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Friday, December 15, 2006 - Page updated at 10:59 PM In the wake of the storm | Dispatches from around the region
Wind damage throughout the area has closed bridges, cut electric power, closed schools, blocked streets, and caused flooding.
POSTED 11:01 PM Friday More than 30 residents at a Kent apartment complex were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning Friday night after authorities say they took coal barbeques into their homes for cooking and heating during the power outage. Kent firefighters and King County paramedics were called to the Springwood Apartments, in the 27300 block of 129th Place Southeast, at 6:15 p.m. after residents called to report the poisoning, said Kent fire Capt. Kyle Ohashi. Once there, authorities found in at least three other apartments residents who also were sick after lighting coal barbeques in their homes. Everyone taken to local hospitals were conscious. All of the residents, which include several children, are natives of Somalia, Ohashi said. Authorities went door-to-door at the complex Friday night to warn people of the dangers of burning coals in their homes, Ohashi said. While at the Springwood Apartments, authorities received another carbon monoxide call from a home at the Valli Kee subsidized apartment complex in the 23400 block of 104th Avenue Southeast. There were at least three people at that complex who also were sick from lighting coal barbeques in their homes, Ohashi said. Medics responded to similar calls in Federal Way and unincorporated King County Friday night, Ohashi said. POSTED 9:10 PM Friday
At 9 p.m. Seattle City Light reported that about 3,000 additional homes lost power because of "heavy ground saturation and heavy tree limbs," said spokeswoman Janice Bowman. Bowman said there are about 90,000 homes currently without power. At 8 p.m., a different spokesperson reported that crews were working to restore power at nearly 86,000 homes. POSTED 8:48 PM Friday The Port of Seattle on Friday lost power at Terminal 5, the cargo terminal west of Harbor Island in West Seattle, spokesman David Schaefer said. Some containers piled up waiting to be loaded onto ships were blown over. Generators were brought in to open the gates and supply power to the terminal offices, Schaefer said, but they couldn't supply enough power to operate the cranes. Only one ship was at the terminal and being unloaded when the power failed, he said. Terminal 90, at the foot of the Magnolia Bridge, lost power overnight but regained it Friday. One fishing vessel may have been damaged as the winds banged it against the pier, Schaefer said, but the extent of any damage wasn't immediately clear. There also was minor damage to some piling and the roof of a vacant building at Fishermen's Terminal, he said. The Port of Tacoma experienced minimal difficulties from the windstorm. Only one ship was in port and scheduled to be worked on Thursday night, port spokesman Mike Wasem said, but crews were told to stay away. "When you have sustained winds above a certain level, the alarms on the cranes go off and they automatically shut down," Wasem said. Loading and unloading of that ship resumed Friday, he said. An unknown number of other ships bound for the port were delayed at sea as the storm roared across the Pacific. POSTED 8:48 PM Friday Every Wells Fargo branch has something called an "emergency in a box," said Ron Heller, president of community banking for Northwest Washington. They contain such "emergency" supplies as the paperwork needed for hand-written receipts. Heller said branches without electricity use couriers to transport the paperwork to other branches where the transactions can then be recorded electronically. "You pull these boxes off the shelf and go to work," he said. The Xbox games go on Microsoft's Tukwila datacenter that powers its Xbox Live online game service was unaffected by the storm, according to spokesman Ken Birge. It's probably little consolation to gamers who were stuck home Friday with no power for their consoles, but the service would continue operating even if the Tukwila center lost power. It can shift loads to other centers around the world. Xbox Live has more than 4 million subscribers. POSTED 8:48 PM Friday Data centers packed with computer servers and network equipment that keep Web sites and business functions running are typically equipped with redundant systems to protect against power outages and other service interruptions. "Everything went flawlessly," said Ed Doyne, director of customer development at 300,000-square-foot Fisher Plaza near Seattle Center, which hosts communications carriers, broadcasters and technology companies. The facility, 40 percent of which is occupied by data centers, never lost power, though it did experience some flickers during the storm. Doyne said uninterruptible power supplies — battery packs equipped with software and switches — ensured that any hiccups are filtered out of the system. Fisher, like many other data centers, has several other systems in place. "The first thing is we have a very robust feed from the city itself," he said. "We have more in-bound power sources than we would have at home or in a normal office building." Should the city power fail, Fisher is equipped with generators to supply all its needs, plus redundant generators in case one goes down. Another consideration in a data center is cooling. "It doesn't do any good to keep the power on but lose the air conditioning," Doyne said. "If you lose cooling, than you're equipment is going to overheat and melt. Data centers can get hot in five minutes without cooling." Fisher has two wells to supply its AC system with water in the event city water mains break during an earthquake. "It's becoming more and more the norm that every business needs to do something like this," he said, adding that it's particularly important for companies that rely on data, such as law firms, insurance companies and health care providers. Microsoft's Redmond campus had auxiliary power running in key areas. Employees were notified early Friday morning that power was out, so many worked remotely. Amazon.com, in the midst of the busy holiday shopping season, was not impacted by the storm, Drew Herdener, a spokesman, said via email. He said the company's systems are designed to account for inclement weather and outages. "We understand that severe weather can occur at just about any time anywhere in the world, so we plan accordingly," Herdener said.
POSTED 7:25 PM Friday At Seattle Tacoma International Airport, Rick Bond of Puyallup waited with his brother to pick up their father from an incoming flight. It took the brothers two and a half hours to make the drive and, once they arrived, they learned a power outage was keeping nearly every arriving flight, including their father's, circling overhead. They said they had no idea when he'd land, but said couldn't wait to pick him up, "circle around the fire and drink a couple beers." Jack Jarrell of Snohomish also waited at the airport for his parents, who were supposed to arrive Thursday night but were delayed overnight at their connecting airport in Salt Lake City because of Seattle's bad weather. He said it's important that they make it in Friday -- his wife is having a baby Saturday morning. POSTED 4:54 PM Friday Police cars with flashing lights blocked off the entrance to a Shell gas station at the corner of the Bothell-Everett Highway andt 228th St. SE..The station was the last one with power and fuel in the city, said Sgt. Jack Scott of the Bothell police department. "That's the last tank right there, " Scott said, motioning to an officer fueling a police car. "It's the last one left and we need the fuel." Motorists were directed to gas stations about two miles outside the city, Scott said. "It's been a nightmare, with traffic gridlock all day," he said. Elsewhere in Bothell, Sherrie Bowers and her two sons stood watching as workers cut down a large tree that had fallen across the roof of a home near Northeast 198th Street and 89th Avenue NE in Bothell "Mommy, look, they did it!" yelled Brenden, 5, as the tree came down. Bowers said her sons were enjoying having the day off school. Christmas break started early, she said. But without power, "keeping them entertained has been a little tough," she said. POSTED 4:36 PM Friday The storm spared Issaquah from any major damage to homes or buildings, but most of the city remained without power this afternoon, Mayor Ava Frisinger said. The outages shut off traffic lights, creating backups on the city's main roads. "We didn't get damaged," Frisinger said. "We're fortunate." Her main concern now is the power outage, which she expects will end sometime Saturday. Puget Sound Energy did not give her a specific time frame, though, on when the power would return, she said. Downtown was largely empty, with few businesses open and operating on a cash-only basis. POSTED 4:36 PM Friday Evergreen Hospital Medical Center in Kirkland provided its usual health care today, but also something else. Diners found out it was the place to go to find a quiet bistro with warm goodies. With emergency generators, the hospital could supply hot food. The hospital's Images Cafe could be even more popular through the weekend and possibly into next week if the power outages continue, said Chuck Thorell, director of hospitality services. It all started with some radio stations today, said Thorell, when some broadcasters began discussing the fact that hospitals have generators, and that means their stoves work. "We've had a very busy day," said Thorell, with the first customers from the community at large showing up at 7 a.m. Normally, he said, the restaurant is a quiet little place that serves the hospital staff and the families of patients. By the end of the day today, Thorell estimated the cafe would serve 500 to 750 people, about quadruple its normal business. To do that, the cafe had to change its operating hours, not closing between various meals, and staying open until 10 p.m., rather than closing at 6:30 p.m. Thorell said he intends to keep that schedule through the weekend, unless power is restored, in order to meet demand. The hospital is expecting to operate on generators for 24 to 48 hours, he said. While the hot food beats cold left-overs from thawing home freezers, it also created quite a change at the hospital. "I've never seen it so crowded," said Elizabeth Huss, a nursing assistant, leading her to change her normal lunch pattern and skip the hot food herself, rather than stand in the unprecedented lines. "I decided to just go to the salad bar," she said. POSTED 4:30 PM Friday While some shopping centers welcomed crowds as residents sought out warm, lighted places, others were determined to open despite having no power. At Northgate Mall in north Seattle, shopping traffic was 50 percent heavier than normal. "Lots of folks are here because their house is cold or they didn't have a way to fix food," mall marketing director Angela Forest said. University Village also had heavy crowds. By 10 a.m., the center had received about 50 calls from shoppers, asking whether it was open today. "We're blessed with power," said Susie Plummer, general manager for University Village. "We really didn't have a hiccup." In downtown Seattle, too, the largest shopping centers experienced an influx of shoppers. Pacific Place said traffic was up 35 percent compared to a week ago. The upscale, downtown mall decided to open an hour early Saturday — at 9 a.m.. — to accommodate crowds. Westlake Center, which kicks off the holiday season with the Westlake Center Tree Lighting, said the outdoor tree remained intact, despite heavy winds. Some retailers opened late because of traffic, but all stores were open by late morning, marketing director Koren Spas said. "People have been phoning us non-stop: 'Are you open? Are you open?'." Spas said. At Bellevue Square in downtown Bellevue, some retailers were determined to open, power or no power, said General Manager Robert Dallain. The mall's largest stores — Nordtsrom and J.C. Penney — were open all day, while a few smaller stores operated in the dark. Nordstrom opened by 10:45 a.m., with employees are using battery-operated adding machines and filling out paperwork for credit-card transactions. Dallain said the mall topped off its generators with fuel Thursday and used them today to power the mall's public spaces. Individual stores had to generate their own power. The Fairwood Ace Hardware in Renton opened at 8 a.m. to a crowd of expectant shoppers. The store powered two checkout stands with a generator and relied on flashlights and sun streaming through the skylights to light the way for shoppers. "We're lucky we have skylights so we can see in the store," said manager Ken Carlsen. By mid-morning, the store had sold all of its generators, and shoppers were still coming in for batteries, Duraflame fire logs, Coleman camping stoves and flashlights. On the other side of the shopping center, Bartells had a handwritten sign, "We Are Open!" But barely. An employee pried open the electric sliding doors each time a customer needed entry. They escorted shoppers down aisles, using flashlights to illuminate items. They wrote all transactions down by hand. Store manager Charlotte Grondahl drove to work from Black Diamond. "This morning, driving here was like playing a Play Station game," Grondahl said. "It was going under trees and around them." Two doors down, employees at the 24-hour Safeway were busy throwing out cart-loads of refrigerated foods that had thawed overnight. They also had to throw out party platters customers ordered for parties. Brenda Hanson, 49, waited in a line 15-deep at the store's Starbucks kiosk — the only place in the shopping center to get a latte. "We're addicted to our coffee," Hanson said. POSTED 4:27 PM Friday The day-labor dispatch service run by Seattle's Millionair Club charity reported about 50 calls Friday from homeowners needing help with storm cleanup. "For the wintertime, that's a good day for us," said Deborah Crawley, spokeswoman for the 85-year-old social-service agency. "Unfortunately, the storm has done a lot of damage. "The only good news is that it has provided work for some of Seattle's working homeless. There are 100 men and women a day wanting a job, so the calls are great." The day laborers, who've all passed federal criminal background and legal residency checks, are paid $8 to $9 an hour. Crawley expects demand will continue for workers to do storm-related hauling, yard cleanup, gutter and drainage-ditch cleaning. She said the club's labor line, 206-728-JOBS, will be staffed beginning at 6 a.m. Saturday. Another temporary worker agency, Labor Ready, hasn't seen an increase in calls, but spokeswoman Stacey Burke anticipates it will. Headquartered in Tacoma, Labor Ready has offices across the U.S. "We've seen that before in other areas, like New Orleans and Florida," Burke said. "In the first few days, people are making sure they're safe. In the days following, that is cleanup." POSTED 4:25 PM Friday A storm-related fire damaged a third-floor unit in a Sammamish apartment building today, and two residents escaped unharmed. The blaze was caused by a candle near a bed that the couple had lighted because power was out, Capt. Steve Westlake of Eastside Fire & Rescue said. The fire took a half-hour to contain and two units below the third-floor apartment had water damage, Westlake said. Fourteen units responded to the blaze at 11:24 a.m. and trucks were delayed by a mistaken address as well as needing to drive around downed trees, Westlake said. The fire took place at the Madison Sammamish, 3070 230th Lane S.E. Two cats also were rescued, including one cat's escape that was captured on television video. The cat had leaped from the burning apartment's balcony onto a tree, but eventually made its way down. The agency responded to two other minor fires today, Westlake said. A North Bend home fire that started in a chimney was quickly contained. A second fire was ignited when wiring caught fire in an overheated generator early afternoon outside of a home near the Maple Hills of east Renton. No one was injured in these fires. POSTED 4:22 PM Friday Thousands of residences without heat is spawning a boom in hotel-room demand, local lodgings report. The Marriott Hotel on Seattle's waterfront Friday received "hundreds and hundreds of calls. It's been crazy all day," said reservations agent Kristine Shiels. A Holiday Inn Express on Aurora Avenue, as well as a Comfort Suites on Queen Anne – both of which had power – also reported a surge in calls. At Hotel Andra, a luxury boutique hotel in downtown Seattle, demand was brisk all day, said reservations agent Joey Manzano. "Normally in the winter it's slow, but for tonight we're going to sell out," Manzano said for rooms that start at $217 a night. Staying at the Andra will be people from Tacoma, Lynnwood and Bainbridge Island. What they all have in common is no power at home. One bright spot: The storm did not disrupt operations at BP's Cherry Point refinery in Blaine or ConocoPhillips refinery in Ferndale, which together supply much of the Puget Sound region's gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. No tankers were docked at Cherry Point on Thursday, BP spokesman Michael Abendhoff said, adding that wind speeds at the refinery actually were below those clocked during the storm two weeks ago. Had there been any ships docked, he said, the procedure is to stop loading and unloading when sustained wind speeds top 30 miles per hour. At higher winds or rougher waters, he said, the tankers will unhook from the dock and tugboats will tow them out to open water. Whether people can actually buy fuel is another issue. Heather Reynolds of Mercer Island said Friday she could find only one place between her home and office that had electricity — a small section of Eastgate —which gas stations need to run their pumps. "It took me 45 minutes to fill up," Reynolds said. "There were long lines at all three stations (at the intersection), and all the regular gas was empty — all that was left was midgrade and super." POSTED 4:19 PM Friday
Cable television and telephone service was generally hit and miss today throughout the region, as both were affected by commercial power outages. Comcast said that it was working to restore cable and fiber optic lines that were damaged in the storm. Providers, such as Verizon Communications and Qwest, said that most of their customers had service, even though many of their central and remote offices were being powered by generators. Verizon Communications said of its 250,000 customers in Western Washington who were without power, 18,000 also did not have phone service by mid-afternoon Friday. Verizon Wireless reported a small percentage of its cell sites were inoperable, with many more being powered by generators; generators were also fueling cell sites on both the Sprint Nextel networks and T-Mobile USA. Since the generators are typically meant for emergency use, the fuel runs out within a few hours. Engineers must drive around and refuel them, said Georgia Taylor, a Verizon Wireless spokeswoman. Qwest said it planned to hand out free "corded" phones at its retail locations on Saturday for those who are still without power and only had cordless phones in the house that required electricity. Still, if the lights don't go back on, we could see some more telecommunications outages. The central offices at Verizon Communications had enough battery back-up power for 48 hours. After that, they will have to run on generators that constantly have to be refueled. Bellevue-based T-Mobile USA said outages in their network from Everett to Tacoma were widespread. It was using generators to power key locations, such as where Interstates 405 and 90 intersect. In addition, the company was without power at its headquarters in Factoria, where it has about 2,500 employees in five buildings. "Due to commercial power loss, our offices are closed. Our critical operations are functioning, such as engineering and customer care, where we have generator power," said Peter Dobrow, a T-Mobile spokesman. Dobrow said its engineers were working on getting some sites up and running. "A majority of them are out because of power, but some incurred some damage," Dobrow said. "We are working hard to restore service. All of engineering teams we have are mobilized right now." POSTED 4:05 PM Friday Tom Rea, 55, and Nancy Dolan, 54, were jarred awake at 2:30 a.m. today when a 50- to 60-foot Douglas fir crashed into their Bothell home. The tree landed on top of their house in the 19300 block of 89th Avenue Northeast. The tree caused the living-room ceiling to cave in and shattered a sliding-glass door. Rea said he was glad they weren't sleeping where the tree fell. "I don't even know who to call to fix this," Rea said. He and Dolan planned to stay at a Lynnwood hotel for a while, he said. "At least they have power there," he said. Around the corner, Beth Lange, 57, also had a 50-foot fir tree lying across her home's roof. "But it's a skinny one," Lange said. "I think it broke some eaves." Otherwise, her home was undamaged. Now Lange was wondering where to spend the night. "I'm going to be bored out of my mind," Lange said. "I'll probably read by flashlight or do some Christmas cards I've been putting off." POSTED 3:46 PM Friday About 80 percent of Bellevue was still without power by mid-day, including most of downtown. "It's pretty amazing," city spokesman Tim Waters said. "We're just kind of paralyzed." Most businesses were closed and traffic was backed up at busy intersections, with some roads flooded or blocked by trees. At least a dozen homes and one business were damaged by the storm. The city and Red Cross have set up a shelter for 125 people at Bellevue High School and will provide beds and food as long as necessary, he said. The city will also put people up at the North Bellevue Community and Senior Center, 4063 148th Ave. NE. The center will hold 160 people. POSTED 3:46 PM Friday Jim Stewart of North bend used an orange flashlight to shop for maps Friday at the Issaquah Barnes & Noble. It was one of the few open stores in town and business was pretty good. Cashiers wrote credit card numbers by hand and calculated change. The store had flashlights on hand. Store manager Rick Norenberg decided to open because the store has windows on four sides that let in just enough natural light. "You never know when the power might come back on," Norenberg said cheeerfully. POSTED 3:21 PM Friday Bellevue Square attracted several hundred people who wandered the mall halls even though most stores were closed. The children's play area on the first floor was teeming with toddlers and parents. Nearby, Specialties Bakery sold bread, chips and bottled drinks. Nordstrom opened for business using generator power. Em McEachron of Redmond and her daughter Betsy purchased jeans and sweaters. "What's a girl to do when there's no power but go shopping," Betsy said. The Western Washington University student was home on winter break. "We tried sitting around and reading but that didn't work," she said. The two women were unsuccessful at booking spa appointments. The Redmond Gene Juarez was closed, Em McEachron said. "The Bellevue one was open. They had power, but no appointments were available." Erin McArn of Bellevue and her daughter Charlotte were at Bellevue Square in search of a pay phone. Charlotte, a student at International School, was calling her friends to cancel Friday night's slumber party. It was her 13th birthday. POSTED 2:56 PM Friday In Redmond, there was a party going on. With a City Hall generator providing power to the first three floors, the Finance and Information Services Departments decided to go ahead with the annual holiday party in Bytes Cafe on the first floor. The sounds of laughing and the smell of food radiated. through the building. In other parts of the city, things weren't quite so jolly. The city's main shopping center, Redmond Town Center, only displayed darkened window. The most visible activity came from maintenance workers. Dave Rhodes, public-works director, said the main problems he and his staff were encountering were complications affecting nearly everyone in the region. "The staff is running out of gas to get back and forth to work and no one can buy food," he said. That meant some people were going all day without eating, and just getting to the job was turning into a quadrupled commute for many as they tried multiple detours to get around tree-blocked roads. "You do that a couple of times and you're looking for fuel," said Rhodes. The other major challenges involved trees, he said. "We had about 100 trees down that blocked roads," he said. "About 30 or 40 of those knocked down power lines." POSTED 2:52 PM Friday If you're traveling north to Vancouver, B.C., today or on the weekend, don't expect to go for a walk in Stanley Park — and be ready for some major road delays in the city and beyond, including a major route that leads north out of Vancouver. The same storm that devastated the Seattle area pummeled Vancouver. Paths and roads in Stanley Park, the 1,000-acre preserve at the tip of the downtown peninsula, are closed because of swaths of fallen trees, including Highway 99 which passes through the park and across Lions Gate Bridge to West Vancouver. It's hoped that the road and bridge will be opened for this afternoon's commute. Lions Gate is one of two major routes northbound out of the city. Anyone driving north to the Whistler ski resort or the ferry terminal at suburban Horseshoe Bay instead should use the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) which crosses the Second Narrows Bridge on the eastern outskirts of Vancouver. Get updates on B.C. road conditions at: www.drivebc.ca or phone 800-550-4997. Elsewhere in British Columbia, a severe snowstorm is pounding the highways that lead to the Thompson-Okanagan area, including the popular ski resorts of Silverstar and Sun Peaks. Heavy snowfall and limited visibility was making travel on Highway 3 perilous and Highway 5 (the Coquihalla) was closed early Friday afternoon. POSTED 2:28 PM Friday POSTED 2:23 PM Friday The city of Woodinville opened an emergency shelter at City Hall, but as of midafternoon no one had used it. The city plans to leave it open until 10 tonight when cold weather may make some residents without power seek a warm place for the night, said Connie Flessler, Woodinville city manager. It could be 24 hours before Woodinville has its power restored, she said, adding that downed trees and branches were everywhere but otherwise the town had survived the storm pretty well. Around Woodinville and Bothell, people armed with rakes and brooms began cleaning up branches and debris that littered their neighborhoods. Beverly Jobes, 64, of Woodinville, spent part of the afternoon raking branches in the parking lot of the Woodinville Community United Methodist Church. She said she found the storm kind of exciting. "It shows the power of God," she said. POSTED 1:48 PM Friday Dave Tempest and his wife Kathy were on opposite ends of their Mercer Island home Thursday night when a 130-foot fir crashed through their roof, essentially splitting their house into two. One branch came to rest just a few feet from Kathy who was watching TV on the couch. The couple, both 56, spent the night with friends and then had a contractor weatherproof the roof and cut some of the branches Friday morning. They weren't sure whether they could salvage the five-bedroom house in the 9000 block of Southeast 44th Street where they've lived for more than 20 years. But they were happy that no one was hurt and that their two college-age children weren't home at the time. "Once we realized we were both safe, that was the most important thing," said Dave Tempest, a doctor at Swedish Medical Center. "The rest is just bricks and mortar." Friends and neighbors came by throughout the day to offer shelter, coffee and hugs. "It's a really nice feeling to get that neighborhood support," Tempest said
POSTED 12:33 PM Friday At Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue everything was closed except the deli called From Russia With Love. Owner Tyna Dzliafarova had placed a sign out front offering passers-by free hot water and tea. She was also selling hot food. A dozen customers were in and out of the café. Customer Michael Aksionkin of Redmond said he'd driven through Redmond and nothing was open so he ended up at the Bellevue eatery. POSTED 12:33 PM Friday Throughout the day, dozens of Eastside public agencies responded to reports of damage: • Trees across roads on West Lake Sammamish Parkway Southeast. • A tree that penetrated a roof at a school metal shop. • A branch that broke pipes in a house with free-flowing water going into the home. • A report that thieves were "driving around," in one radio call, picking up fallen wires to steal the copper. • The intersection of Newport Way and Somerset Drive in Bellevue was blocked by fallen wires. In just one six-block section of downtown Kirkland, more than a dozen 100-foot evergreens came down, falling across Eighth Avenue West, across Waverly Way at Fifth Avenue West, into Heritage Park along Market Street, along Lake Washington Boulevard and over Market Street near 20th Avenue. In Juanita Beach Park, once owned by King County but now a Kirkland city park, a 200-foot tree along Juanita Creek collapsed onto a shop building, and spectators walked along the banks of the creek, murmuring at the damage. Sand and gravel was strewn along Juanita Drive Northeast, evidence of flooding Thursday night and a crude hand-lettered sign at the top of a driveway warned of what had taken place: "Landslide. Do no enter" More than two dozen evergreens fell over Juanita Drive between Kirkland and Kenmore . Some of them had been trimmed enough by workers early today to allow traffic to pass, others remained where they'd fallen, coming to rest on power lines and extending over the roadway. At Northeast 141st Street and Juanita Drive Northeast, a tangled mass of twisted cables hung down to about six feet over the intersection, with a traffic signal skewed sideways, resting horizontally, out of commission. Along other parts of the roadway, hundreds of feet of power and other utility lines sagged between poles, sometimes attached at the ends, but touching the ground between the supports, while other trees stretched overhead, supported only by the sagging power lines. Normally, repair crews would have been busy fixing the damage, but on Friday, such scenes were so commonplace, and there were so many of them, that no one was around, and drivers simply swerved around the debris. POSTED 12:28 PM Friday
Metal equipment fell off a downtown residential tower under construction at 900 Fourth Ave. and landed on the street, damaging a car or two. There were no injuries. The equipment, which is used to lift building components, fell from the second story. POSTED 11:33 AM Friday Bill Davis spent the night aboard Sirius, his Grand Banks 46, at Seattle's Elliott Bay Marina, keeping watch and retying lines on his neighbors' boats to keep damage to a minimum. Some of them weren't bumpered as well as they could have been, he said this morning, and were rubbing hard against docks. "My boat came out fine, thankfully," said Davis, of Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood. Davis saw a couple sails damaged, including one in "ribbons," but otherwise most boats rode out the storm. Dwight Jones, marina general manager, confirmed there had been "minor damage, nothing serious." POSTED 10:26 AM Friday In Phinney Ridge this morning, as in many neighborhoods across the city, neighbors gathered to gawk at the sight of an enormous oak tree that had cracked in two and smashed into a bungalow. The intersection at Greenwood and 57th avenues was cordoned off, and power lines were dragged down and tangled in the tree's branches, although no one in the area lost power. The tree's trunk began splitting in two around 1:30 a.m. The family living in the house adjacent to the tree went door-to-door, warning neighbors that it was sure to come down. "They came knocking on our door, letting neighbors know the tree was splitting," said Bill Duyungan, who lives next door. He and his wife Christal, who had been sleeping on a pullout sofa on the first floor, decided to evacuate. They bundled up their two children, ages 8 and 6, and drove to Christal's sister's home on Latona Avenue. The children were shaking with fright, Christal said. Driving across town at the height of the storm seemed almost as risky as staying at home, Christal said. Branches were flying through the air, signs were bending in the wind and trees were leaning at perilous angles. Christal praised the neighbors for warning everybody about the danger. "They were incredible," Christal said. "They were so helpful, and it's not the first thing people think about." Neighbor Catherine Garosz said the fire department also got into the act, knocking on doors and telling people to evacuate. The tree "came down around 6 a.m. -- it made a valiant struggle against those winds," said Garosz, who decided not to evacuate. "It's sad to see that tree gone. I loved those trees. It's part of the reason I moved into this neighborhood." POSTED 10:21 AM Friday Despite receiving 5 inches of new snow since 5 p.m. Thursday, for a total of 13 inches in the past 24 hours, the Summit at Snoqualmie is closed because the ski area does not have power. Stevens Pass ski resort is also closed due to treacherous highway conditions and bad weather. The Summit's ski line will be updated when the resort reopens. Skiers can call 206-236-1600 to check on conditions. The lower part of Crystal Mountain is open to skiers and snowboarders, but high winds and avalanche dangers have closed three chair lifts to the upper portion of the mountain. They should be open by lunch time. POSTED 09:39 AM Friday Liquor bottles, old tires, chunks of wood and other debris poked through the mud covering the parking lot outside Wilson Machine Works, a family business that's operated out of a one-story shop at 1038 Elliott Ave. for 100 years. Seattle police evacuated the business at 4 p.m. Thursday after a storm drain uphill from the shop overflowed, said Max Wilson, 22, a member of the fifth generation of Wilsons to work at the shop. He and his co-workers arrived at the shop early this morning to find several feet of mud on the property, along with debris that was carried down the hillside. "Since 5 a.m., we've been digging and sweeping and digging and we haven't even made a dent," said Wilson as he shoveled wet mud into a wheelbarrow just after 8:30 a.m. "We just got the doors open because we had to dig them out." Inside the shop, there was anywhere from 3 to 8 inches of water, Wilson said. "Water's come into the shop before, but there's never been a mudslide," he said. "We'll be lucky if we're up and open by Monday." Wilson's neighbor Mike Allenbach, 47, runs a steel fabrication business from his home, which is just up the hill from Wilson's shop. A bunch of steel beams destined for the old Rainier Brewery got buried in the mud, representing a week's worth of work, he said. During Thursday's rainstorm, the storm drain became overwhelmed and "it appeared a whole chunk of road came loose and broke over the side of the street," Allenbach said. "My gate got tore off and the fence. It's a mess." POSTED 08:35 AM Friday King County Executive Ron Sims today issued an emergency proclamation in response to the overnight wind damage and flooding. POSTED 07:48 AM Friday Garbage and recycling was being collected on a normal schedule in Seattle today, with only minor slowdowns reported in areas where streets or alleys have been blocked by storm debris. In those areas, where trucks are unable to get through, collections will be attempted later in the day as streets are cleared. POSTED 07:38 AM Friday More than 300 trees were down across King County roads and numerous utility poles were snapped by high winds., said Jaime Quick, a spokesman for the King County Emergency Coordination Center in the Renton Highlands. Emergency management officials are urging people to stay home if they can and if not, to delay their morning commutes. "Really, if you don't have to drive, don't," he said. A number of roads are impassable because of downed trees and power lines. Quick cautioned that the ground around downed power lines could also be electrified, "so stay away from them and don't drive over them." He said the West Point sewage treatment plant near Discovery Park suffered some structural damage from flooding but the plant was "back up and running" this morning. Though Quick said officials had not yet received any confirmed reports of additional landslides or sinkholes, they expect to receive reports of problems "once people are out and about in the light." POSTED 07:27 AM Friday With street lights and numerous traffic signals without power, Seattle police are asking motorists to drive slowly and cautiously through darkened intersections. Intersections without working traffic lights should be treated as four-way stops, said police spokesman Sean Whitcomb. POSTED 07:11 AM Friday About 50 residents of Sunrise Assisted Living of Edmonds were evacuated in the middle of the night when a tree came crashing through the third floor of the facility, emergency management in Snohomish County reported. The tree came through the building near 2 a.m., knocking out the fire main, which in turn flooded the building, according to reports from the Emergency Service Coordinating Agency, which serves south Snohomish and north King counties. Residents were dispersed to other facilities operated by Sunrise throughout the two counties. Many were sent to a facility in Snohomish, where employees were busy working through a power outage. Emergency management tried to find the center a generator to assist with taking in the Edmonds' residents, but to no avail. There were no reports of injuries. POSTED 06:47 AM Friday An early morning power outage at the summit of Snoqualmie Pass has disabled the Department of Transportation's electronic message signs, variable speed limit signs, lights above the roadway and highway advisory radios. The DOT maintenance crews are busy clearing snow and putting portable electronic message signs in key locations to advise drivers of pass conditions and restrictions. POSTED 06:39 AM Friday Many Metro buses are unable to navigate the streets this morning, especially on the Eastside where many fallen trees are blocking roads. "It's like negotiating an obstacle course," said Metro spokeswoman Rochelle Ogershok. She said commuters should expect delays. None of the electric trolley buses is running this morning, but Metro is trying to replace them with regular buses. She said Metro is concentrating on providing service at freeway stops, park and ride lots and the Bellevue Transit Center. The toughest area for bus coverage in on the eastside north of Interstate 90, Ogershok said. POSTED 06:13 AM Friday Responding to widespread reports of flooding around the city, Seattle Public Utilities has activated its urban flood response plan and has at least 20 work crews dealing with issues ranging from landslides and street flooding to sewage backups and a sinkhole. By just after midnight today, the city had received about 250 calls regarding street flooding and another 300 calls for help with flooded houses. There were six landslides reported throughout the city including a sinkhole in southwest Seattle, flooding in the parking lot at University Village, flooding of about 20 homes in the Madison Valley, and Longfellow Creek in West Seattle was over its banks along Delridge Way. POSTED 06:01 AM Friday For today, the Weather Service is forecasting scattered showers with a chance of thunderstorms for the Greater Seattle area, said meteorologist Jay Neher. This morning's strong winds are expected to die down today and the temperature is also supposed to dip this weekend, which could mean that it will be cold enough in some areas that rain will turn to snow. At 1 a.m., the wind speed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport hit 46 mph, with gusts up to 69 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle. "It was one of the strongest winds we've had at Sea-Tac in a long, long time," Neher said. By 5 a.m., the winds had started to ease. The airport reported winds of 29 mph, with gusts up to 38 mph, Neher said. "The high wind warning was verified everywhere. Most areas were pretty hard hit," he said. "Whidbey Island is still getting strong west winds." The Weather Service's offices on Sandpoint Way were operating on back-up power, said Neher, who climbed onto the roof of his building earlier today for a look around. "Kenmore is dark, Bellevue is dark, the hill to my left is dark," he said. "I've never seen that many power outages. It was dark all around." Though there has been some flooding on a handful of Western Washington rivers, it is pretty minor, Neher said. On the coast, 20 to 30 foot waves crashed on shore and a high surf warning remains in effect for the south Washington coastal strip, including Ocean Park, Bay Center and Raymond. Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
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