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1.23.2008
Storm Chronicles: Community voices, community forum
By CATE GABLE
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
The wind seems unusually strong but you finish packing the trunk and check-out of your hotel, belatedly discovering you're in the middle of what will be known as the "Coastal Gale of '07." And, by the way, all the roads off the Peninsula are blocked by downed trees.
Now what?
You head for the visitor's center, of course, hoping for a little information. But even Una Boyle, executive director of the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau, the visitor's information hub on the Peninsula, was having trouble on that score. In those days after the storm, she sat in her car every half hour listening to the radio. Or she would drive out to the police department or the local fire station to find out what was going on.
Many offices were simply closed.
Boyle shares, "We have ambient heating in our floor at the bureau which fortunately kept our building warm for 40 hours. But there wasn't much I could tell our visitors with no phones, no internet, and no power. Most of them checked back into their hotels if they could."
When she left the bureau searching for information, she fell into the time-honored tradition - leave a note on your door. Boyle notes, "I made sure to leave the radio call letters for people to check and the time when I would return."
Ken Karch, general manager of the Surfside Home Owners Association, resorted to low-tech communications as well. On the door of the Surfside office, Karch posted a note with updates gathered from radio broadcasts.
On Tuesday morning, Karch decided to go out for gas - he had several neighbors' empty gas cans in the back of his hybrid SUV. He figured he'd gas-up on the south end of the peninsula. But there were no pumps working in Ilwaco.
Well, surely they'd have gas in South Bend. Nope. On to Raymond, but again, no gas. OK, then - Aberdeen is a large city. But his heart dropped when he came up over the bridge to see not one light on in town.
Finally, after several detours, he found one small station open in Montesano with twenty cars in line. Good thing he had a fuel-efficient vehicle.
But if he had known, he might have tried the Shell Station in Seaview or found out that Jack's Country Store was hand-pumping gas for customers beginning on Tuesday afternoon.
Even if the right things were happening in some places on the peninsula, it was nearly impossible to find out what or where.
Which brings us back to the themes so often heard as we continue to share our storm stories with one another: communication, responsibility and resilience.
The folks who were best prepared to weather the storm and its after-effects were those who either have good neighborhood communications or were prepared, as recommended, to be self-sustaining for three to seven days.
Jeanne Ellevold, who has lived on the Peninsula for 15 years on a private lane on the ocean side, says, "We have a Committee of Two on our street. Sandy Thanes is a young go-getter who keeps track of the folks who have email. And, me, I have the phone list or I walk around to make sure everyone in our neighborhood is OK."
Ellevold goes on, "I think it's great the way we handled the storm. It's so important for people to be able to look out for themselves and for each other, whether it's a tsunami, an earthquake, or a power outage."
"After the storm, our Committee of Two toured the neighborhood to see what was needed. Some neighbors had trees down on their homes and some had their driveways blocked by trees."
Karch reiterates the same theme. Although there are 2,838 lots in Surfside, there are only 1,976 official members of the association. Of these, about half are 'part-timers;" but which "part" of the time will they be on the Peninsula?
Karch encourages everyone to be involved in community planning, because everyone has a stake here, whether you are a visitor, a resident, or a part-timer.
Several years ago, Surfside undertook a process called "Future Search," which brings a community together to discuss what it wants to be, how it will manage itself, and what its goals are. As part of this process, a Surfside Tsunami Committee was formed to consider how Surfside would respond when the Big Wave hits. (Ocean Park Fire Chief Jacob Brundage, a Surfside resident, is a member of this committee.)
They figured out the best routes for folks who would need to cross the canal to get out; and they sent out a survey to Surfsiders on the ridge to find out if they would be willing to house the ocean-front lowlanders if needed. Everyone said "Yes!"
Because of the preparations made, Surfside was able to keep their water system up and running throughout the power outage; they had trucks full of gas; and chain saws ready for action.
The one thing they didn't have and realized that they needed was more robust communications with other parts of the Peninsula, like a ham radio station for instance. This is in the works now.
Ellevold too hasn't stopped at the boundaries of her private lane with her generosity. Not only was she involved in the meetings that created the Peninsula Senior Activities Center, she has volunteered there for seven years.
Ellevold is excited about the peninsula community gathering which will take place this Saturday at the Ocean Park Elementary School. This day provides us all with time to talk-story and, in the tradition of communities everywhere, exchange ideas about how to make where we live a better place.
Ellevold has rounded up the seniors to make salads and sandwiches for the old-fashioned potluck lunch at the gathering, and they have also baked ten dozen mini-muffins and cookies for the all-day coffee table. (She was on her way to pick up coffee donated by Bob and Marietta's Long Beach Coffee Roasters.)
Boyle too is 100 percent behind the gathering organized by Nanci Main, community lynchpin (as Matt Winters, Chinook Observer Editor, characterized her in an "After Deadline" radio interview). Main is committed to the Peninsula and its people and has been for over 30 years.
The Eye of the Storm Community Forum will include the staples of all community gatherings: food, local talent; a slide show of storm images by photographer Damian Mulinix; storm stories from our peninsula youth; and time for us to talk to each other and collaborate on the convening question: "How can we as a community support emergency action planning and create networks that will serve the well-being of us all?"
Main has garnered support from all corners of our diverse community: from businesses and non-profits, individuals and organizations, service clubs and county officials.
As Boyle puts it, "I'm enthusiastic about doing whatever we can to support these efforts. We all need to be part of the solution."
This is an all-volunteer event. Do your part! If you would like to help, please email Nanci Main at (nanci@willapabay.org) or call her at 360-665-5340.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
The wind seems unusually strong but you finish packing the trunk and check-out of your hotel, belatedly discovering you're in the middle of what will be known as the "Coastal Gale of '07." And, by the way, all the roads off the Peninsula are blocked by downed trees.
Now what?
You head for the visitor's center, of course, hoping for a little information. But even Una Boyle, executive director of the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau, the visitor's information hub on the Peninsula, was having trouble on that score. In those days after the storm, she sat in her car every half hour listening to the radio. Or she would drive out to the police department or the local fire station to find out what was going on.
Many offices were simply closed.
Boyle shares, "We have ambient heating in our floor at the bureau which fortunately kept our building warm for 40 hours. But there wasn't much I could tell our visitors with no phones, no internet, and no power. Most of them checked back into their hotels if they could."
When she left the bureau searching for information, she fell into the time-honored tradition - leave a note on your door. Boyle notes, "I made sure to leave the radio call letters for people to check and the time when I would return."
Ken Karch, general manager of the Surfside Home Owners Association, resorted to low-tech communications as well. On the door of the Surfside office, Karch posted a note with updates gathered from radio broadcasts.
On Tuesday morning, Karch decided to go out for gas - he had several neighbors' empty gas cans in the back of his hybrid SUV. He figured he'd gas-up on the south end of the peninsula. But there were no pumps working in Ilwaco.
Well, surely they'd have gas in South Bend. Nope. On to Raymond, but again, no gas. OK, then - Aberdeen is a large city. But his heart dropped when he came up over the bridge to see not one light on in town.
Finally, after several detours, he found one small station open in Montesano with twenty cars in line. Good thing he had a fuel-efficient vehicle.
But if he had known, he might have tried the Shell Station in Seaview or found out that Jack's Country Store was hand-pumping gas for customers beginning on Tuesday afternoon.
Even if the right things were happening in some places on the peninsula, it was nearly impossible to find out what or where.
Which brings us back to the themes so often heard as we continue to share our storm stories with one another: communication, responsibility and resilience.
The folks who were best prepared to weather the storm and its after-effects were those who either have good neighborhood communications or were prepared, as recommended, to be self-sustaining for three to seven days.
Jeanne Ellevold, who has lived on the Peninsula for 15 years on a private lane on the ocean side, says, "We have a Committee of Two on our street. Sandy Thanes is a young go-getter who keeps track of the folks who have email. And, me, I have the phone list or I walk around to make sure everyone in our neighborhood is OK."
Ellevold goes on, "I think it's great the way we handled the storm. It's so important for people to be able to look out for themselves and for each other, whether it's a tsunami, an earthquake, or a power outage."
"After the storm, our Committee of Two toured the neighborhood to see what was needed. Some neighbors had trees down on their homes and some had their driveways blocked by trees."
Karch reiterates the same theme. Although there are 2,838 lots in Surfside, there are only 1,976 official members of the association. Of these, about half are 'part-timers;" but which "part" of the time will they be on the Peninsula?
Karch encourages everyone to be involved in community planning, because everyone has a stake here, whether you are a visitor, a resident, or a part-timer.
Several years ago, Surfside undertook a process called "Future Search," which brings a community together to discuss what it wants to be, how it will manage itself, and what its goals are. As part of this process, a Surfside Tsunami Committee was formed to consider how Surfside would respond when the Big Wave hits. (Ocean Park Fire Chief Jacob Brundage, a Surfside resident, is a member of this committee.)
They figured out the best routes for folks who would need to cross the canal to get out; and they sent out a survey to Surfsiders on the ridge to find out if they would be willing to house the ocean-front lowlanders if needed. Everyone said "Yes!"
Because of the preparations made, Surfside was able to keep their water system up and running throughout the power outage; they had trucks full of gas; and chain saws ready for action.
The one thing they didn't have and realized that they needed was more robust communications with other parts of the Peninsula, like a ham radio station for instance. This is in the works now.
Ellevold too hasn't stopped at the boundaries of her private lane with her generosity. Not only was she involved in the meetings that created the Peninsula Senior Activities Center, she has volunteered there for seven years.
Ellevold is excited about the peninsula community gathering which will take place this Saturday at the Ocean Park Elementary School. This day provides us all with time to talk-story and, in the tradition of communities everywhere, exchange ideas about how to make where we live a better place.
Ellevold has rounded up the seniors to make salads and sandwiches for the old-fashioned potluck lunch at the gathering, and they have also baked ten dozen mini-muffins and cookies for the all-day coffee table. (She was on her way to pick up coffee donated by Bob and Marietta's Long Beach Coffee Roasters.)
Boyle too is 100 percent behind the gathering organized by Nanci Main, community lynchpin (as Matt Winters, Chinook Observer Editor, characterized her in an "After Deadline" radio interview). Main is committed to the Peninsula and its people and has been for over 30 years.
The Eye of the Storm Community Forum will include the staples of all community gatherings: food, local talent; a slide show of storm images by photographer Damian Mulinix; storm stories from our peninsula youth; and time for us to talk to each other and collaborate on the convening question: "How can we as a community support emergency action planning and create networks that will serve the well-being of us all?"
Main has garnered support from all corners of our diverse community: from businesses and non-profits, individuals and organizations, service clubs and county officials.
As Boyle puts it, "I'm enthusiastic about doing whatever we can to support these efforts. We all need to be part of the solution."
This is an all-volunteer event. Do your part! If you would like to help, please email Nanci Main at (nanci@willapabay.org) or call her at 360-665-5340.
1.22.2008
Town halls and open forum working together
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
OCEAN PARK - The Town Hall meetings taking place around the county are sponsored and facilitated by Pacific County Sheriff John Didion and his emergency management team. These meetings are meant to allow officials to gather information from citizens, and, as Didion says, "to give us some great ideas for improvement in disaster response."
The first Town Hall meeting in North Cove/Tokeland was attended by 30 citizens, while at the meeting in the Peninsula Church Center in Seaview last week there were 60 people participating.
The Community Forum on Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Ocean Park Elementary School, organized by Nanci Main, is working in conjunction with the Town Hall meetings. This forum is a grassroots gathering in which the community creates and manages its own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme. The convening question of the open forum is "How can we as a community support emergency action planning and create networks that will serve the well-being of us all?"
This all-day open forum will feature a potluck lunch (if you're coming, be sure to sign up for the potluck at the Peninsula Senior Center 665-3999), spaghetti dinner, and stories from our youth. Participants will include many community and governmental leaders as well as individuals interested in ham radio operation, wildlife rehab, taking care of elders, turning the storm into art, emergency preparedness and a wide range of other topics. The work sessions will be generated based on the interests of the participants.
To find out more about the Town Hall meetings, call Emergency Management Coordinator, Stephanie Fritts at 642-9300, Ext.2340.
To get more information, or to help with the all-volunteer Community Forum, call Nanci Main at 665-5340 or email nanci@willapabay.org.
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
OCEAN PARK - The Town Hall meetings taking place around the county are sponsored and facilitated by Pacific County Sheriff John Didion and his emergency management team. These meetings are meant to allow officials to gather information from citizens, and, as Didion says, "to give us some great ideas for improvement in disaster response."
The first Town Hall meeting in North Cove/Tokeland was attended by 30 citizens, while at the meeting in the Peninsula Church Center in Seaview last week there were 60 people participating.
The Community Forum on Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Ocean Park Elementary School, organized by Nanci Main, is working in conjunction with the Town Hall meetings. This forum is a grassroots gathering in which the community creates and manages its own agenda of parallel working sessions around a central theme. The convening question of the open forum is "How can we as a community support emergency action planning and create networks that will serve the well-being of us all?"
This all-day open forum will feature a potluck lunch (if you're coming, be sure to sign up for the potluck at the Peninsula Senior Center 665-3999), spaghetti dinner, and stories from our youth. Participants will include many community and governmental leaders as well as individuals interested in ham radio operation, wildlife rehab, taking care of elders, turning the storm into art, emergency preparedness and a wide range of other topics. The work sessions will be generated based on the interests of the participants.
To find out more about the Town Hall meetings, call Emergency Management Coordinator, Stephanie Fritts at 642-9300, Ext.2340.
To get more information, or to help with the all-volunteer Community Forum, call Nanci Main at 665-5340 or email nanci@willapabay.org.
Storm Chronicles: Peninsula hams
By CATE GABLE
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
Editor's Note: We are publishing this series of storm stories to encourage Peninsula residents to attend a Community Forum on Saturday Jan. 26, at the Ocean Park Elementary School. The convening question will be "How can we as a community support emergency action planning and create networks that will serve the well-being of us all?"
Frank Wolfe, north end Peninsula resident since 1977 smiles and says, "We're not on the way to anywhere. Either you want to be here, or you're lost ... and often the latter becomes the former."
It's true that being at the end of the world has kept our little piece of paradise protected for decades but, after the Big Blow, it also meant that we fell off the map.
Wolfe loves our area and has played an important role in creating a communications network that very few of us know about. But it played a critical function for all of us during the storm.
Wolfe is an Extra Class - the top of three categories - ham or amateur radio operator. But even more importantly, Wolfe has boot-strapped a robust network of repeater towers that boost local ham signals allowing them to be carried far out of our county.
He maintains seven towers in Pacific County, three in Grays Harbor County, one in Thurston, and several in other places in the state. As Wolfe puts it, "When you've got the knowledge, you share it."
"We just got back from a snow-cat ride up Capital Peak outside of Olympia. There's six feet of snow up there right now and our tower antennae is broken. So we'll have to go back up when the snow melts and repair it."
Wolfe goes on to explain, "When everything else fails, then you count on the hams to get a message through. We have limited capacity but we are very, very, very flexible."
Why can a ham message get through when phone messages cannot? The ham signal operates on a different frequency, one that can only travel short distances; hence the need for repeater towers that carry the signal from one point to another. But this short-distance signal is robust.
And there is 'redundancy' built into the system. Hams have many ways of getting a message through. If one doesn't work, another method is tried.
So during the storm, when phone lines - which use a commercial microwave system - were down, the hams were 'hamming it up,' listening on the "informal network" and passing on messages when needed.
When Pacific County Emergency Management Coordinator Stephanie Fritts, who is one of many local officials who has a ham license, called to "formalize the net," a core group of hams began manning the designated Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) around the county.
There is an EOC in South Bend, at the Annex Building behind the courthouse; one upstairs in the Long Beach County Building and one at the Ocean Park Fire Station.
Each of these EOCs has a ham operator on duty 12 to 14 hours a day during a "formal net," and each EOC is in communication with the state Emergency Command Center (ECC) located at Camp Murray near Tacoma. At the ECC there is a permanent ham station.
"It works like this," Wolfe explains, "if someone from Kansas calls their local Red Cross worried about Aunt Maud living in Oysterville, the message gets sent as close as it can to Aunt Maud. Then it gets passed by hams until someone on the Peninsula who is listening on the net, hears the message and reports back that Aunt Maud is fine. Then the message gets passed back up the line."
"If Aunt Maud isn't fine, or no one knows for sure, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) might be sent out to find her or to help her get what she needs."
The world of hams, though full of acronyms and a lingo all its own, is not a special secret society.
Anyone willing to put in about 10 hours of study can take the ham radio technician licensing test. If 70 percent of the 35 questions are answered correctly, the applicant will be assigned a unique call sign and will be authorized to use a ham radio. (Hams in Pacific County have call signs that begin with K, N, W and A.)
In fact, Wolfe will be teaching a ham radio class four evenings on the Peninsula at the Long Beach Fire Hall from 7 to 9 p.m., Feb. 6, 20, 22, and March 5. This should provide sufficient preparation for passing the ham radio technician license test.
Wolfe says there are between 50 and 75 licensed hams on the Peninsula, though not all of them are active. He would like to see one out of every 10 citizens be trained and licensed as a ham.
Bud Cuffel, the only Pacific County Commissioner who is currently a ham, agrees. "In this last storm, the ham radio operators served our community well. The Peninsula was isolated. It cost us $700,000 just to clear the roads of trees. Sometimes a ham message was the only thing that could get through."
Wolfe says, "Now imagine roads not just blocked by trees, but roads that are just chasms of water, all washed out."
He is talking, of course, about the effects a tsunami will likely have on our Peninsula when every ocean beach access road cut through the primary dunes will be an avenue of incursion for the water.
But whether it's a tidal wave or another storm that takes down our power lines and blocks our roads, Wolfe emphasizes, "You need to be prepared to be on your own a minimum of three days with shelter, food, water and heat."
Wolfe and his wife Kathleen Sayce have their emergency kits all ready to go and they include portable ham radios.
Wolfe will be attending our post-storm Community Forum on Jan. 26 at the Ocean Park Elementary School to share his ham stories and to invite further discussion. If you would like to help with this event, please e-mail Nanci Main at nanci@willapabay.org or call her at 665-5340.
Main needs chairs and tables, people to help with the potluck meals and anyone who can assist with computers and note taking.
For more information on the ham radio class, contact class organizer Dave Glasson at 642-2900. There is also a Pacific County Ham Radio Club that meets the first Sunday of every month at 9 a.m. at Harbor Lights Restaurant.
•••Also note an update from last week's Storm Chronicles on our local pharmacies: Sue Freese called to say that starting Tuesday of storm week, the Long Beach Pharmacy owners Jeff and Casey Harrell and Tom Sutherland rounded up a generator. They had the Long Beach Pharmacy up and running and serving customers for both Ilwaco and Ocean Park pharmacies as well. Even though insurance records could not be accessed, our local pharmacists were issuing five-day supplies of most medications. Just another example of our Peninsula can-do spirit!
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
Editor's Note: We are publishing this series of storm stories to encourage Peninsula residents to attend a Community Forum on Saturday Jan. 26, at the Ocean Park Elementary School. The convening question will be "How can we as a community support emergency action planning and create networks that will serve the well-being of us all?"
Frank Wolfe, north end Peninsula resident since 1977 smiles and says, "We're not on the way to anywhere. Either you want to be here, or you're lost ... and often the latter becomes the former."
It's true that being at the end of the world has kept our little piece of paradise protected for decades but, after the Big Blow, it also meant that we fell off the map.
Wolfe loves our area and has played an important role in creating a communications network that very few of us know about. But it played a critical function for all of us during the storm.
Wolfe is an Extra Class - the top of three categories - ham or amateur radio operator. But even more importantly, Wolfe has boot-strapped a robust network of repeater towers that boost local ham signals allowing them to be carried far out of our county.
He maintains seven towers in Pacific County, three in Grays Harbor County, one in Thurston, and several in other places in the state. As Wolfe puts it, "When you've got the knowledge, you share it."
"We just got back from a snow-cat ride up Capital Peak outside of Olympia. There's six feet of snow up there right now and our tower antennae is broken. So we'll have to go back up when the snow melts and repair it."
Wolfe goes on to explain, "When everything else fails, then you count on the hams to get a message through. We have limited capacity but we are very, very, very flexible."
Why can a ham message get through when phone messages cannot? The ham signal operates on a different frequency, one that can only travel short distances; hence the need for repeater towers that carry the signal from one point to another. But this short-distance signal is robust.
And there is 'redundancy' built into the system. Hams have many ways of getting a message through. If one doesn't work, another method is tried.
So during the storm, when phone lines - which use a commercial microwave system - were down, the hams were 'hamming it up,' listening on the "informal network" and passing on messages when needed.
When Pacific County Emergency Management Coordinator Stephanie Fritts, who is one of many local officials who has a ham license, called to "formalize the net," a core group of hams began manning the designated Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) around the county.
There is an EOC in South Bend, at the Annex Building behind the courthouse; one upstairs in the Long Beach County Building and one at the Ocean Park Fire Station.
Each of these EOCs has a ham operator on duty 12 to 14 hours a day during a "formal net," and each EOC is in communication with the state Emergency Command Center (ECC) located at Camp Murray near Tacoma. At the ECC there is a permanent ham station.
"It works like this," Wolfe explains, "if someone from Kansas calls their local Red Cross worried about Aunt Maud living in Oysterville, the message gets sent as close as it can to Aunt Maud. Then it gets passed by hams until someone on the Peninsula who is listening on the net, hears the message and reports back that Aunt Maud is fine. Then the message gets passed back up the line."
"If Aunt Maud isn't fine, or no one knows for sure, an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) might be sent out to find her or to help her get what she needs."
The world of hams, though full of acronyms and a lingo all its own, is not a special secret society.
Anyone willing to put in about 10 hours of study can take the ham radio technician licensing test. If 70 percent of the 35 questions are answered correctly, the applicant will be assigned a unique call sign and will be authorized to use a ham radio. (Hams in Pacific County have call signs that begin with K, N, W and A.)
In fact, Wolfe will be teaching a ham radio class four evenings on the Peninsula at the Long Beach Fire Hall from 7 to 9 p.m., Feb. 6, 20, 22, and March 5. This should provide sufficient preparation for passing the ham radio technician license test.
Wolfe says there are between 50 and 75 licensed hams on the Peninsula, though not all of them are active. He would like to see one out of every 10 citizens be trained and licensed as a ham.
Bud Cuffel, the only Pacific County Commissioner who is currently a ham, agrees. "In this last storm, the ham radio operators served our community well. The Peninsula was isolated. It cost us $700,000 just to clear the roads of trees. Sometimes a ham message was the only thing that could get through."
Wolfe says, "Now imagine roads not just blocked by trees, but roads that are just chasms of water, all washed out."
He is talking, of course, about the effects a tsunami will likely have on our Peninsula when every ocean beach access road cut through the primary dunes will be an avenue of incursion for the water.
But whether it's a tidal wave or another storm that takes down our power lines and blocks our roads, Wolfe emphasizes, "You need to be prepared to be on your own a minimum of three days with shelter, food, water and heat."
Wolfe and his wife Kathleen Sayce have their emergency kits all ready to go and they include portable ham radios.
Wolfe will be attending our post-storm Community Forum on Jan. 26 at the Ocean Park Elementary School to share his ham stories and to invite further discussion. If you would like to help with this event, please e-mail Nanci Main at nanci@willapabay.org or call her at 665-5340.
Main needs chairs and tables, people to help with the potluck meals and anyone who can assist with computers and note taking.
For more information on the ham radio class, contact class organizer Dave Glasson at 642-2900. There is also a Pacific County Ham Radio Club that meets the first Sunday of every month at 9 a.m. at Harbor Lights Restaurant.
•••Also note an update from last week's Storm Chronicles on our local pharmacies: Sue Freese called to say that starting Tuesday of storm week, the Long Beach Pharmacy owners Jeff and Casey Harrell and Tom Sutherland rounded up a generator. They had the Long Beach Pharmacy up and running and serving customers for both Ilwaco and Ocean Park pharmacies as well. Even though insurance records could not be accessed, our local pharmacists were issuing five-day supplies of most medications. Just another example of our Peninsula can-do spirit!
Storm Chronicles: Tale of two caregivers
By CATE GABLE
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
Some would say foolhardy, some would say heroic.
Early on December 2, at the height of the storm, Marshall Tate, Klipsan resident and semi-retired pharmacist, was gripping the wheel of his truck and heading to Fred Meyer in Warrenton to report for work.
But let's let him tell the tale, "I left for work two hours early because I knew it was going to be a long, slow, difficult drive. I drove down the Ocean Highway to Illwaco. There were several power lines down which I managed to avoid and many, many trees on the road."
"When I got past Chinook the river was coming over the road. I had to slow down to ten mph because of all the debris. On the other side of the tunnel, high waves were crashing over the highway. I turned the windshield wipers on full but it didn't help. My truck was covered by water for what seemed like an eternity. By this time I had slowed down to two mph to avoid all of the logs and rocks. There were no other vehicles on the road and the wind was howling."
"When I finally made it to the bridge, I remember clutching the steering wheel hard and fighting as the wind kept pushing the truck into the on-coming lane. I looked over and the river looked very angry. When I got to the top, I could feel the whole bridge shaking. Later I heard that the Megler Bridge was closed due to high winds. I guess I got through just before they closed the bridge."
And that was only the beginning of his day!
Fred Meyer was operating on generators and reduced power. Some computers were working but all the fax lines were down, phone service was only available for 861 numbers, and only half the lights were on.
Customers were lined up out the door-at one point Tate counted 100 people in line. Because of the reduced communications capabilities, no prescription could be faxed in or looked up on the computer systems, no physicians could be reached.
In the face of these difficulties, the pharmacists decided to fill every prescription they could, except pain medications, until they started running out of pills. Some Columbia Memorial Hospital doctors, knowing the problem, stopped by to approve customer refills or to write new prescriptions.
Dave Mathre, Fred Meyer pharmacy manager, came in Monday afternoon to help and looked at Tate in amazement, "How did you make it in today!'"
As Tate relates, all the pharmaceutical technicians worked together operating under very difficult circumstances. They found out later that they were the only pharmacy open within a hundred mile radius.
Looking back on those stormy days, Tate says, "Monday and Tuesday were the two most challenging days of my career."
Meanwhile at the Ocean Beach Hospital in Ilwaco, the team of caregivers was pulling together equally-heroically not only to take care of their patients but to provide emergency care to other people who had no power or food.
Carol (Wisner) Moore, born and raised on the peninsula, was an RN on duty at our hospital during the storm and shares her tale.
"We had generator power but not to the back of the building, so some rooms didn't have heat and we couldn't do surgeries. But everyone pulled together. The dietary department made soup because some people who had no power stopped by and needed something to eat. We became an emergency center."
"We had one little lady and man who came in and just stayed. We gave them free meals because they didn't have any light or heat."
Even other staff members who weren't scheduled to work came in to help. One nurse had to wait for the fourteen trees down on her property to be hauled out of the way before she made it in.
Moore says, "What made me feel really good was how people came together. This was a grass-roots, what's-needed effort. It was community-based."
"Even though we are at the end of the world and no one knew about us, I was so proud of everyone. You just go outside of yourself to do what's needed. I think a lot of this area."
So many of the people in our community expressed the same nonchalance that Moore and Tate shared with me about their responses to the storm. As Tate put it, talking about his drive to work through the hurricane, "I was just doing my job trying to help people."
Many of our local caregivers will be attending our post-storm Community Forum on Jan. 26 at the Ocean Park Elementary School to share their stories and to invite further discussion.
If you would like to help with this event, please email Nanci Main at nanci@willapabay.org or call her at 665-5340, and keep your eyes on the Chinook Observer for more information in the coming weeks
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Reprinted from the Chinook Observer
Some would say foolhardy, some would say heroic.
Early on December 2, at the height of the storm, Marshall Tate, Klipsan resident and semi-retired pharmacist, was gripping the wheel of his truck and heading to Fred Meyer in Warrenton to report for work.
But let's let him tell the tale, "I left for work two hours early because I knew it was going to be a long, slow, difficult drive. I drove down the Ocean Highway to Illwaco. There were several power lines down which I managed to avoid and many, many trees on the road."
"When I got past Chinook the river was coming over the road. I had to slow down to ten mph because of all the debris. On the other side of the tunnel, high waves were crashing over the highway. I turned the windshield wipers on full but it didn't help. My truck was covered by water for what seemed like an eternity. By this time I had slowed down to two mph to avoid all of the logs and rocks. There were no other vehicles on the road and the wind was howling."
"When I finally made it to the bridge, I remember clutching the steering wheel hard and fighting as the wind kept pushing the truck into the on-coming lane. I looked over and the river looked very angry. When I got to the top, I could feel the whole bridge shaking. Later I heard that the Megler Bridge was closed due to high winds. I guess I got through just before they closed the bridge."
And that was only the beginning of his day!
Fred Meyer was operating on generators and reduced power. Some computers were working but all the fax lines were down, phone service was only available for 861 numbers, and only half the lights were on.
Customers were lined up out the door-at one point Tate counted 100 people in line. Because of the reduced communications capabilities, no prescription could be faxed in or looked up on the computer systems, no physicians could be reached.
In the face of these difficulties, the pharmacists decided to fill every prescription they could, except pain medications, until they started running out of pills. Some Columbia Memorial Hospital doctors, knowing the problem, stopped by to approve customer refills or to write new prescriptions.
Dave Mathre, Fred Meyer pharmacy manager, came in Monday afternoon to help and looked at Tate in amazement, "How did you make it in today!'"
As Tate relates, all the pharmaceutical technicians worked together operating under very difficult circumstances. They found out later that they were the only pharmacy open within a hundred mile radius.
Looking back on those stormy days, Tate says, "Monday and Tuesday were the two most challenging days of my career."
Meanwhile at the Ocean Beach Hospital in Ilwaco, the team of caregivers was pulling together equally-heroically not only to take care of their patients but to provide emergency care to other people who had no power or food.
Carol (Wisner) Moore, born and raised on the peninsula, was an RN on duty at our hospital during the storm and shares her tale.
"We had generator power but not to the back of the building, so some rooms didn't have heat and we couldn't do surgeries. But everyone pulled together. The dietary department made soup because some people who had no power stopped by and needed something to eat. We became an emergency center."
"We had one little lady and man who came in and just stayed. We gave them free meals because they didn't have any light or heat."
Even other staff members who weren't scheduled to work came in to help. One nurse had to wait for the fourteen trees down on her property to be hauled out of the way before she made it in.
Moore says, "What made me feel really good was how people came together. This was a grass-roots, what's-needed effort. It was community-based."
"Even though we are at the end of the world and no one knew about us, I was so proud of everyone. You just go outside of yourself to do what's needed. I think a lot of this area."
So many of the people in our community expressed the same nonchalance that Moore and Tate shared with me about their responses to the storm. As Tate put it, talking about his drive to work through the hurricane, "I was just doing my job trying to help people."
Many of our local caregivers will be attending our post-storm Community Forum on Jan. 26 at the Ocean Park Elementary School to share their stories and to invite further discussion.
If you would like to help with this event, please email Nanci Main at nanci@willapabay.org or call her at 665-5340, and keep your eyes on the Chinook Observer for more information in the coming weeks
Storm Chronicles: Where have all the seabirds gone?
By CATE GABLE
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Reprinted from The Chinook Observer
When the storm hit, Suzanne Staples, RN, a Klipsan homeowner since 1995, found herself worried about the birds. Staples, a lifetime member of the Portland Audubon Society as well as the Peninsula's Shoalwater Birders, knows that storms mean hard times for our wildlife.
"When a storm is in full-swing, birds and other species are unable to feed. So a four- or five-day storm is a real hardship that many birds and other wildlife can't survive."
On Monday of the Big Blow, the flock of ducks generally meandering in the wetlands just in front of her house had disappeared. But Staples noticed a tiny Anna's hummingbird clinging to the branches of her maple tree.
"Anna's hummingbirds winter over on our Peninsula," said Staples. "This little hummer would hang onto our tree and then, between gusts, would bomb down to our feeder for a quick sip of sugar water. Its timing was perfect."
But Staples couldn't help but wonder 'how were the gulls faring? The murres? The cormorants? The eagles?'
Staples is a board member and regular volunteer for the Wildlife Rehab Center of the North Coast, a non-profit facility just outside of Astoria that administers to injured, sick, or orphaned native wildlife and, if possible, releases creatures back into the appropriate natural habitat.
When I asked Staples about her storm story, she suggested I come down with her to visit the rehab center and see for myself some of the "post-storm victims."
So early on the day after Christmas, we rode to Olney, Ore., site of the 105-acre grounds of the Wildlife Rehab Center, run by the seemingly indefatigable director, Sharnelle Fee.
Just inside the door of the hospital, a bald eagle screeched at our intrusion. Before I could sufficiently take in this wonder, Staples and I were hounded by a brown pelican, standing nearly three-feet tall and audaciously hungry. He snapped his huge bill at our legs and butts like an overgrown and dangerous chicken, while Staples, with enviable sang-froid grabbed his upper bill and scolded him.
I could see then that both his wing joints were scraped raw. We tossed whole fish into a plastic tub on the floor and immediately he forgot about us.
The center had a full house: Peregrine falcon, two red-tailed hawks, barn and saw whet owls, gulls, murres, cormorants, fulmars, a domesticated white dove, even a porcupine all occupied the stainless steel cages at the hospital.
The eagle would soon have its broken leg X-rayed (two pins had been put in place by a local vet). In another room, fridges held frozen fish of all varieties, across from shelves of medical supplies. The washers and dryers in the laundry room were running non-stop.
I asked Fee about the effects of our hurricane on seabirds and other wildlife.
"The birds can't get their lives together when there are consecutive storms," she said, "And they don't get a lot of second chances. Animals get behind in their feedings, they get weak and they can't catch up."
"We were bracing for this blow but we didn't see the effects until about five days after the storm. Then we started getting calls. We think the winds blowing south to north were so strong they blew our wildlife right up the coast."
The Wildlife Center is a volunteer-only organization with funds provided solely by donations. Just the food bill is $40,000 annually - and that's a lot of frozen fish. Calls to pick up injured or sick birds and other animals come in daily from both the Washington and Oregon coasts.
When I ask about a specific bird story, Fee shares, "We got a call about an eagle under a picnic table. Eagles mate for life and we found out that the male eagle had been bringing food to his injured mate at this park for several days."
Then she points, "... and that is our Christmas loon."
Sharnelle Fee has dedicated her life to caring for injured wildlife. It's good to know that in a disaster all compass points are covered - that while some of us are tending to the needs of our human elders when the power goes off, others are providing succor to our wildlife neighbors.
Right now the center needs more volunteers from our Peninsula, especially during these stormy winters, both to transport birds to pick-up locations and for physical help at the center.
It's not glamorous work - there is a lot of bird poop to clean up - but the rewards are palpable. As Staples puts it, "I have been a birder all my life and, especially in a time of crisis, this feels like giving back all the pleasure that birds have given me."
Staples will be one of the many community members attending our post-storm Community Forum on Jan. 26 at the Ocean Park Elementary School to share her story and to invite further discussion.
If you would like to help with this event, please e-mail Nanci Main at (nanci@willapabay.org) or call her at 665-5340, and keep your eyes on the Chinook Observer for more information in the coming weeks.
For more information about the Wildlife Center see: (www.coastwildlife.org/) or phone: 503-338-0331. Donations can be sent to Wildlife Center of the North Coast, P.O. Box 1232, Astoria, OR 97103.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Reprinted from The Chinook Observer
When the storm hit, Suzanne Staples, RN, a Klipsan homeowner since 1995, found herself worried about the birds. Staples, a lifetime member of the Portland Audubon Society as well as the Peninsula's Shoalwater Birders, knows that storms mean hard times for our wildlife.
"When a storm is in full-swing, birds and other species are unable to feed. So a four- or five-day storm is a real hardship that many birds and other wildlife can't survive."
On Monday of the Big Blow, the flock of ducks generally meandering in the wetlands just in front of her house had disappeared. But Staples noticed a tiny Anna's hummingbird clinging to the branches of her maple tree.
"Anna's hummingbirds winter over on our Peninsula," said Staples. "This little hummer would hang onto our tree and then, between gusts, would bomb down to our feeder for a quick sip of sugar water. Its timing was perfect."
But Staples couldn't help but wonder 'how were the gulls faring? The murres? The cormorants? The eagles?'
Staples is a board member and regular volunteer for the Wildlife Rehab Center of the North Coast, a non-profit facility just outside of Astoria that administers to injured, sick, or orphaned native wildlife and, if possible, releases creatures back into the appropriate natural habitat.
When I asked Staples about her storm story, she suggested I come down with her to visit the rehab center and see for myself some of the "post-storm victims."
So early on the day after Christmas, we rode to Olney, Ore., site of the 105-acre grounds of the Wildlife Rehab Center, run by the seemingly indefatigable director, Sharnelle Fee.
Just inside the door of the hospital, a bald eagle screeched at our intrusion. Before I could sufficiently take in this wonder, Staples and I were hounded by a brown pelican, standing nearly three-feet tall and audaciously hungry. He snapped his huge bill at our legs and butts like an overgrown and dangerous chicken, while Staples, with enviable sang-froid grabbed his upper bill and scolded him.
I could see then that both his wing joints were scraped raw. We tossed whole fish into a plastic tub on the floor and immediately he forgot about us.
The center had a full house: Peregrine falcon, two red-tailed hawks, barn and saw whet owls, gulls, murres, cormorants, fulmars, a domesticated white dove, even a porcupine all occupied the stainless steel cages at the hospital.
The eagle would soon have its broken leg X-rayed (two pins had been put in place by a local vet). In another room, fridges held frozen fish of all varieties, across from shelves of medical supplies. The washers and dryers in the laundry room were running non-stop.
I asked Fee about the effects of our hurricane on seabirds and other wildlife.
"The birds can't get their lives together when there are consecutive storms," she said, "And they don't get a lot of second chances. Animals get behind in their feedings, they get weak and they can't catch up."
"We were bracing for this blow but we didn't see the effects until about five days after the storm. Then we started getting calls. We think the winds blowing south to north were so strong they blew our wildlife right up the coast."
The Wildlife Center is a volunteer-only organization with funds provided solely by donations. Just the food bill is $40,000 annually - and that's a lot of frozen fish. Calls to pick up injured or sick birds and other animals come in daily from both the Washington and Oregon coasts.
When I ask about a specific bird story, Fee shares, "We got a call about an eagle under a picnic table. Eagles mate for life and we found out that the male eagle had been bringing food to his injured mate at this park for several days."
Then she points, "... and that is our Christmas loon."
Sharnelle Fee has dedicated her life to caring for injured wildlife. It's good to know that in a disaster all compass points are covered - that while some of us are tending to the needs of our human elders when the power goes off, others are providing succor to our wildlife neighbors.
Right now the center needs more volunteers from our Peninsula, especially during these stormy winters, both to transport birds to pick-up locations and for physical help at the center.
It's not glamorous work - there is a lot of bird poop to clean up - but the rewards are palpable. As Staples puts it, "I have been a birder all my life and, especially in a time of crisis, this feels like giving back all the pleasure that birds have given me."
Staples will be one of the many community members attending our post-storm Community Forum on Jan. 26 at the Ocean Park Elementary School to share her story and to invite further discussion.
If you would like to help with this event, please e-mail Nanci Main at (nanci@willapabay.org) or call her at 665-5340, and keep your eyes on the Chinook Observer for more information in the coming weeks.
For more information about the Wildlife Center see: (www.coastwildlife.org/) or phone: 503-338-0331. Donations can be sent to Wildlife Center of the North Coast, P.O. Box 1232, Astoria, OR 97103.
1.21.2008
Storm Chronicles: People taking care of people
By CATE GABLE
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Reprinted from The Chinook Observer
(Editor's Note: We are publishing this series of storm stories to encourage Peninsula residents to attend a Community Forum Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Ocean Park Elementary School. This working forum will be attended by the sheriff, emergency management, county commissioners, our fire departments, Ocean Beach Hospital, the Chinook Observer and others. There will also be a Town Hall meeting. We encourage everyone to attend these important gatherings in order to pool our resources and knowledge to create better emergency action planning. This is an opportunity for all of us to communicate about how to better support one another during a catastrophic event.)
David George, Peninsula Rotary Club President and Pastor of New Life Church in Ilwaco, was doing what came naturally during the Big Blow - helping people. He did not even wait until the storm ended. George went out into the worst of the blow on Monday to check on the teenage child of friends he knew were out of town.
He and his wife, Gina, drove from Long Beach north to see if they could make it through to their young friend all by herself in Oysterville. Twice, they were turned back by downed trees and live wires on the road north, but at every turn they found an alternative route.
"It was a real jungle excursion," said George. "Trees were down everywhere. It was a good time to have an SUV."
As George was diverted, just one mile south of his goal at Joe Johns Road, he and his wife saw the total destruction of the main PUD pole. The Joe John's pole carries thousands of dollars of equipment and is a hub pole that routes the power to much of the Peninsula's north end.
George remembers, "This power pole wasn't just down - it looked like splintered toothpicks."
Finally, with teenager in tow, they back tracked on the same circuitous route they had used to make their way north. The whole trip took most of the afternoon. But this is all in a day's work for George who, with a congregation of about 40, was determined to make sure his "flock" was safe.
Knowing of a particular elderly woman staying alone in a house on the bluff on Cape Disappointment, George trekked out again on Tuesday to make sure she was OK.
"We brought in wood for her fireplace and found an old Kerosene stove which we decided was too dangerous to use for heat indoors. We did use it to heat water and we'd leave that for her in a thermos for tea or soup. We checked on her everyday until the power came back on.
"George also opened his church on Wednesday when he discovered that many people were not able to get clean water. The New Life Church did not yet have power but being on the Ilwaco water system meant that folks could stop by and fill up water containers. It also meant that that church became an information hub for passing the news, which, with phone service cut off, was hard to come by.
George discovered that Greg Spicer, a resident and small business owner living in Safari Camp Ground, had a mobile generator. Spicer, a welder by trade, used the generator to make sure Safari water pumps were working.
George and his family visited Spicer to take hot showers and use his Internet connection, which had a satellite signal before phone service came back on. This way George was able to get a message to family out of the area that they were OK.
The George family also teamed up with neighbors. They had a camp stove for cooking and their neighbors had a woodstove for heat. So the Georges would go over to the neighbors' house for heat and cook dinner for them. Both families felt like they were getting the best end of the deal.
What is apparent is that families that had a plan or were able to cooperate with others to support themselves in life's basic requirements - shelter, heat, access to clean water, and food - rode out the storm well.
George's stories point out all the small ways that peninsula residents worked together to take care of each other. He sums it all up this way, "You've got to keep a level head, do what you need to do, and help other people."
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Reprinted from The Chinook Observer
(Editor's Note: We are publishing this series of storm stories to encourage Peninsula residents to attend a Community Forum Saturday, Jan. 26, at the Ocean Park Elementary School. This working forum will be attended by the sheriff, emergency management, county commissioners, our fire departments, Ocean Beach Hospital, the Chinook Observer and others. There will also be a Town Hall meeting. We encourage everyone to attend these important gatherings in order to pool our resources and knowledge to create better emergency action planning. This is an opportunity for all of us to communicate about how to better support one another during a catastrophic event.)
David George, Peninsula Rotary Club President and Pastor of New Life Church in Ilwaco, was doing what came naturally during the Big Blow - helping people. He did not even wait until the storm ended. George went out into the worst of the blow on Monday to check on the teenage child of friends he knew were out of town.
He and his wife, Gina, drove from Long Beach north to see if they could make it through to their young friend all by herself in Oysterville. Twice, they were turned back by downed trees and live wires on the road north, but at every turn they found an alternative route.
"It was a real jungle excursion," said George. "Trees were down everywhere. It was a good time to have an SUV."
As George was diverted, just one mile south of his goal at Joe Johns Road, he and his wife saw the total destruction of the main PUD pole. The Joe John's pole carries thousands of dollars of equipment and is a hub pole that routes the power to much of the Peninsula's north end.
George remembers, "This power pole wasn't just down - it looked like splintered toothpicks."
Finally, with teenager in tow, they back tracked on the same circuitous route they had used to make their way north. The whole trip took most of the afternoon. But this is all in a day's work for George who, with a congregation of about 40, was determined to make sure his "flock" was safe.
Knowing of a particular elderly woman staying alone in a house on the bluff on Cape Disappointment, George trekked out again on Tuesday to make sure she was OK.
"We brought in wood for her fireplace and found an old Kerosene stove which we decided was too dangerous to use for heat indoors. We did use it to heat water and we'd leave that for her in a thermos for tea or soup. We checked on her everyday until the power came back on.
"George also opened his church on Wednesday when he discovered that many people were not able to get clean water. The New Life Church did not yet have power but being on the Ilwaco water system meant that folks could stop by and fill up water containers. It also meant that that church became an information hub for passing the news, which, with phone service cut off, was hard to come by.
George discovered that Greg Spicer, a resident and small business owner living in Safari Camp Ground, had a mobile generator. Spicer, a welder by trade, used the generator to make sure Safari water pumps were working.
George and his family visited Spicer to take hot showers and use his Internet connection, which had a satellite signal before phone service came back on. This way George was able to get a message to family out of the area that they were OK.
The George family also teamed up with neighbors. They had a camp stove for cooking and their neighbors had a woodstove for heat. So the Georges would go over to the neighbors' house for heat and cook dinner for them. Both families felt like they were getting the best end of the deal.
What is apparent is that families that had a plan or were able to cooperate with others to support themselves in life's basic requirements - shelter, heat, access to clean water, and food - rode out the storm well.
George's stories point out all the small ways that peninsula residents worked together to take care of each other. He sums it all up this way, "You've got to keep a level head, do what you need to do, and help other people."
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