What does Mother Nature have against the Northwest this Winter?

Apparently, we had too nice of a summer, if a little warm. We just wanted to let you all know, while we still can, that there was a HUGE wind storm that went blasting through Port Orchard Thursday night. Court says that she has never heard wind howl that loud. The power in Port Orchard has been out since Thursday night. (There is some indication that it is back on now, but we don't know for sure yet.) Our house has a "branch, not too big with no damage" on the roof. Unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to not be worried about that until after we see it. As far as we know, all of our friends are ok. We think that Ryan and Marcela are ok too since it says on the Internet that Silverdale didn't lose power. We haven't talked to them yet though. Our Stake President is predicting that the power is going to be out for at least a couple of days for most of the Stake. So, we may not be able to write for a few days.

There were 70 mile an hour winds on Thursday. They shut down basically all the bridges in Western Washington - Hood Canal, Tacoma Narrows, and all the Seattle ones. At the airport, the tower lost power and a 3'x6' window was blown out. It also was suppose to rain 8", but I haven't heard if it really did.

We will let you all know how we are. Luckily, since we were coming here, there wasn't much in our fridge, but the freezer is another story. Sad days, but what can you do? At least our garbage can is empty and garbage day is Monday.

:)

The following is a news report off the web on the storm, just in case you're interested.

SEATTLE - The worst windstorm in more than a decade tore through the Pacific Northwest, leaving more than a million people without power Friday and killing at least six.
Winds gusted to a record 69 mph about 1 a.m. at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old mark of 65 mph set in 1993. Winds were clocked at 90 mph near Westport on the coast.
Power was knocked out at one of the airport's concourses until late Friday morning. Dozens of flights were canceled, including all American Airlines service through the morning hours. Flights were also canceled at Portland International Airport in Oregon, and Amtrak canceled service between Seattle and Portland after downed trees and mudslides blocked the tracks.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer went unpublished for the first time since a 1936 labor strike, because electricity was knocked out at its printing press, managing editor David McCumber said. The Seattle Times, which shares the press, had only about 13,000 copies available Friday morning. Late Friday, a Times' spokeswoman said Saturday editions of both papers would be printed and delivered.
Seattle public schools were closed Friday, as were numerous smaller school systems and The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
A 41-year-old Seattle woman died Thursday after she became trapped in her basement while it flooded. Neighbors had called for help after they heard screaming.
A 28-year-old man was killed while he slept when the top of a tree snapped off and crashed into his home in a trailer park in McCleary, 18 miles west of Olympia.
Elsewhere in Washington, two people died in traffic accidents involving windblown trees.
And on the Oregon coast, an elderly couple died in a house fire caused by candles they were using during a power outage.
A family of six was sickened by carbon monoxide from a generator set up in a garage after the storm knocked out power, police said Friday. Four children and two adults were hospitalized. Three of the children were listed in critical condition late Friday, while the other child and parents were in good condition.
Puget Sound Energy, Washington's largest private utility, had 700,000 customers without power on Friday. Some won't have their lights back on for days, spokesman Roger Thompson said.
In Oregon, about 350,000 customers lost power, and repairs to restore all of them could stretch into next week, utility officials said.
The Oregon Department of Transportation closed three major highways crossing the Cascade Range because of fallen trees or downed power lines.
The Evergreen Point floating bridge, which links Seattle and its eastern suburbs, was closed early Friday for minor repairs, but reopened before the evening commute. The Hood Canal floating bridge, which links Washington's Kitsap and Olympic peninsulas, and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge were reopened early Friday after being closed Thursday evening because of heavy winds.
It was the most intense storm to hit the region since the Inauguration Day storm of Jan. 20, 1993, which killed five people and caused about $130 million in damage, said Clifford F. Mass, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor.