Winter's Wrath

As I sit here at my computer my house is rattling and shivering in the high wind that is sweeping down out of The Gorge. Portland metro area is being battered by a vicious winter storm. Tonight the prediction is for icy rain. We have had several days of snow and rain and flooding and traffic accidents and stalls and slides and cars and people swept away by rushing water. Houses in the hills have mudslides. Conditions at the Coast are dangerous and the mountain passes are impassable. Down into the Willamette Valley homes are lost to floods. Hundreds of big rigs are lined up at the entrance to The Gorge which is only three miles from here. Even with chains on they will have trouble navigating I-84. It is dangerous out there but thankfully it is the weekend and sensible people can stay safe.

This is the 4th day I have been voluntarily housebound. Warm and safe on my couch I have watched all the devastation on TV. And heard almost constant sirens coming from the nearby freeway. The creek down the road has flooded and my ingress and egress is limited if I wanted to go anywhere which I don't. I am high and dry here. Thanks to Amazon and my Kindle, I can order a book without leaving the comfort of my home. The power is still on so I have heat, my computer, and my coffee pot. The cell phone still works. If the power goes out, I can stay warm in my car which has a full tank of gas.

Some people have suffered devastating losses. My heart goes out to them. For some it is an Act of God and the weather. For others it is stupidity. Some of the rescue stories are hard to believe. People went camping! People tried to drive through four feet of standing water. People cleared all the brush off the hillside which then slid down on their neighbors below. A couple got lost in the grocery store parking lot and drove into the creek where their baby drowned. How do you live with something like that?

This is a night to go to bed early and plan to sleep in tomorrow morning. Grateful that I am warm and safe.