After the Deluge
The Flame Ash were lovely in October.
Then came December and The Storm.They fell like Pick-Up-Stix.
This is one neighborhood, just a few of the many trees that went down in this one neighborhood, just a few of the Flame Ash that went down on this one street. It's a disaster, not just for the trees. Since last Thursday thousands have been without power. Peggy stayed with us since Friday; last time we went to check on her house it was 42 degrees in there. brrrrr.There are many overcome with carbon monoxide and, sadly, some Darwin Award winners. People tried many ways to keep warm and most of them survived although some houses did not. BBQ's and candles can do a lot of damage. It's a disaster. We're never prepared for this sort of thing, though some manage better than others. On the local TV news there was no word about possible shelters until Sunday, so many people had no idea that help was available, especially those without TV. There was no sign of relief workers going door-to-door to notify people in their dark, frozen homes and apartments that there was a shelter with heat and food and light, mere blocks away.
Granted, this was a Hundred Year Storm ~ but there is a system in place for emergency action and we saw none of it from our local government (although the power companies were out in force and still are.) It was badly handled. The Mayor should resign.
There are still thousands of people without power, 198,000 in King County alone, as of Monday morning, today. Thousands! It's been 4 days.
12 comments:
We thought and talked about you as we drove past the flame ashes this weekend. Sigh.
Heavy sigh. Hope things are back up and running and everyone's safe soon.
glad to hear you are safe. i too, think that they should have been mentioning shelters long before yesterday.
oh, the poor flame trees.
WOW! I was thinking about the two of you on Friday and am glad to see you made it out ok!
I hate seeing trees down like that. It is distressing and depressing. Down here in Portland we had a pretty good version of the storm and in my apartment complex alone we lost 4 beautiful trees. I hate to see them go.
I was gone for the weekend, and so I missed all the aftermath. (Our house was out of power for 18 hours though.) However, my flight left at 12:50 a.m. on Friday morning, right at the height of the storm--and it was the roughest take off I've ever experienced--thought I was gonna die, no lie. I wish they had closed the airport sooner. Yeek! But I'm back, safe and sound.
MaryB
I was thinking about your post earlier in fall with the beautiful trees. Then G and I drove along 35th and I was so sad..not only for the trees but for everyone that was still in the dark and the c-c-cold. I'm grateful to have the means(family and transportation) to leave my home for a home with electricity or to a place with electricity but not everyone is that fortunate. I agree - door-to-door in this type of situation is the only way to make sure communication gets through. I'm glad to see your post to know you and your family are ok. Thanks for posting.
yikes, that must be 35th. no wonder it was marked as closed in the paper. I'd only gone north to the qfc and didn't see this.
fyi. while the mayor is calling this a 100 year storm, others, especially meteorologists, aren't. A ten year storm is more like it. Was this worse than 1993? I'm not sure. More development on the east side that has made more trees vulnerable to wind. we were lucky and got our power back Friday afternoon. in 1993 it took about 4 to 5 days.
Whoa, this is my neighborhood! The poor church (and the rectory, too!) got hit pretty badly by the trees.
Those flame ash trees are some of the most beautiful trees I've ever seen...oh dear...I've been sending out the warm thoughts since it hit the other night, there's lots of knitters wishing we could teleport ourselves and the supplies we'd bring with us, hope the power gets up very soon.
WOW. That is just insane looking. Hope it all dries up soon!
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