The Storm Rages On

Apparantly I still haven't learned the ins and outs of how to use this blog. I spent about a half hour this morning just typing away, tried reading it on "preview" and then I'm not sure exactly what happened, but POOF - it was gone! Since there is a place that says a draft is automatically being saved, I don't understand where the new post went - or why. Oh well, I guess I will try to do a reasonable re-creation.


As the title says, the storm rages on! The winds and rains have continued thru the night and are still going strong this morning at 10:00am. Predictions are that this will be the norm until late afternoon when we may begin to see a slow down. Winds at the coast have been at hurricane force with gusts up to 129 mph in Longview, and 119 in Seaside. The winds have been steady since yesterday, and the forecast continues to include the prediction of more gusts in the 100mph range. The coast is now isolated - highways are closed due to downed trees, and all phone service is out - both land lines, and cell phones. Police are now warning of impending mudslides on the highways to the coast, and asking people to stay away. The last report I had from our friends was about 10:30 last night - winds were howling, and no electricity made it pitch black - a very terrifying night was ahead of them. No way to reach them today to see how they made it thru. I will keep my fingers crossed that all is well!!!!!

Latest reports say there was 10 inches of rain in about 12 hours at Lees Camp in the coast range. There is flooding all over the Portland and surrounding area. Police are out blocking streets that are too dangerous to drive on due to standing water. The rains continue to come down in torrents, and the wind blows it every which way. At least two more inches of rain are predicted today.