Storm

We had a humongous storm last night. Winds in some parts of the state hit 100 mph. High winds are a particular hazard where I live since we are surrounded by huge Douglas fir and cedar trees, some 50 feet or more high. we've been having a record-breaking wet season so the ground is saturated. The trees are shallow rooted anyway, and with the wet ground can be uprooted by high winds.

My daughter called a few minutes ago. She's out right now and is scared by the damage she is seeing caused by trees falling. We have this huge old tree in the back yard that was swaying badly last night. She's going to have someone come out and evaluate its stability. If that one came down it would take out any one of several homes within its range. I'm not even sure how they would get it down. In pieces I would suppose since it's well over 50 feet hight. She will leave it if it's stable.

The rain was coming down at a rate of over 2 inches an hour. There was also thunder and sheet lightening. It was quite a storm. Two of our floating bridges were shut down, and one remains closed today since four huge bolts sheered away because of the wind and wave action. Many of the freeways were closed because of standing water. The commute this morning is going to be a royal mess. At least I don't have to worry about that.

So far the death toll is only one but that will probably go up as they begin finding people. The one was a woman who drowned in her own basement.

It's raining this morning but the winds are gone and the weather service says things will be ok. Where I am we got flickering lights and the cable went out a couple of times. I stayed offline and shut down my daughter's computer as well. We're fine other than for a nervous dog. He hates thunder and when it started he tried to climbed into my lap. This would be ok were he a little guy, but he's 70 lbs. That's too big for a lap dog. I know. A couple of months ago my daughter got upset and was yelling and slamming doors around the house and he actually did climb all the way into my lap then sat leaning against my chest shivering. Big whoose.