The power went out tonight

12 years ago

Windy, windy, windy.

We were driving home from a civic meeting tonight and many street lights were out. A tree had fallen onto someone's car. Blocks and blocks with no power.

When we arrived home, the whole neighborhood was in the dark.

Well, we got our little flashlights out of our cars and came inside. I found a candle and lit it, which helped in part of the house.

We realized then how attached we are to the TV. And the computers -- no WiFi. Hubs said if we opened the fridge all the cold would come out of it.

What to do? I thought I might be forced to read a book by flashlight, heaven forbid.

And then ..."Let There Be Light" (and there was light!)

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Comments (13)

west_gardener
12 years ago
It is windy here in Silicon Valley also, but so far we have kept our power. Crossing fingers. The wind caused a fire in a building in San Leandro. HWY 101 was closed for a time because there were tree limbs, yes, limbs flying around. I heard things go "bump in the night" around here but I'll wait until daylight to check it out.
On the lighter side, I placed double sided duct tape under my Poinsettias on the front porch, and they are still standing.
mjmercer
12 years ago
That must have been one hella wind storm. A friend in the far north reaches of Napa Valley told me he lost power, too, for an hour or so.

Karen
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petaloid
Original Author
12 years ago
I'll have to check the plants too, west.

Morning news says there were up to 90 mph winds in the southland last night. More than two thousand homes still without power. Pasadena and Arcadia's school districts closed today, and possibly La Canada. Trees down all over town, including one on a freeway, and lots of damage.

It looks like my neighborhood got off easy.
rob333 (zone 7b)
12 years ago
That always happens to me. I'll get it all set up, and then, the power comes back on. Adventures!
west_gardener
12 years ago
To echo petaloid's windy,windy, windy post, I'll say leaves, leaves, leaves.
Some of the leaves came down all at once during this wind storm. We have a full max toter, a small can full of leaves and a whole load of leaves in the side yard.
petaloid
Original Author
12 years ago
This morning there were trucks and the local TV news crew on our corner, five houses from our home. The power pole there was knocked sideways by the winds.

A big tree fell on my co-worker's parked car and smashed it. Another co-worker's driveway was blocked by the neighbor's fallen tree, and her power is still out.

Gosh, you'd think we lived in Chicago or something. L.A. might have to steal that "windy city" nickname.
lilosophie
12 years ago
I saw pictures on the news, both Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area, that was a wild weather event. They showed people surfing on Lake Tahoe!
I am about 250 miles North of San Francisco, and it was a bit breezy here, that's all. They said it was more windy on the higher mountain ridges, but the valley didn't get hit hard.
I had the water bottles filled, no power, no water and I always have the lanterns handy and a small pen-light by my reading chair, so I can find my way around, but then, nothing happened. Better to be prepared and not need it than to be blind-sided.
rob333 (zone 7b)
12 years ago
Santa Ana's. Man, smashed a car. Ouch?!
mjmercer
12 years ago
"Gosh, you'd think we lived in Chicago or something. L.A. might have to steal that "windy city" nickname."
*****

Petaloid, here's a weird factoid for you: Someone actually measured one time and discovered that San Francisco is windier than Chicago.

I must have some sort of weird "wind" karma. I live in one, and the other is my favorite city! lol

Karen
User
12 years ago
Not so bad here in Fullerton but leaves every where, some branches down in the neighborhood mostly cold. We woke up yesterday at 4:00 am to the wind noise and watched the news full of trees laying down and being chain sawed. Quiet today so far.
shymilfromchi
12 years ago
Actually, Chicago is known as the Windy City, not because of the physical winds (although it can be very windy), but from the politicians' bluster in the late 1800s when they were trying to
wrest the right to get the Columbian Exposition in competition with Cincinnati.

Although we can not match the violence of the winds that you had, our politicians are still quite windy.
minnie_tx
12 years ago
Actually, Chicago is known as the Windy City, not because of the physical winds (although it can be very windy), but from the politicians' bluster in the late 1800s when they were trying to
wrest the right to get the Columbian Exposition in competition with Cincinnati.
Thanks shymilfromchi

I was going to write the same thing but didn't have all the info you did .grew up there
west_gardener
12 years ago
Thanks for the mini history lesson, shymilfromchi.I like that.

Talking about the Santa Ana winds. Some 15-20 years ago, I was talking on the phone with someone in LA county during a Santa Ana wind event. I heard some strange background sounds on the phone. I asked her where she was and what she was doing. She said she was standing on her roof with a water hose trying to stave off the fires blowing her way. Her house was saved while a lot of other homes were burned to the ground around her.