The Hurricane Unknown to the World, Day 3

Tuesday, December 3, 2007

7:30am. The wind is still blowing strong, but no where near what the last two days have been. The power is out. The phones are still cut off from the outside world. They don't usually call Pacific Northwest wind storms hurricanes, but to give you some perspective:

Category One Hurricane: Winds 74-95mph

Category Two Hurricane: Winds 96-110mph

Category Three Hurricane: Winds 111-130mph.



NOAA reported wind gusts were reported at 129mph in Bay City (Tillamook County)! NOAA's 4:30am report showed wind gust at 85mph in our area and seas were reported at 60-70 feet, averaging 44 feet. With the 13 ships or so out at sea waiting for the Columbia River Bar to open, I can't even imagine what their experience was like.

Well, I'm off to work, taking the hand crank flashlight radio my dad gave us one Christmas. Its been a life saver. That's the only way we know what is going on. They've been working all day and all night having different knowledgables such as the County Sheriff, the Mayor of Astoria, and other people reporting updates from the frequent Emergency Operation Center meetings.


4:00pm. I got to work about a quarter to 8am. The parking lot was, again, empty so I waited listening to the radio (with the car off because the 'low fuel' light was on and the only gas available was for emergency vehicles.) With no power, the gas stations can't pump the gas. Its amazing how dependent we are on electricity. With the roads closed, supplies can't get in, either. Fortunately, they reported this morning that Hwy 30 was open with a pilot car...the breached dike at Westport and the mud slide must be cleared somewhat.

Shortly after 8am, two more people showed up. Its payroll week, so one of them left to gather time sheets from some of the group homes. Meanwhile the payroll clerk and I went upstairs to try to figure out what to do. The phone system in the office requires electricty, but our fax line connects straight to the 'outside' so we hooked up a 'landline' phone to that for communication during power outages.

Shortly after we opened the office, the Associate Director arrived after traveling accross the river from Washington. Several other people popped in randomly throughout the morning to give updates and find out what was going on. It was nice to finally have contact with people from different parts of the area with different information about how everyone was doing. Several staff showed up to ask if they needed to work, others came to tell us they couldn't work. One of the graveyard staff from yesterday showed up and gave us her contact number so she could help again after she got a little rest.



Our director and his wife drove around yesterday, checking on different employees and group homes. As they tried driving south to check on the five homes a wind gust almost tipped their heavy duty truck over, so they turned around and went home with their two fallen trees. They also live near lumber forests. They mentioned the trees on the hills were snapped like tooth picks. They could hear the rush of the wind before it slammed into their house.


We found out our Thrift Store window blew out in the storm along with several other businesses. That means rain and wind damage. Fortunately yesterday, our vocational directo was able to board up the window. Sadly it sounds like the bike shop in downtown Astoria was looted. I'm sure others were as well.

Our director and his wife planned to drive to Portland, to get time sheets from our Gresham area group homes (its angering when you are trying to making sure the basic needs of food, water and shelter are taken care and one of the first questions you are asked is 'When do we get paid?') and to get gas heaters for the group homes.

Its supposed to get really cold in the next few days and with the reported damage, the power doesn't look like it will be available very soon. They have about 300 people from all different states and companies working 24-7 to get the power up and running. We also found out that some of the big lines from the Bonneville Power Administration (the Columbia River Dams) were downed by the storm so they are trying to hook those up as well. With the trees down they have to litterally cut their way to the downed power lines. And there could be several breaks along the path. They are turning out to be the heroes--all those poeple working so hard.

They are trying to get power to the big shopping areas first (Fred Meyer, Costco business area which includes food and gas) so people can get food, supplies and gas. Fred Meyer has generators for their main store, but the radio reported yesterday that they only had dry goods left after the mad, panic rush of yesterday.

While our Director left for Portland, the Associate Director and I got a ride down to check on our southern county group homes. This trip was eye-opening. A lot of trees down, but miraculously not a lot of property damage. When trees fell on homes, most of the time they didn't break through. A lot of shingles were missing and a lot of blue tarp-patched roofs. There are lot of reports of miracle protection from trees missing homes and property by small margins or trees falling in unexpected ways to miss homes.

We saw a lot of trees in power lines. Some trees snapped partway up the tree, others pushed right over exposing the giant root balls. Most of the trees here are evergreens which have shallow roots, but large trunks and a lot of leverage from the wind pushing against the needles. I'm amazed, though, that a lot of the tall trees are still standing. I suppose if they've lived this long through all the storms and wild weather through their life, they deserve to stay standing.

Our are trip, we passed the remnants of a aluminum barn that litterally exploded in the wind. The strips of aluminum flapped through the air wrapping around fence posts and scattering accross the highway. Its scary to think of a giant razor blade flying through the air at 85 mph.

The first homes we came to share the same plot of land. Other than the neighbors wooden fence laid out along the ground, they stayed in tact pretty well. The problem there is they have well water. Without the power their pumps can't draw the water. Fortunately, per licensing requirement, they had a 300 gallon tank of reserve water for the sprinkler system. They also had bottled water since the well water doesn't taste very good. We took their empty five gallon jugs to fill up at the next group home we get to which has city water.

I am so grateful the city water is pumping (via generators) and that the natural gas is still intact.

One of the two homes has a gas fireplace which made the house nice a toasty (at the expense of the food in the kitchen's fridge and freezer.) They also had a gas stove so they were cooking for both homes. The worry at the other home, though is warmth at night. Many of the people we serve are medically fragile so we have to be especially sensitive to their needs.

The other thing these homes seem to need are batteries, flashlights, and radios to keep in tact. Staffing is a challenge as well--not only from not being able to contact people and people imobilized from trees falling on the roads, but many staff don't have enough gas to drive the 20-40+ minutes back and forth.

We hitched a ride with another person who was driving the only company vehicle that had a full tank of gas. It seems he other vehicles may have had gas sifoned out of them. People are desparate. After getting in the van I quickly learned why it had a full tank of gas. Let's just say it still stopped when you pressed the brake pedal even though it sounded like it was grinding the pads to smitherines.

We went to our Seaside homes to check on them. One of the homes had the sky light blown off and the residents were staying in a local hotel. But they patched it this morning. I have to say the weather is pretty nice, now, actually. Its not raining, its a little windy, but its actually quite peaceful. One of advantages to this home and its sister home back to back is they are right next door to one of the emergency shelters that was set up in Seaside. They were providing hot food for our people and taking good care of everyone.

The third home in Seaside wasn't in a good shape. Shortly after the storm broke late Sunday Morning, part of the roof flew off. When we went to check it out and salvage a few more things from it, we saw a piece of the roof a block away before we got there. Upon arrival we could see the bulk of the roof laying one a fence on the opposite side of the home from where it blew off. Little pieces of insulation littered the street, the yard and the inside of the house.







The roof blew off over the office and one of the resident's bedrooms, but the whole upstairs was blasted by the wind. The floors and ceiling we were walking on were soaking wet. It even started to drain to the downstairs. When the roof blew of one of the rafters ripped through the ceiling making it dangerous. We gathered as many of the critical records as we could. We gather clothes, blankets, some of the resident's personal items like computers, TVs, .... When they evacuated they took the medications and some of the other critical items and left the rest at the mercy of the storm.

The residents are now trapped on the third floor of the Shilo Inn because those in wheel chairs can't make it down the elevators with the power out. But at least everyone was safe. I just can't imagine my personal stuff being totally destroyed like that. It just goes to show in an emergency, when you're fighting for life, what's really important shows through. But the aftermath, when reality hits, is when it can rub in and cause a lot of emotional damage.

The other home we went to, in Gearhart, faired well. They needed batteries and a way to keep warm--and staff. We filled up the water jugs here and returned them to the homes.

What a relief to know everyone was alright!

We got back to the office in time to sign for a letter from the Postman...They kept the mail going through the storm and everything!

Our payroll clerk had a good idea to put a message board outside our door so people could leave notes while we were running around. When we got back there was a message from the Emergency Operation Center/Dept. of Human Services asking us to drop by and give a report of our status. It was comforting to know that in all the rush of everything, the County was trying to watch out for us.

I came home around 3:30pm to my wife cooking onion rings and we did french fries too! We are blessed to be protected and prepared for this particular situation.

9:00pm. After a nice warm meal, we spent the evening listening to the radio for the latest updates. To ease the stress, the DJ's are letting people call in and they are having a good time. A lot of hero stories. Although you hear reports of people stealing generators and looting...or charging $5.00/gallon of gas to hand pump it, most of the stories are hero stories of neighbors helping neighbors and cheers for the utility workers and all the people working so hard to provide for people's needs.

We got word that the East side of Astoria and Knappa have power again! Safeway, brought in generators to be able to pump gas.

We warmed up again to the Kerosene heater, we only have two light sticks left, but our hand crank radio is also a flashlight. After blowing out all of the candles, oil lamps, and the heater, we put the light sticks, cranked the flashlight/radio and left the light on for the boys.

Another day, but I feel good knowing I was able to help in some way today!