After a week of early season snows, we woke up early Friday to howling hurricane force winds-called Chinook Winds-with some blasts up to 100 MPH. As I lay in bed looking through the skylight, I could see the tree next to the deck bending over and scraping the roof above me. Then light flashes, finally one quite close as the transformer closest to the house blew. Tim went outside to check things out while I filled water containers before the pipes drained. He came back in to tell me of the power lines strewn all over our yard, draped over bushes, and blocking the driveway. Metal roofing lay scattered everywhere and tangled up in the lines. Further down, there was several trees over the line, and at the end of the street the power pole had blown completely over. Soon, we could hear the sound of chainsaws as people began cutting through the downed trees in their driveways, so they could get to work. Yes, in Alaska people pretty much go to school and work no matter what-three feet of snow, hurricane force winds, and trees across the driveway are no excuse here! As the winds died down and the temperature rose to 40 degrees, about 20,000 people were without power, and several people without roofs. It was absolute mayhem, but Alaskans know how to deal with mayhem pretty well. Around 7:00 PM after about 13 hours without power, some men showed up in our driveway. "We aren't leaving until you have power" one told me, and sure enough they where there until the lights came on about 1:00 AM. Saturday morning poor Tim was out chainsawing more trees, a job he thought he left behind with fall. We went to bed Saturday night to pouring rain and woke up this morning to a return of a white winter wonderland and the warm Chinook Winds evident only in the debris and trees scattered everywhere.
No comments:
Post a Comment