As many of you may have seen on the News, Washington State is getting slapped around by an unnamed winter storm. Hurricanes get names, crappy winter storms kicked up by warmer seas don't. Although, I believe the name of this storm is "Holy Crap".
I have heard people exclaim "Holy Crap" over the last 4 days with regards to:
- Rain Intensity -- In Seattle is rarely rains hard, like I used to see in the midwest or Washington DC. But this was strong enough to get good, sustained sheets of rain moving horizontally and smashing against our office windows. Often this would happen unexpectedly with a loud "smash" sound. At which point, people in the office would say "Holy Crap! What was that?!"
- Rain Volume -- Rain fell much faster than our puny sewer system could handle it. It filled the tunnel on SR 99, which cuts through downtown. It caused mudslides, landslides and spontaneous creeks to be created. "Holy Crap! Look at all that water!"
- Power Outtages -- Now, about 36 hours after the major brunt of the storm, large sections of Seattle are still dark. I was the only person in the office yesterday who came to work from a house with lights.
- One-two punch -- On June 3, 1980, a bunch of tornadoes hit Grand Island, Nebraska - where I was living. June 4, 1980 brought utterly clear skies and blazingly hot temps which sought to bake to death all the people whose shelter had been destroyed. A similar thing happened here. The power went out yesterday for many, last night temps dipped below freezing.
- Trees falling everywhere -- trees on houses, trees on cars, trees in roads, trees where there should not be trees. The Seattle urban forest lost a lot of its membership the last few days.
- Traffic -- with power out, trees in roadways, flooding, accidents, and so forth traffic was vile. It took Ken and David from our office 50 minutes to make the 5 minute drive to I-5 on their trip back to Canada. When I left the office the other night, traffic was backed up over a mile from the Mercer street intersection. It took people hours to make usual trips of 15 minutes.
Therefore, I give you all a quick post to let you know we're okay. I've checked in with about everyone I know and have no catastrophes to report -- except perhaps that this is yet another thing to interupt Jay Fienberg's home renovations.
Blogged at my (currently dry and warm) house in Seattle with Live Writer
Bat-ter-ies! Bat-ter-ies! Bat-ter-ies! Yay Batteries!
(power is back on here now / construction continues...)
Posted by: Jay Fienberg | 17 December 2006 at 17:56
Hurry and finish so I can come over an make horrible noises.
Posted by: Jim Benson | 18 December 2006 at 01:45