On Wednesday morning, Sudden Valley hummed with the sound of chainsaws. Residents walked or drove slowly down the streets carpeted in pine needles and branches, greeting their neighbors, checking out the destruction and commiserating. A bomb cyclone had struck the forested enclave overnight.
“It looks like a tornado came through,” said Mishon Kirkland, who had gone for a walk around the block in Gate 3 while a crew from Rawls Tree Service tackled the cedar that had been uprooted in her backyard.
Kirkland heard the tree fall around 1 a.m. on Nov. 20. It crushed her fence and blocked her back door, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the hemlock that smashed into her roof two or three years ago. She figured her property had run out of trees that could topple, but apparently that wasn’t the case. “At least I get more sun now,” she joked.
Across the street, Patty and Peter Rosse said in their 12 years of living in their house on Sudden Valley Drive, they had never heard anything like the wind storm that screamed through overnight.
They only lost power for three hours. The front end of Patty’s car took a hit and panels from her greenhouse blew away, but it could have been worse, she said. “We’re feeling very blessed.”
The South Whatcom Fire Authority (SWFA) put out a news release on Wednesday afternoon saying the agency had responded to 22 storm-related incidents between 7 p.m. on Nov. 19 and 2:30 p.m. Nov. 20. Calls included multiple propane and natural gas leaks, multiple trees down on cars and buildings, and three incidents requiring assistance to free people trapped in buildings. SWFA normally responds to around 25 incidents a week.
“We believe the windstorm produced unusually damaging winds due to an easterly wind direction that is not typical for our area, causing stress on trees that are normally exposed to more southerly and westerly wind patterns,” the news release stated.
No storm-related injuries or fatalities were reported anywhere in Sudden Valley or Whatcom County. At least 16 Sudden Valley homes were damaged, and the residents of six houses were forced to find shelter elsewhere because of the level of destruction.
One of those trees fell on the home of Summer and Callon Digger in Gate 5. They were lying in bed on Tuesday night listening to the wind and the crack of trees falling nearby. Then around 10:30 p.m., drywall and insulation started dropping on their heads. The power was out and they stumbled out of the house in the dark, collecting their cat and two dogs. They drove to Summer’s dad’s house on the other side of Lake Whatcom, stopping to remove downed trees and limbs on the road that blocked their exit.
The Diggers returned Wednesday to see in daylight the massive, healthy tree that had crushed the house they’ve owned for almost nine years on Louise View Drive. By noon they had alerted the insurance company and were waiting for a crane to remove the tree. The trunk impacted every room but the kitchen and totaled Summer’s car in the driveway and Callon’s project car in the garage.
“We definitely shed a couple tears,” Summer said. “This is something we worked really hard for.”
“When it’s not your house, it’s very impressive,” Callon added, looking at the wreckage.
Whatcom County Public Works, Sudden Valley Community Association crews and myriad tree service companies responded early Wednesday morning to begin addressing the many fallen trees. County crews focused on the public road obstructions, while the private roads inside the subdivision were cleared by the HOA.
“All residents should use extreme caution traveling to/from and within Sudden Valley as there are many tree and power line hazards all over,” SWFA reminded the community. Station 22 offices were closed and the WTA Sudden Valley bus route is turning around at Geneva Street until further notice.
Whatcom County Public Works announced on Wednesday afternoon that Lake Whatcom Boulevard was impassible between Camp Firwood and 1670 Lake Whatcom Blvd. and will likely remain so for multiple days.
“Our team can only safely reopen the road once the power company has cleared the area and the remaining vegetation has been removed,” the county said. “Please drive with caution and do not go around road closed signs.”
Several other roads were closed in Whatcom County as crews remove downed trees and power lines. Those included:
- Park Road: From Highway 9 to Blue Canyon;
- Mosquito Lake Road: From Mount Baker Highway to 5015 Mosquito Lake Road; and
- Mosquito Lake Road: From Highway 9 to 2372 Mosquito Lake Road.
Both directions of State Route 9 between Sedro-Woolley and Wickersham were blocked with no estimated time for reopening. Find other Skagit County road closures here.
Whatcom County Emergency Management public information officer Amy Cloud said in an email that it’s essential to plan ahead to prepare for future events and recommended monitoring the National Weather Service and WhatcomReady.org.
“If it’s essential to travel during inclement weather, check WSDOT and County Public Works for road impacts, and have alternate route options. And now’s the time to start building a Go Bag (overnight essentials, including medications, food/water, chargers, change of clothes) as well a kit to be Two Weeks Ready,” Cloud continued.
As of 5:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Puget Sound Energy had 416,488 customers out of power across its service region, with King County hit the hardest.
“We anticipate a multiple day outage and encourage customers with critical needs to make alternate plans as we work to assess the situation and restore power,” PSE said in a statement.
At PeaceHealth United General in Sedro-Woolley and at Skagit PeaceHealth clinics, phone lines and internet were down due to storm damage. PeaceHealth said in a statement it was working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
At least one person died in Lynnwood when a tree fell on a homeless encampment, according to the Seattle Times. The Bellevue Fire Department reported the death of one resident of Bellevue after a tree fell on a house in the Bridal Trail neighborhood.
Reporter Annie Todd contributed to this story.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
