Storm 2014: What happened and what did we learn?

www.miep.us/2014storm

A chronology of what happened

12/11/2014 - 7:17 PM High winds: lost power

2014-12-11 storm: downed power pole.jpg


6:30 AM: I drove around Island to Oak Bay Road. Flagler to Oak Bay Road to Fort Flagler, E. Marrowstone, E. Beach and Robbins passable. Top of power pole split off at 116 about ½ mile from Oak Bay Rd. Posted "Storm Report" on MI Nextdoor (ND). A few other subscribers replied with comments. (Check out nextdoor.com and join or create your Nextdoor Neighborhood. NOTE: Only MI ND subscribers can view any MI ND posts referenced herein.)

2014-12-11 storm: upside down Xmas tree.jpg

No landlines. Cell OK.

Sometime after noon: CenturyLink brings in a generator to power phone system. Landline and DSL available.

2PM?: Posted to MI ND a request by Director, Emergency Mgmnt for a “Needs Assessment” report. (No replies so far as of 12/13/10 PM)

7PM?: PT Leader article.12/13/2014 - Power back at these times and places …

  • “Thank the lineman” cartoon link
  • 4:22 AM - E. Marrowstone
  • 5 AM - Garden Club Rd
    • 8:48 AM - My MI ND reply to this post “We still don't have power on Schwartz (8:48 AM). I see (on the Jefferson PUD Outage Map at they've moved the truck icon from the downed power pole on 116 to near the Nordland store - but they left the note on the map to read power will be restored the "evening of Sunday, 12/14". Looks like PUD is slowly (or quickly, depending on where you are) moving northward on the island.”
    • 8:59 AM - No power at south end of E. Marrowstone. Interesting, north end has power. I wonder where the break is?
    • 9:04 AM - Griffiths Point just got power
    • PUD OUTAGE MAP: Not sure when this image was taken, but this is an EXCELLENT tool to keep us informed of outages. Thank you PUD!! (Src is this PTLeader article)
    • PDN article
    • Noon - Reply from Ken in this post that PUD is hiring 2 more crew.
    • 2 PM - Power at south end of E. Marrowstone.
    • 7:20 PM - Pete Hubbard - 824 Schwartz Road (Almost exactly 48 hours w/o power. It seemed a LOT longer.)
    • 9:45 PM - Jefferson PUD Outage Map still shows about 5 spots on MI w/o power: mostly in the south.
    • 11:00 PM - Power back on to nnn Lip Lip Ln (Moen Rd and the rest of Lip Lip Ln appears to be still out - lines are still down.)
    • Midnight or so - Power back on at Fort Gate and Reef Roads.

Summary (33 to 52 hours without power)

    1. Power out at 7:17 PM on 12/11
    2. First power back to north E.Marrowstone at 4:22 AM on 12/13 = 33 hour outage.
    3. Power to Schwartz Rd at 7:20 PM = 48 hour outage.
    4. Power to Fort Gate around midnight = 53 hour outage.

What did we learn?

    1. Buy and use inexpensive and VERY convenient LED headlamps: Google search
    2. Smartphone owners
      1. Download APP for Nextdoor to your smartphone. It appears that about 20 MI ND subscribers used the APP (about 60 times) during the power failure to report status and make inquiries. We were lucky that we had cell service.
    3. Turn on your radios:
    4. Tune to local radio stations KPTZ 91.9 and KROH 91.1
    5. Program and tune FRS radios to channel 8 sub-channel 8 (ONLY on Marrowstone Island). To remember “8.8” think of our ZIP code - 98358.
    6. I’ll be suggesting that everyone get on the HAM and FRS radios immediately when an event happens, then according to the following schedule so they don’t waste their time and battery power.
      1. 05 and 35 - listen to FRS 8.8 and HAM channel 012 for MI Repeater (Note "35" is part of our ZIP code)
      2. 15 and 45 - listen to FRS 8.8 and HAM channel 000 for PT Repeater
      3. 25 and 55 - listen to FRS 8.8 and HAM SIMPLEX channel 006 for our OP Area 1
    7. If you have a mound system that normally pumps sewer liquid to it and you have no power to run the pump, you’ll have an overflow situation. My alarm was on when power returned so I’m good for only 48 hours. I’ll have to look at the 2-bucket system described here http://www.miep.us/sanitation and in the tri-fold PDF at #508 and #509 here http://www.jeffcoeoc.org/library.htm .

Additional resources

  1. Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management - http://www.jeffcoeoc.org/
    1. http://www.jeffcoeoc.org/library.htm
  2. Local 2020 Emergency Preparedness Action Group - http://l2020.org/emergency-preparedness/
    1. http://l2020.org/emergency-preparedness/neighborhood-preparedness/neighborhood-preparedness-toolkit/
  3. Marrowstone Island Emergency Preparedness - http://www.miep.us/
    1. http://www.miep.us/home/worst-case-scenario