I know. 70 miles per hour? One to two inches of rain? What kind of wimps are we in Western Washington? Nevertheless, downed powerlines are downed powerlines. And closed bridges are closed bridges.
But that sort of stuff doesn’t bother me! I decided to try to get to work, traveling across Lake Washington from Seattle to my office in Redmond near the Microsoft campus.
Not a good idea. First of all the Evergreen Point bridge was closed. The State Department of Transportation had closed it during the high winds of the previous night. Reported WSDOT:
When crews opened the drawspan of the SR 520 Bridge on Thursday, three of the hooks that connect the spans were sheared off by wave action. This is not unusual and is easily repaired. When winds decreased crews started repair work and scanning the bridge for damage. Crews found no significant damage and replaced the hooks.
No problem. I diverted and crossed Lake Washington using the I-90 bridge. But as I drove north on I-405 I observed very heavy southbound traffic. So when I gave up trying to get to my office, what with no power east of Lake Washington and downed trees everywhere, I had to drive north around Lake Washington to avoid the slow southbound traffic on I-405.
Lessons Learned: Always fill your car up with gasoline on the day before a reported storm. You’d think that half a tank would be plenty. But when you are out and about, subject to delays and traffic congestion, and you don’t know where there is a gas station that is open for business, you need to start out with a full tank. My car was only half full this morning and that is not enough.
Now the only question is: Will the office annual holiday party be on this evening?
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