Hello there; I’m finally back

I have never seen anything like this on the North Oregon coast. It started on December 2nd and continued for about a week. The weather forecasts said that there might be high winds and rain, but we didn’t worry as often, in past winters, we had winds up to 75mph. I didn’t like it, but we shut the doors and waited until it cools down. I was only worried about our dog who hates the wind. I did some shopping for us, bought a calming down medicine for the dog and waited.
What happened next was a “perfect storm”- masses of tropical air met colder air and formed a hurricane on the Oregon coast. That afternoon the wind started to shake our 118 year old house and later we lost power. Our only connection with the outside world was a small radio. There were no phones, roads were cut off like there was nothing outside our house. The hurricane was all over the Oregon Coast. The winds didn’t stop blowing for 36 hours, reaching 130mph. There is a 150ft. tree in our front yard, and I waited until it fell on us, but thankfully it didn’t happen. Also, our old glass windows weren’t broken. The roof of our shed flew off and landed a hundred feet away in the street. Flower pots were flying like bits of paper. All over the N.Coast roofs flew off or were destroyed by falling trees.
The largest spruce tree in the USA, from the twelfth century, fell down near Seaside, OR. The whole forests and trees everywhere were down. People kept calling the radio stations saying, “I can see the river now, which I couldn’t see before.” All three roads going to town were cut off. Thinking of my health and the fact I hate the cold, I wanted to get out of here, but with trees on the roads and no gasoline to buy that was impossible.
The Pacific Power workers had to cut their way here with chain saws. For example, the men who went out to check Water Plant covered four miles in ten hours as they had to cut their way clear. As soon as possible our Coast Guard station started serving meals. We were told that workers from Utah and Montana were coming but they had problems as highways were covered with fallen down trees and helicopters couldn’t fly in the wind. They arrived as soon as the winds died out. At present, there are 100 trucks from Pacific Power with 300 workmen from all over the NW, plus some from Utah and Montana. They opened one line of the highway, and a usual trip to Longwiew, WA, which takes 45min took five hours. People bought all generators, batteries and radios within a day. Others ordered more generators from Portland and a truck with them arrived only after six hours. What’s more, there was no communication. No TV, no Internet, only local phone. We were totally isolated. The hospital, the jail and other services had to use gasoline or diesel generators.
We were very lucky because our windows weren’t broken and the roof is still on. Our daughter and her husband lost all the trees in their back yard. One tree, over 100 feet tall, landed between their house and the neighbors. The winds managed to pull some trees with their roots out. Other trees were broken in halves. It’s so amazing to see. If you want to know more, go into the Internet and look up Astoria, Seaside and Cannon Beach, Oregon. There wasn’t much information about our situation in the national news, so even our son in Texas didn’t realize we were in trouble. 40,000 of us were without power or phones for five days. We got our power back last evening, but there are still houses without electricity on the coast. The power workers are doing their best to replace transformers, mending lines and clearing roads from trees. All over Washington, there is a massive flooding. A little town not far from here, Verninia, was so flooded that people had mud in their houses. Also, some cars were damaged by big mud balls flying in the air.
What is positive, is the fact that people didn’t steal products from shops despite the fact the windows were blown out. Our main street was covered in glass. Neighbors helped neighbors. The worst case was a guy selling gasoline for $5 a gallon. When my daughter and her husband got their generator going a few days ago, the dogs and I moved in there. Jim stayed home after work because he didn’t want to leave our house unprotected.
I just wanted to tell you about this, my dear friends, as I didn’t want you to think I’d forgotten you. I have to finish now because I have to throw away old food from freezer and fridge. Last night, I thanked God for a hot bath. Today I will have to go shopping, do the laundry and check my medications. How am I doing? I’m okay. I’m very tired and happy it’s over. There was a time, when the temperature was below 30s, I was wearing six layers of clothing. My husband, who is never cold did quite well but he is also tired. You can only imagine how time consuming it is to write all the receipts without power or computers, the jail using keys for locks, etc. The local radio stations did their best to keep us informed 24 hours a day. We’ve been here for 10 years and I always loved it - now I know why.

Leave a comment