marlaina lieberg (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} 1marlaina) wrote,@ 2006-12-17 20:29:00 |
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The Real Meaning of Power
It's been a challenging couple of days here in Seattle. As you may know, on December 15, we had a hurricane category 3 wind storm which took out power for over 1.3 million people in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, we were without power, but we were fortunate enough to be able to leave the house and get to a hotel. However, all our refrigerated and frozen food must be thrown out, as it lived without power for over 36 hours.
What's it like to awaken to 69 mile per hour winds? Terrifying would about sum it up. We could have and should have prepared better for the storm, but oddly enough, we spent the day before the storm getting Christmas cards out and last minute holiday packages sent. Who thought what happened would happen!
The morning of the storm, Friday, it was still blowing and cold. We went out to try to find some orange juice and coffee, and believed that we'd have our power on by the afternoon. The one store that was open was a supermarket, and they were powered by a generator so none of their cold foods were being kept cold. They could hardly keep up with the demand for hot coffee, and when we got ours, it was luke warm but it was still a good cup of coffee.
As Friday moved onward, we realized power would not be returning any time soon. KOMO, a local radio station normally dedicated to news, turned to talk in a coverge they called neighbor-to-neighbor. People were calling offring information and help to others. "There's firewood available here," "This grocery still has milk," "The Cosco on 4th Avenue has D cell batteries" were just a few of the kinds of calls they fielded.
By about 5 PM, Gary and I decided we did not want to spend another night in the cold with no power, so we began calling around for a hotel room. Our options were limited, since we need an accessible room to accommodate Gary and his wheelchair. It seems we got the last one in Seattle, so off we went with the two dogs after having placed 2 layers of blankets over the cnary's cage.
When we arrived, a journey that should have taken 25 minutes and took nearly 2 hours due to no street and signal lights working in Seattle's south end where we live, we were delighted to see power power everywhere, and lots of heat to enjoy!
We are blessed that the damage was limited; we lost about 20 feet off the top of a 100 foot western cedar tree in the yard, and of course, all our refrigerated food. But it could have been so much worse.
Thank you to all of you who wrote and sent us good wishes. We're home now and tired, so I think this will about do it for today. However, December 15, 2006 will be a day I will long long remember. It's not quite as frightening as the earthquake of February 28, 2001, but it's pretty darned close!
Marlaina
It's been a challenging couple of days here in Seattle. As you may know, on December 15, we had a hurricane category 3 wind storm which took out power for over 1.3 million people in the Pacific Northwest. Yes, we were without power, but we were fortunate enough to be able to leave the house and get to a hotel. However, all our refrigerated and frozen food must be thrown out, as it lived without power for over 36 hours.
What's it like to awaken to 69 mile per hour winds? Terrifying would about sum it up. We could have and should have prepared better for the storm, but oddly enough, we spent the day before the storm getting Christmas cards out and last minute holiday packages sent. Who thought what happened would happen!
The morning of the storm, Friday, it was still blowing and cold. We went out to try to find some orange juice and coffee, and believed that we'd have our power on by the afternoon. The one store that was open was a supermarket, and they were powered by a generator so none of their cold foods were being kept cold. They could hardly keep up with the demand for hot coffee, and when we got ours, it was luke warm but it was still a good cup of coffee.
As Friday moved onward, we realized power would not be returning any time soon. KOMO, a local radio station normally dedicated to news, turned to talk in a coverge they called neighbor-to-neighbor. People were calling offring information and help to others. "There's firewood available here," "This grocery still has milk," "The Cosco on 4th Avenue has D cell batteries" were just a few of the kinds of calls they fielded.
By about 5 PM, Gary and I decided we did not want to spend another night in the cold with no power, so we began calling around for a hotel room. Our options were limited, since we need an accessible room to accommodate Gary and his wheelchair. It seems we got the last one in Seattle, so off we went with the two dogs after having placed 2 layers of blankets over the cnary's cage.
When we arrived, a journey that should have taken 25 minutes and took nearly 2 hours due to no street and signal lights working in Seattle's south end where we live, we were delighted to see power power everywhere, and lots of heat to enjoy!
We are blessed that the damage was limited; we lost about 20 feet off the top of a 100 foot western cedar tree in the yard, and of course, all our refrigerated food. But it could have been so much worse.
Thank you to all of you who wrote and sent us good wishes. We're home now and tired, so I think this will about do it for today. However, December 15, 2006 will be a day I will long long remember. It's not quite as frightening as the earthquake of February 28, 2001, but it's pretty darned close!
Marlaina
