joannqn Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 (edited) Wednesday our area got hit with more snow in 1-2 days than we normally get all year. At my house, we got 13 inches pretty much overnight. Now that doesn't sound like a lot to people in some areas, but that cripples us because we don't have the equipment to deal with it. Then we got hit with an ice storm leaving 1/8 to 1/4 inch of ice on top of the snow. Last night, we had winds up to 45mph. Trees are down everywhere. All this means that there are 205,000 homes without power in the Puget Sound area. Some have been without power/heat for three days (it's in the mid 30's outside). Crews from several states and BC have come to help get power on; they have 188 crews working around the clock. It is expected to take up to Tuesday for some to get it back. Some people aren't handling it well. I've heard of fights at the few open gas stations. Food has spoiled. Not all of the stores are open anyway. Coffee shops that are open are standing room only. One McDonalds had a VERY long line around their drive thru and their dining room was closed. There are a few emergency shelters, but you have to be able to get to them. Some people can't get out of their driveways. We were lucky. We had no power for 30+ hours and sat in the dark listening to large branches (8-10 of them) falling from the fir trees in our front and back yard. It was a bit freaky. The inside temperature of our house was down to 51 degrees. Despite 2-3 layers of clothes (many of our warm clothing were/are in the washer from before the power went out) and all of our blankets were were still cold. So, we hiked out on foot with some clothing and toiletries where a friend was able to come pick us up in two trips. We're at her warm house. We were planning to go home this morning because the power came back last night (DH can check from anywhere), but it is back out again. So, prayers for our area would be appreciated, especially for those who are vulnerable. If you live in Western Washington, check in when you get a chance! ETA: Forgot to say that between the rain we are now getting and will get and the thawing of all this snow, they are expecting flooding next. Edited January 21, 2012 by joannqn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 :grouphug: JoAnn. I hope that you get to go home soon. We've been fortunate here in that while the lights have flickered a lot, we haven't actually lost power. We did get stuck 3 times right in front of our house, trying to get out to get groceries though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oakblossoms Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 We are doing well. A friend picked up DH for grocery shopping and our power went out a few times but not long. But, the snow was a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 We are in Seattle. Where under 2 inches closes the schools, always. One thing that makes it so hard to deal with the snow here (besides the lack of equipment) is the hills everywhere and the fact that it tends to hover just above freezing much of the day causing snow to melt and refreeze into ice. When it is much below freezing, it is clear here. At least this time the mayor did not spray the roads with something that made them more icy (it was supposed to melt, it did not). :D We have had some flickers but no loss of power thank goodness. Winter shelters have opened to keep homeless people from freezing to death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4kidlets4me Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 Here on the coast we got a lot of snow for this area but no loss of power. It warmed up significantly last night and rained hard and all of our snow is gone now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalanamak Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 ETA: Forgot to say that between the rain we are now getting and will get and the thawing of all this snow, they are expecting flooding next. Yes, it has been an adventure, with power out and very bad roads. Several people's cars were hit by falling trees. Beautiful trees at work are competely uprooted and horizontal. Very few people came into work. One man stayed 4 days, with his dog in his office. Most people are working 16 hours a day. I ran from ward to ward where patients were yelling and fighting because they were bored. Can't wait for this to be over. I'm happy I live on a hill and I won't flood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 One of my neighbors is a firefighter on Mercer Island. He came home, parked at a nearby Safeway, and hiked to his house (4 blocks) to find no power. He has no other heat source so he went back to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvnlattes Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 I'm thankful you have a friend to stay with, Joann. We've had the power go out a couple of times but just for a few minutes each time. I have a friend in Monroe who has lost power several times but they have a generator and have been able to get by with it. I hope your power comes on and stays on soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarymelon Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 In an amazing stroke of luck, our extended family weekend getaway was planned for this week. We were snowed in on Wednesday, then Thursday everyone made it safely to Sequim, where there is some snow, but no power outages. Our power went out a few hours after we left Olympia and is still out. We are supposed to go home tomorrow, and are not sure what we will find when we get there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Our neighbor sent DH a text that the power is back on. Since we already started enough dinner for both families, we're staying until dinner to give the power time to warm up the house. We're hoping it stays warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sun Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 JoAnn, thanks for posting this. We're in the city, so it wasn't nearly so bad here. Not many people lost power, and all of the stores that we could get to were still open. There are no gas shortages here, and all the stations are open. We're probably less than 60 miles from you! I knew that the storm was much worse to the south, but I hadn't had any idea how much worse it was. I guess the Seattle news is a little myopic, as we hadn't heard all of this! I hope that all of you who are still waiting for power to return get it back soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocolate Rose Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 We're on the Kitsap peninsula and my area ended up with 10 inches of snow. I missed 3 1/2 days of work because I couldn't get out. Luckily we never lost power. The roads are pretty clear today, but still a ton of snow in driveways and yards. I don't want any more snow this year. My sister called me this afternoon. She's in Olympia and has been without power most of the week. She said that they are being told that they will be without power for another 6 days. She said that it looks like a war zone there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 My parents are on San Juan Island. They had 8" of snow on Thursday. They didn't lose power (surprisingly). Last night, it rained, and the low was in the 40s. All snow melted/washed away. The winds were so high that all the moisture evaporated. My mom was out walking on her grass and didn't have to wipe her feet going into the house today. My bil is in Portland, first unable to get to the airport there, now unable to fly into SeaTac. He lives near Bremerton, they haven't lost power. My sil and her husband were also supposed to fly into SeaTac Thursday or Friday, but they're still stuck in California. My mom said that Alaska/Horizon has cancelled ~400 flights between Thursday and Friday. It sounds like a huge mess. JoAnn, I'm glad you have somewhere to stay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cindergretta Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Our tree in our side yard came down on our neighbor's fence and hit his house, but THANK GOD it hit the side and did no damage instead of hitting the roof and going through. We are all good here, just waiting for the snow and ice to be finally gone. Our house is on a hill and the road was a nightmare. I am also thankful that dh's job allows for him to telecommute so he didn't have to drive in the worst of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 No church tomorrow. The power is out and won't be back on at least until Monday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraciWA Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 My IL and SIL live on Lake St. Clair. As far as I know they still have no power. My mil was saying it took two hours to get served at a restaraunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Jean, our church was canceled, too, for lack of power. Our power is back on. We're back home. We left in a hurry and didn't clean up. House was kind of icky smelling with refried beans left on the counter and in a pot. One cat was not happy and peeing in the master bedroom sink....which isn't all that bad when you think of it. Stacy, I think Olympia got it worse than Lacey. Does your sister have a place to go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starr Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I'm glad you are home and the power is on. Ice storms are awful. Your cat is well trained, to get mad and pee in the sink. Everyone should be so lucky. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnL Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 We lost power for about 30 minutes, which wasn't a problem. We're in Milton, near Tacoma. We did get a few inches of snow, which wasn't too bad, but that ice that came next really did a number on everything! My Grandma lives in a retirement community just down the hill, in Puyallup, and they lost power there for a couple of days. She had to go stay in a hotel. She stayed in a Puyallup hotel the first night, then the hotel lost power, so she had to move to a Tacoma hotel. My sister is a Seattle police office. She made it in to work on Wednesday and the entire city was so snowed in, she didn't get a single call her entire shift! Now THAT'S snowed in! There are still pockets with no power. I know we went through an intersection today without working traffic lights. Today was the first day we got out of the house. My daughter and I went to the South Hill Mall and it was packed. It was like a Saturday during Christmas. I think everyone was stir crazy from being inside all week and now that the roads are cleared, everyone went to the mall :D On our way there, we first checked on Grandma and she's doing great with the power finally back on. But we passed an unbelievable number of trees that were just ripped apart. First the snow, and then 24+ hours of freezing rain, and tree limbs everywhere were ripped from trunks. We went to Barnes and Noble in Federal Way before we came home and there was a large group of men working on all the fallen tree limbs, etc, in the parking lot. They were still working at 6PM, after dark, chainsaws and all, and had filled the back of a large work truck with all the debris. I've lived here all my life and I've never seen anything like this. Very unusual! Glad everyone seems to be doing well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) we only got about 3", but 1/4" of ice. but of coures, there are LOTS of hills around here, and since it only hovered around freezing, we had a lot of ice as well. UW cancelled classes (dd takes a bus anyway), and 1dd was able to work remotely from home. we actually had our street plowed twice - so they had equipment this time around. we only lost power before any of the storms hit. don't know why, and it was only for about an hour. for us, that dec 2008 storm system over several days was FAR, FAR, worse. we had 22" (plus a layer of ice at about the 14" mark) at our house for that one. 4wd with chains were not getting up our hill. after about four days the plow made it to our street, but there was so much ice it didn't do anything. dd flew in on a saturday night during that storm. dh (*very* experienced driving in snow) had chains on the car all the way from our house (well, he parked at the top of the hill. no one went up the hill.) to the airport. 25 minutes on the FREEWAY. there were almost no cars and it was falling so fast the plows couldn't keep up. I was looking at traffic cams all the way there to let him know what the freeway was like. the closest in my experience was 1968/9 when there was a lot of snow - it was too deep for me to walk in and I had to follow in my brothers footsteps. Edited January 22, 2012 by gardenmom5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Our street still isn't plowed but at least everyone isn't getting stuck any more. For some reason everyone, including us, would get stuck right in front of our house! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvnlattes Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Our street still isn't plowed Neither is ours. I was able to make it to Safeway on Friday. It was nice to get out of the house but I was surprised that the grocery store parking lots hadn't been cleared at all. You should have seen me try to get the cart to the car! I almost fell on my behind. Thankfully a gentleman came by and gave me a hand. It was the same way at Fred Meyer yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocolate Rose Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 Stacy, I think Olympia got it worse than Lacey. Does your sister have a place to go? Yes, her husband takes her to visit our mom while he is at work. They have a great truck that they are able to get around in. Our mom is in a care facility (she had a stroke last April) so my sister is at least able to be warm during the day. They are still unable to get their car out. Glad to hear that you're back home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chocolate Rose Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 the closest in my experience was 1968/9 when there was a lot of snow - it was too deep for me to walk in and I had to follow in my brothers footsteps. Do you remember 1996? We were living in Bellingham, but had gone down to my sister's house in Olympia for Christmas. It took us 6 hours to get back to Bellingham (normally about a 3 hour drive). Cars were spinning out all over the freeway. We ended up with a few feet of snow that paralyzed everyone and then a silver thaw. My mom ended up spending a week with my sister because she couldn't get out and as of yesterday, still refers to it as the "week from h*ll". They had no power or water. We had no power, but at least we had water. February 1990 is another one I'll never forget, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ma23peas Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 (edited) Our neighbor sent DH a text that the power is back on. Since we already started enough dinner for both families, we're staying until dinner to give the power time to warm up the house. We're hoping it stays warm. Make the most of it, never fun..but also an opportunity for some memories....Three tornadoes F3-F4 hit five miles south of my house last April, straight lined winds knocked down trees in our pasture and took EMS two hours to clear our path out...we had no power for 8 days...no cell phone service, no nothing...the night sky was the most amazing thing! With no city lights it was a scene not seen since electricity came about. With no electricity, the well pump did not work so I had to hand carry 50 gallons of water out to the horses each day. Neighbor helped neighbor...I had to wait two hours to get gasoline...I would drive an hour just so I could make a phone call and charge my cell in the car...and get a hot meal! The volunteer efforts and opportunities our kids and we had as a result were attitude adjustment changers...lives, homes lost and for the most part, no fighting at the ridiculous long lines for gas...we were just happy to have escaped with our lives...praying for this to build some fun family times in spite of the hardships...I really wanted to cry when I came back from a long drive just to hear the radio and updates to see our security lights on when I returned...:) Oh! And that is a lot of snow! We lived in University Place for two years, lucky to get an inch...moved to Alabama and got 12 inches last year, city closed for 4 days...the ice is the worst part! Be careful with all those powerlines throughout the area! But, I bet it is beautiful! Edited January 22, 2012 by ma23peas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natalieclare Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Coming late to the party... We just got our power back on this afternoon. Yay! The thermostat is actually registering heat, so we don't see our breath anymore. :tongue_smilie:It will be nice when it gets above 60! We lost several of our favorite trees here....so sad. We are weirdly attached to our trees and are sooooo bummed that the ice took out our huge old Japanese Maple, the first tree all my kids climb before they graduate to bigger ones. We are on a well, so when we lose power, we also lose water. I can handle cold, but the first time I can't wash my hands after changing a diaper...I'm outta here! We had some friends who use 2 generators to power their house (read: hot water=shower) invite us over. I was having so much fun, it was a little hard to come home to the cold and grime. Things left undone for 4 days .... lots of grime! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosy Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 What a doozy! DS missed an entire week of school, which is really hard for us since he has not yet had 2 normal weeks of school in a row since he started in November. The kids loved the snow....for about a day and a half, then it got old. The power went out Friday morning and was out for 36 hours. I caught the stomach bug that had been making its way through our family and spent most of the first day barfing. We went out for the day Saturday to get out of the dark, cold house, and when we came back, PSE was working in our neighborhood. Yay! So my husband missed a day of work and then took a day off when I was sick, and one of their clients (or maybe vendors?) didn't show up when they were needed, so he'll have to work through next weekend to make up for the lost productivity. You can't look anywhere without seeing broken branches or trees split down the middle. It's amazing how one week of adverse weather can cause so many problems. That's why it's so irritating when people call Washingtonians "wimpy" because we "can't handle a little snow"...this is nothing like what most people think of when they imagine half a foot of snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 (edited) That's why it's so irritating when people call Washingtonians "wimpy" because we "can't handle a little snow"...this is nothing like what most people think of when they imagine half a foot of snow. both dds attended university in upstate NY. On one holiday flight home, they had chance to overhear the man in front of them talking to his seatmate. the man had moved here a few years previously, and had chance to deal with seattle in the snow. He was quite firm as he spoke to his seatmate - when they tell you it's bad and don't drive in it, believe them. I recall as I was trying to explain to one person what it was like, they referred to a of one "bumpercar" snow day they thought was cool - they were trying to impress me with "how hard some places have it". they didn't know that was seattle. and st john isn't a steep hill - metro has "snow routes" that avoid the steeper hills. (note two metro buses on it.) Or maybe it was .what people who dont live here don't understand is because it is a marine climate, it's a very wet snow. that means ice. and there are hills - seattle is built on seven hills. some of them can be scary to start/stop on on *dry sunny days*. I dare anyone calling seattle "wimps" over the snow, drive up queen anne hill - or dravus (mawawahahaha) - in seattle's icy snow. :lol: (I loved going down that thing and leaving my stomach on top when I was a thrill seeking kid. now, not so much.) Edited January 23, 2012 by gardenmom5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosy Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 what people who dont live here don't understand is because it is a marine climate, it's a very wet snow. that means ice. and there are hills - seattle is built on seven hills. some of them can be scary to start/stop on on *dry sunny days*. Exactly--and because it's so mild, it does the whole melt-refreeze-melt-refreeze thing. We had a half inch thick layer of solid ice (clear like an ice cube) covering every stair, banister, etc. around our house...the roads were way worse. Besides, I defy any of the naysayers to endure 100 straight days of overcast skies with drizzly rain. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Exactly--and because it's so mild, it does the whole melt-refreeze-melt-refreeze thing. We had a half inch thick layer of solid ice (clear like an ice cube) covering every stair, banister, etc. around our house...the roads were way worse. Besides, I defy any of the naysayers to endure 100 straight days of overcast skies with drizzly rain. :P that's how the san juans keep outsiders out. people come in the summer,fall in love, buy property, and go crazy by new years from the drizzle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 that's how the san juans keep outsiders out. people come in the summer,fall in love, buy property, and go crazy by new years from the drizzle. That's not been my parents' experience. My mom grew up in Seattle, and both lived in California 40+ years. They moved to SJI ten years ago. The islands are sheltered by the Olympics and get a "banana belt" effect. They get very little rain, and it's common for them to look out toward Anacortes and see clouds. SJIs average 250 sunny days annually, in comparison to Seattle's 140. SJIs annual rainfall is half that of Seattle. Just from visiting, the crazy ferry schedule/fees/distance would keep me away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kertie Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 We've had it easy. 7" of snow, and our lights have done a lot of flickering, but stayed on. We're near the zoo, and while the neighborhood roads have been bad, once you get out on the main city streets it's been fine. Dh made it to work, albeit slowly. Some trees down. The ice falling on Thursday was eerie...Seems like the more rural areas + Olympia are having a tough time of it. Thinking of those without power, though--we didn't fare so well in that huge windstorm in '06. No heat and eventually having to toss all the food is not fun:/. Glad your power is back on, JoAnn!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 That's not been my parents' experience. My mom grew up in Seattle, and both lived in California 40+ years. They moved to SJI ten years ago. The islands are sheltered by the Olympics and get a "banana belt" effect. They get very little rain, and it's common for them to look out toward Anacortes and see clouds. SJIs average 250 sunny days annually, in comparison to Seattle's 140. SJIs annual rainfall is half that of Seattle. Just from visiting, the crazy ferry schedule/fees/distance would keep me away! It also depends where in the islands (or on the island) you are. we stayed on san juan last year, we stayed on the west side of the southern half. friday harbor was beautiful when we arrived, the place we stayed was beautiful - it was pouring in roche harbor (where we would have dinner.) that happend almost everyday we were there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 Sounds like everyone is doing well. Is anyone missing? I know there are still 53,000 without power per PSE. We're trying to figure out how to deal with the aftermath. Our yard looks like a war zone. I'm planning on skipping school this week and having the big kids help with the clean up so DH doesn't have to do it all. DH lost a week of work. We can't afford that so the first concern is getting bills/food paid. DH's transmission is dead. He has a Vue, which has a different kind of transmission that would probably cost a few thousand to fix and the car is worth a few thousand. We'll probably sell it to a wrecking yard. He'll use my car so the kids and I will be mostly stranded at home. DH's work takes him from client to client so I can't just drop him off at work. It's kind of a nightmare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainySunday Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 We are here too, Snohomish County, and man we were hit hard. We made it through okay, as we were able to get out and get my grandma's generator (lugging/shoving it up our insane hill of a driveway was way less than fun) and a kerosene heater. Here's what I put on Facebook when we finally got power on Friday: THis week, by the numbers.... 2: number of trees across our driveway 2: number of holes in our chicken coop 3: number of times the power went out 3: number of times Cody won at Settlers 4: gallons of kerosene we went through 4: number of trees down/dead on our property 16+:inches of snow 24: times we played settlers of cattan/cities and knights 51: temp in the house when we woke up yesterday 53: number of hours the power was out this last time 605: pages I read in Ahab's Wife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisIsTheDay Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 THis week, by the numbers.... 2: number of trees across our driveway 2: number of holes in our chicken coop 3: number of times the power went out 3: number of times Cody won at Settlers 4: gallons of kerosene we went through 4: number of trees down/dead on our property 16+:inches of snow 24: times we played settlers of cattan/cities and knights 51: temp in the house when we woke up yesterday 53: number of hours the power was out this last time 605: pages I read in Ahab's Wife :lol::lol: Okay, you win the Entertaining Optimist Award for the week! But oh my goodness, you poor thing, you poor little cold thing. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraciWA Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Il and Sil who live in Lacey/Yelm still have no power. The earliest they were told it would come on was Tuesday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FairProspects Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 We have power back, but the traffic lights in our area are still without power. It makes driving anywhere a real chore, but otherwise we are fine. I read a lot and did a lot of tracing/cutting out patterns :). The kids watched movies on my laptop. The worst part was them throwing up when we had no power, but we did survive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natalieclare Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 We have power back, but the traffic lights in our area are still without power. It makes driving anywhere a real chore, but otherwise we are fine. I read a lot and did a lot of tracing/cutting out patterns :). The kids watched movies on my laptop. The worst part was them throwing up when we had no power, but we did survive. Same here! 169 is just not flowing the way it normally does, with all the 4 way stops. We had our last puker stop the first night of the power outage, thankfully. Unfortunately, our bedwetter wet the night before the power outage, then the power went off in the morning before I was able to wash the bedding. Then we slept in our house the first night of the outage and the alternate bed was wet! ARG! I was soooo happy to start doing laundry, finishing up the blankets used by sick people and the blankets that were wet. Though I'll never catch up on laundry, it seems! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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