Archive for December, 2007

Last week saw the arrival of a storm that in most ways was worse than the one in ’96. There were winds over 100 mph over most of the North Coast, from Tillamook to Astoria. Power was knocked out Sunday evening and not restored to most places until Thursday evening. I’ll try and piece together what happened to the family and friends for the week.

My Dad lost power in Nehalem (as did ALL of Nehalem) Sunday evening. Being a 72 year-old Marine, he wasn’t worried about it. It was his first full-time Winter on the Oregon Coast. So far it was just a little rain and a bit colder than he as used to in Tucson. I called him Thursday and asked him if he was ready for the storm and indeed, he said he was. Then the storms marched through on Sunday. I called him Wednesday morning (when the cell sites were back up – finally) and he admitted to being cold and asked if he could stay with us here in St. Helens. He did and he went back to his place Saturday morning. No damage, except his concept of ‘warm and dry’.

All of the homes on Anderson Road lost power Sunday evening, as well. Five to six power poles were blown/knocked down and as of Sunday, December 9, power has yet to be restored. All the homes survived unscathed. Buzz and Betty’s property lost a bunch of trees and the driveway is still blocked. Joel and Lola, Frank and MaryEllen, Allan and Cynthia, as well as Lee and Judy all seemed to escape any flooding/tree damage. YAY! I understand the Bolden’s lost a few big trees to the wind, but none of them struck the house. At the beginning Anderson Road, however, I understand the guy that owns the llamas (Smith?) lost his home to trees.

We here in St. Helens weathered the storm just fine. No power loss and the winds never topped 33 mph, according to my weather system here. We did, however, get over 7.5 inches of rain in three days. Yow! The town suffered a few flooding incidents and some rednecks trucks were up to their mirrors in water, but overall, did very well.

Of course, the big news were the losses in Vernonia, and the flooding in Tillamook and surrounds. The Nehalem and Lewis rivers just kicked everybody’s butts when they busted their banks. The North Coast was isolated by closed roads and the phone system being cut in four places. It’s all slowly returning to normal.

The next time we go out to the coast, though, it won’t be for fun. All of the homes are going to have to have their refrigerators and freezers cleaned out due to food spoilage. Ick.

My buddy Joe suffered three feet of water in his cabin in Fishawk Lake. He’s been going out every day this weekend to rip out soggy insulation and drywall, as well as ruined furniture and cabinets.

If you have any updates, comments or gripes, let me know and I’ll let everybody I can know what’s new.