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A Personal
Narrative – The Windstorm of December 14, 2006
Because of Rufus' warning, I
spent the evening of the storm cooking a 3 day
supply of food that I could eat. I also bought
three bags/blocks of ice earlier in the afternoon on
my lunch break. We had a several day supply of
firewood. As the wind picked up in the evening and
the lights began to flicker, I moved all the food I
thought I would need from the refrigerator into the
cooler (kept outside), put block ice in the
refrigerator (in a large pan to catch the thaw).
The storm itself was the most
intense I've ever experienced. An incredibly loud
pounding wind shook the entire two story house
incessantly. The power went out at 10:00 PM, in the
middle of the storm. It was at its worst in our
area from 11:00 PM to about 2:00 AM. The storm
affected a large portion of the Puget Sound area and
huge swaths were without power for days - some even
a week or more. The Seattle Times had its printing
plant in Bothell and was unable to print at least
one day's news - it bought time somewhere else and
printed the next day or so, however. The power was
out so there were no traffic signals, and an
incredible number of trees and debris made many
roads impassible from Bothell/ Woodinville/
Kirkland/ Redmond/ Bellevue all the way down to
Factoria. The foothills, including Carnation and
Duvall were among the eastern border of the damage.
Some stores, like Bartells (drug store) had
employees stand in the cold with signs indicating
they were open and they escorted customers to the
goods with flashlights. They provided hand-written
receipts, etc. Food from grocery stores was tossed
by the ton. One enterprising grocery store quickly
hired a refrigeration truck for all the meat and
perishable food - running it for several days until
their power came back on.
We have gas heat but an
electric water heater and electric stove. The gas
heat doesn't work without the electric fan. We have
a fireplace in the living room but it was hard to
keep it warm there - until Saturday when it dawned
on me idea to put sheets up between the archways
going to the dining room and the entry hall. By
evening the temperature in the living room was in
the low 60's whereas the rest of the house was about
42-43 degrees. There was a pall of smoke to contend
with, however. In the evenings we read by
candlelight. I always have a large supply of
candles because power outages are common in our area
(but seldom last longer than a couple of days). By
Saturday, the Eastside of Lake Washington was very
smoggy from all the wood smoke. For the first three
days there were no places on the Eastside to get
gasoline for cars or generators. When one or two
stations' pumps came on line, the demand was
tremendous, with long lines forming, that reminded
one of the 70's gas crisis. People had to drive 30
miles or more to get gasoline. Wood was quickly
sold out, too.
What I would do differently?
More prepared food, more ice and more firewood.
A. Haldeman
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