the door of Starbucks, near a 40-foot fir tree that had blown over in the storm.
Terry Hayes said he first realized his power was out shortly after midnight when the machine he uses to treat his sleep apnea quit working and he couldn't breathe.
The high wind peeled all of the shingles off the roof overhang covering his deck.
"I don't know where it is," hayes said. "All I know is the wind took off the whole covering."
On Mercer Island east of Seattle, Dale Frank's 70-foot-tall fir crashed across the street, narrowly missing his neighbor's house, pulling down power lines and breaking a water line. Frank was using a shovel to unearth the pipe and search for the break so crews would be able to repair it more quickly.
"I assume we're pretty low on the totem pole for getting help out here," Frank said.
Peak Gusts From The Storm
* Vail: 76 mph
* Hood Canal Bridge: 74 mph
* Ocean Shores: 70 mph
* Seattle (Sea-Tac Airport): 69 mph
* Tacoma: 69 mph
* Oak Harbor: 69 mph
* Coupeville: 68 mph
* Port Angeles: 68 mph
* Black Diamond: 68 mph
* Montesano: 68 mph
* Seattle (Alki Beach): 67 mph
* Everett: 66 mph
* 520 Floating Bridge: 63 mph
* Forks: 59 mph
* Seattle (Magnolia): 58 mph
* Hoquiam: 58 mph
* La Conner: 58 mph
* Seattle (Boeing Field): 56 mph
* Burlington: 55 mph
* Bellingham: 55 mph
* Shelton: 53 mph
* Olympia: 53 mph
* Renton: 51 mph
I am so sorry to hear that.. it's a tradgey. I hope that everyone can get through that safetly.
Nah, wouldn't work anyhow.... 
