I wrote the original post a week ago. Update is directly below (original post below that):
Okay…we had what’s called a bomb cyclone here Tuesday. Just got our power back half an hour ago after it went off Tuesday at 3:00 pm. Over half a million were without power, there are still probably close to 100,000 without it. 2 people died from falling trees (one only a few blocks away from us).
The electrical grid took heavy damage–trees were falling everywhere and if you know our area, we have MASSIVE trees. The winds came from a direction they seldom do, which destabilized a lot of the trees. They took the lines and towers down everywhere. Luckily, we just got a lot of branches down in our yard.
Peak gusts in our general area were from 60-75 mph. Tonight, we’re getting another storm but it’s not supposed to be as bad, but it ain’t gonna help the trees that were loosened but didn’t fall.
We don’t have a generator, so it was cold, but we do have a gas fireplace which can run without power (heats up one area but that’s one area with warmth) and we have a charging station that is like a generator but can be safely used inside, and were able to keep our devices charged. I have a bunch of camping lanterns and battery operated candles. We can cook on the stovetop (gas range). But we lost several hundred dollars worth of food and man, I’m tired.
We NEED a wired generator. Which means…um… NEW BOOK COMING OUT NEXT WEEK, PEOPLE!
Original Post
Every November, here in the Pacific Northwest–especially on the coast of Western Washington, we get our annual “November Windstorms.” And we’re facing one this week. I’m actually writing this on Monday the 18th, just in case we lose power when the storm comes through. We lose power quite frequently in our house, and usually it takes a few hours to get it back, but with a storm the size of what we’re looking at, there could be hundreds of thousands without power and it could take a day or so to get it back.
I live on the Eastside of Seattle. If you’re read my books, you see me mention the area frequently. We’re across Lake Washington, in Kirkland–one of the many communities that make up the Greater Seattle Metropolitan area. And yes, the rain often falls sideways here, whipped by the wind.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), a ‘bomb cyclone’ is coming in, with high winds and heavy rain, with wind gusts in our area 30-40 mph, with wind gusts up to 65 mph. Out on the coast, gusts up to 80 mph are expected. We may actually see a few snowflakes here where we live (though it won’t stick). Last time we had a huge storm here, we lost a tree in our yard and it brought down all the wires. It was nuts and costly.
The worst storm we’ve had here was the 2006 Hanukkah Day storm. On December 14th, we had a storm that had hurricane force winds. We were without power for three days here, but some people went two to three weeks without it. Millions were without power, and fourteen people died, most due to carbon monoxide poisoning (it was icy cold and they tried to use charcoal briquettes inside). The area looked like a war zone, with trees down everywhere. We got power back before a number of our friends and we made a HUGE pot of soup and biscuits, and invited friends over to take hot showers and have some hot food, and offered them the floor for the night if they wanted to stay.
Anyway, storms are rough on writing, but at least SHADOW SEEKING is ready for next week–it’s RELEASE DAY on Tuesday, and I have a class coming up this week. I just hope I’ll be able to attend! Wish us good luck, peeps, on keeping power!