Whidbey recovering from life without power

Published 3:00 pm Wednesday, December 20, 2006

After taking another major punch by the massive storm that ripped across Whidbey Island, life on the island has slowly returned to normal as residents cleaned up windstorm debris and celebrated the return of electricity.

Warren Hughes spent Saturday cleaning up the fallout from the windstorm. Two trees fell on his property on Smugglers Cove Road, and five fell on his neighbor’s lot.

“We’ve just been trying to saw, and get rid of as much as possible,” Hughes said.

The winds sounded fierce and formidable when they struck the west side of Whidbey Island Thursday night and Friday morning.

“It was intense, very intense,” Hughes said.

“My wife was scared to death. We have a little baby girl and we were concerned that a tree would come down on the house,” he said.

“You could literally hear the trees cracking. And that was frightening, to say the least,” Hughes said. “It kept us on the edge of our seats. The whole night, we didn’t sleep very well.”

Luckily, his home escaped damage.

But without power on Friday, Hughes recalled how he began to search for a generator. He finally found one for sale in Lynden.

Those without a generator found themselves in a bind. The majority of the island was without power for at least two days; some went without power until Monday afternoon.

Lynn Sterbenz of Clinton had no electricity for four-and-a-half days.

Sterbenz and her two children fled her freezing home in Clinton on Friday morning after the power failed on Thursday night.

“It was 44 degrees in my house,” she said.

Realizing power wouldn’t be back for a while, they found shelter with Sterbenz mother in Freeland, who had a propane heater.

The family had to leave behind their two cats, however, much to the distress of the kids.

“The kids were really worried. But we left them lots of warm blankets to cuddle up in and came back everyday to check on them and feed them,” Sterbenz said.

By the weekend, many people had grown weary of being without power.

Sunday morning, countless South Enders could be found at Locals Only Coffee in Freeland. Freeland was one of the first places to have power restored.

Sipping hot beverages, checking e-mails on laptop computers, people had come to the coffee shop to get away from cold homes and enjoy a bit of normalcy. Customers exchanged stories about cold showers and canned soup.

Around lunch time, a cellphone rang amid the crowd at Locals Only. The caller jumped up with good news: Power was back on in Langley.

Spontaneous cheering and applause erupted.

About 30 minutes later, the same occurred when a call came in that power in Clinton was restored.

Scatchet Head partially dark

By 3 p.m. Sunday, the majority of the island was back on the power grid except about

250 homes.

Some neighbors in Scatchet Head were not so lucky. Power came on for five minutes on Orcas Drive and Hawaii Lane, and residents went out into the street and shouted for joy. When the power went back out, it stayed out for another 26 hours.

Elsewhere in Scatchet Head, homes on Blakely Street had electricity while nearby Mortland Drive was still dark.

And on the next street over, on Britzman Loop, the neighborhood’s normal noises had been masked by the steady grumbling from several generators.

“We lose power once a year, usually for less than 24 hours,” John Bertrand said, who has lived in the neighborhood for seven years. “Nothing like three days plus before.”

Keeping warm was the name of the game.

“I headed into the city to stay with a friend and I’m dressing warm,” Bertrand said.

Leena Bennett’s propane stove kept her warm.

“I have a propane stove that saved my life and great friends that have helped me when I needed it,” she said, acknowledging her back gave out not long before the power did. “I still get pretty spooked at night, though.”

One of those great friends is Glenda Adkison, who lives a block away.

“I’ve been using a sleeping bag, lots of covers and a knitted cap because I don’t have heat,” Adkison said.

A caregiver for a woman nearing death, Adkison said she’s spent a good deal of time making sure the lady is warm enough. “They finally decided to get a heater but it was touch and go a few times,” she said.

But after more than four days without power, Annie Dunsford had ran out of patience with the power company.

“It was 32 degrees in my kitchen this morning and I had to break the ice on top of the milk for my coffee,” she said.

“I spent Sunday driving around with my dog, Normal Dog, to keep warm. I don’t even want to talk about the experiences on an ice cold toilet seat,” Dunsford added.

Dunsford’s friend Kris Wiltse lives just down the street; she took all her frozen food to a friend’s house powered by a generator but was making do at night the best she could.

“I bury myself in down blankets — me, my dog and cat. I wear wool sweaters and heavy long johns; very sexy outfits,” Wiltse said with a laugh.

In Freeland, life at the Village at Maple Ridge got back to normal pretty quickly once the power came on Sunday.

Many of the residents of the 41-home senior housing development were out and about Monday headed for the development’s Christmas party.

Helgard Fridell, a Maple Ridge resident, said she and her calico cat Lucy stayed warm during the power outage with her propane fireplace.

“It wasn’t real warm, but it was bearable,” she said.

Crews struggle to repair massive damage

While thousands of people in Puget Sound struggled with their fifth night without power Monday, most residents on South Whidbey had their power restored by Sunday and Monday afternoon.

Mike Simmons, director Island County Emergency Services said only a handful of customers were still without power Monday.

“I talked with Puget Sound Energy Monday morning and they estimated about 250 customers were still in the dark,” Simmons said.

During the weekend, the Department of Emergency Services set up three respite shelters in Island County; at Trinity Lutheran in Freeland, Coupeville, Oak Harbor and Camano Island.

“We had a few people in the Coupeville, Oak Harbor and Camano shelters,” he said.

“We only had one person staying all night. But a lot of people came in to warm up and have a cup of coffee and soup,” Simmons said.

According to Puget Sound Energy, the company had restored power to most of their customers on Whidbey Island by Monday, and were continuing to work on restoring power to those still without power.

Complete repair of local distribution lines will likely continue until Thursday, and in rural areas power may not be restored until the weekend.

Rescue teams work overtime

Island County Fire District 3 and deputies from the Island County Sheriff’s Office were slammed with calls starting Thursday night from the record-breaking windstorm. Firefighters set up an area command center at the Freeland Fire Station to handle to flow of calls coming in through I-COM.

“This is the third big storm of the season, so we are getting pretty good at running a central command,” said Jon Beck, deputy fire chief for the district.

During the height of Thursday’s storm, Beck said they sent people only to medical calls and fires.

“It was too dangerous to go out on falling trees and downed powerlines,” he said.

“We’ve gotten to the point that we don’t cut trees away from powerlines. If they are blocking the road we will put up traffic cones to close the road,” Beck said.

This year so far Fire District 3 has responded to over 2,050 calls, a 20 percent increase from last year.

“The volunteers are really stepping up to the challenges of meeting the demands put on them by this fall’s weather,” he said.

Beck said there was good coordination between different agencies.

“Island County Public Works crews did a great job keeping the road clear of downed trees. It allowed us to reach the people needing medical help,” he said.

On Sunday night, fire district volunteers and Island County deputies checked on residents in a 55-and-older housing development off Bayview Road.

“We went door to door with sheriff deputies to check on the welfare of the residents. Everyone was OK,” Beck said.

Life goes on without power

Thanks to the fire district, the show went on at South Whidbey High School.

‘The Nutcracker’ was held in the auditorium with the help of a generator.

“We were on fire watch during the performances Saturday and Sunday to make sure the generator kept working and that everyone was safe,” Beck said.

The Island County Sheriff’s Office, like other county offices, were in the dark on Friday. But unlike some offices, they continued to operate.

“We were here fielding calls,” said Jan Smith, spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.

Smith said the sheriff’s office was swamped with calls from people off-island who wanted deputies to check on their loved ones.

“The storm knocked out phone service to many homes. When people watched the news about how hard hit Whidbey Island was, they were understandably concerned,” Smith said.

Smith said those kind of calls do take deputies time away from emergencies.

However, Smith said there weren’t any serious accidents caused by the storm.

The Island County jail and juvenile detention center operated on emergency power from a generator.

The tail of the dragon hits Puget Sound

The low-pressure system that arrived Thursday night wasn’t responsible for the damage suffered by Whidbey residents — it was the long “tail” that drags behind a major winter storm that caused severe and frequent pressure changes creating powerful winds.

The storm veered to the north, putting the tail in a perfect spot to do the most damage, according to the National Weather Service.

The NWS clocked sustained wind speeds of 40 mph throughout Puget Sound during the height of the storm, with gusts up to 90 mph through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In Seattle, the highest gust observed was 47 mph.

Winds gusted to a record 69 mph at Sea-Tac Airport early Friday morning, breaking the old mark set during the 1993 Inauguration Day storm of 65 mph, according to the NWS.

Making life even more difficult was the record low temperature of 28 degrees Saturday, breaking the previous record of 29 degrees from 2005.

Storm causes huge damage

The property damage was significant during this storm, officials said.

At Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland the high winds Thursday ripped the canvas sheeting covering the portable buildings to shreds.

By Monday, Nichols’ crew had pulled most of it off and according to CEO Matt Nichols they had already ordered the new canvas.

“We ordered about 5,000 square feet at a cost of $50,000,” Nichols said.

Further north, at South Whidbey State Park, park rangers began assessing the damage to the forest and trails.

“We lucked out on the structures,” said park manager Patty Anderson.

A small tree fell on the restroom near the main parking area, but did not appear to damage the building. Another tree fell in Campsite 17 and just missed the restroom there, and a tree fell but missed the picnic shelter in the group camping area.

Park workers spent Saturday trying to clear the beach trail.

“It’s not too wbad,” Anderson said.

Approximately 20 large trees fell, about half along the Ridge Loop and Wilbert Trail. Those trails probably won’t be cleared until late this week.

“It’s a matter of getting bigger saws down here, and the help,” she said.

Until then, those trails will be closed for safety reasons, Anderson added. Workers were continuing to assess the safety status of Ridge Loop and Wilbert Trail on Saturday.

“You have to walk through, look for the widow makers, trees leaning on trees,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll have one of those trails back up for the weekend.”

More school days lost

South Whidbey Schools were closed on Friday. It marked the fifth day the district has had to close due to weather this school year.

School reopened on schedule Monday morning, and power was restored to schools Sunday afternoon.

Transportation supervisor Veronica Schmidt said they made the decision to close schools at 5 a.m. Friday.

“The power was out all over the island so it was an easy decision,” Schmidt said.

South Whidbey students and staff now have five weather-related closures to make up.

District officials have decided to extend the school year until June 22. Graduation has been changed from June 9 to June 16.

Because of the storm, all school activities were also cancelled for the weekend.

The boys and girls basketball games between South Whidbey and Coupeville scheduled for Friday night have been re-scheduled for Jan. 2; girls junior varsity starts at 5:15 p.m., varsity at 7 p.m. in Erikson Gym; the boys travel to Coupeville.

Skagit Valley College closed its South Whidbey Center and Whidbey Island Campus Friday because of the storm.

The state Department of Transportation also closed the Deception Pass Bridge for three hours Friday morning due to high winds and trees and branches on the road.

The bridge was reopened to traffic at 7:10 a.m.

Stores deal with big blow

Businesses struggled with taking another hit during the busiest shopping time of the year.

The Island County Economic Council estimates that businesses lost close to $1 million in sales during between the two power outages.

Some small business owners said they are more than 50 percent behind in sales, and once again, restaurants and grocery stores threw out fresh foods worth tens of thousands of dollars.

For the many non-profit art and entertainment venues, the storm could have caused irreparable damage to their budgets, but creativity saved the day.

The Langley United Methodist Church hooked up some extra lights, gave the choir battery operated book lights and adorned the church on Third and Anthes Streets with lots of candles Friday night.

The power outage was not able to stop “Christmas Peace and Joy: An evening of Christmas music and readings.”

More than 100 participants filled the church to standing room only and enjoyed the sounds of the Chancel Choir, the Chimes Choir and solo artists as they celebrated the music of Christmas despite Kathy Fox having to play piano instead of the organ because of the outage.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts was thrust back into the atmosphere of the Civil War again, as they were just three weeks ago during the snowstorm for their last weekend run of “Little Women.”

Director Deana Duncan said the company was generously offered two generators from Gemkow Construction and Matt’s Import Haven. The generators allowed them to run the show with limited lighting and sound.

“We lined the stage with candles in Mason

jars and added three floor lamps to the show. We were lucky that ‘Little Women’ lent itself to a low-tech production; it was beautiful,” said Duncan.

“The show actually looked and felt very different with out the fancy stage lighting. It was more real and very intimate. The costumes and set design both popped like they never had before,” she added.

Duncan and her crew said the experience spurred them to think about what the absolute needs are for true theater. They came up with three things: A good story that touches part of our humanity; actors capable of telling that story well; an audience to watch, listen and participate.

They had all three on Friday and Saturday night as South Whidbey audiences came out and supported the production with full houses both nights.

“We proved the old adage – the show must go on!” said Duncan.

The folks at Whidbey Telecom also came to the rescue for more than one island business over the powerless weekend.

Whidbey Telecom saved the last four performances of Whidbey Island Dance Theater’s production of “The Nutcracker.” The Friday evening performance of “The Nutcracker” was canceled due to a lack of power.

But when members of the Whidbey Telecom team got wind of the dark dance stage, they offered a portable generator and a portable construction light bar for the parking lot.

“As strong supporters of the arts, we understood how important it was that the show must go on,” George Henny said. “We were glad to be in a position with the right equipment available at the right time to be able to help.”

Once Whidbey Telecom delivered a huge diesel powered portable generator and with the help of Jerry Beck Electric Contractor and his crew, the theatre was alive again.

In addition, Tim DeMartini, the outside plant construction manager at the phone company, delivered Whidbey Telecom’s portable construction light system that provided ample lighting to the entire parking area during the evening performances.

The school district’s master electrician Kenny Richards came in to make sure all the wiring was safe.

The ballet went on and sold-out audiences were treated to two more matinées and two more evening performances in the final weekend of the show.