Storm Watch 2008!

So here is an up-date from Chico about the big storm we just had:It had been in the news and radio that there was a big storm scheduled to hit Northern California starting either Jan.3rd or 4th. People were to prepare for power outages and stock up on candles and water, just in case. Going to the store on the 2nd was almost like trying to go shopping on Christmas...don't do it! Everyone and their mother decided to go to Costco and other such stores and buy bottled water, food, generators, etc. We felt pretty stocked, so we avoided stores as best we could and our biggest concern was flooding to our garage. Fortunately we also got gas before-hand and had our cell phones fully charged.

The storm started in Chico on the morning of the 4th with reported 60 mph winds and rain. I woke up at 6:30 am for work and jumped in the shower. I had just gotten out and dried off when the light flickered and went out, as well as the heater. I figured it was a good thing that I had finished my shower and since we have a window in the bathroom there was no problem continuing to get ready. I figured there would probably be power at work (we are right next to PG&E so there must be power in that area, right?) so I could warm up water for my tea there. Then I grabbed all my stuff, including my little sick dog, and braved the storm to get to my car and then drove to work.It was early but already there were a few people out driving, I am assuming to work also, many trees had fallen down in the orchards around our house and many limbs and other debris were on the road. Nothing too scarey, but worth keeping an eye out for.

When I got to work everything was dark. It is amazing how you don't think of how dark a building may be until you have no power! They lost power sometime around 7:45 am and with it lost any running water, computer capabilities, and our phone lines. We had been prepared and had plenty of bottled water (hence the Costco experience) so all animals were able to have fresh water and we had water for minimal things like washing hands, but there was no way to wash out larger kennels (fortunately for kennel staff noone made a horrible mess), flush the toilet more than one time (if it is yellow, let it mellow...), do any laundry or give a bath.

We also have electronic doors between the waiting room and the exam rooms so the 2 appointments that actually showed up for vaccines had to check-in in the waiting room and then come around the exit door to actually come into the exam room. One exam room has a window so that is the only room we could use for appointments and our dental room has a skylight so any treatments had to be done in there. At some point the doctor broke down and had us try to call people (via cell phone) to re-schedule appointments since it would be useless to do anything that day. We actually got to go home early!

At home there was a little bit of chaos when I arrived. The front part of our fence had blown down and down the street our neighbors car canopy had flipped over and was in the middle of the street. I love our neighborhood, lots of people were out since the rain and heavy winds had stopped and they were checking to see who needed help. DJ coordinated the resurrection of the fence, which now looks totally ghetto and will need to be rebuilt as the weather gets better, and then had to head off to work.

There was still no electricity in the house but we had gas and water, so at least the house was warm since we have gas wall heaters. However, our stove is electric so I figured it would be good to get a camping stove to warm up food and water. There is a surplus store nearby-ish (closer than Wal-mart or Target anyway), although there were still detours due to falling limbs in the streets, that had power and accepted credit cards (the banks shut down due to power and noone could use the ATM). I got their last stove and gas and hurried home to try to put it all together before it got too dark to see with natural light. Once that was done we were set!!! Kind of felt like really comfortable camping! =)

All that was left to do after that was put candles all around the kitchen, make some food and read by candle light until DJ got home from work. It reminded me of when the power went off in Monterrey because all that you could do was light a candle and wait for power to come back on. I mean you can report it to the power company, but if everyone is in your position then you just have to wait it out. When DJ got home, he brought more candles with him and a Harry Potter 3-D puzzle, so we spent the rest of the evening trying to build up Hogwarts.

This morning when I woke up we had power once again, but I think that we may have more wind and rain, so I am trying to charge up all rechargable electrical devices we may have and checking email before power potentially goes out again. I'll try adding some pics later. All in all we did well during the storm, the newspaper says that some people had damage to their homes and about 80,000 homes lost power and some people don't have it back yet. So we were very lucky!Here are some pictures from the local newspaper: http://chicoer.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=402723