Yesterday I received an email from our local Chamber of Commerce, forwarded from the City of Maple Valley regarding a NOAA (National Oceanic Atmospheric Association) storm warning. The language of the email was pretty concerning:
"NOAA considers a warning to be an imminent or occurring weather event. THIS IS A LIFE THREATENING SITUATION AND CONSIDERED TO BE AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM. People should plan to stay indoors if at all possible starting Saturday morning."
Maple Valley is located close to the Cascade Mountain foothills and often bears the brunt of the wind storms (along with Northbend & Enumclaw). We typically will experience wind storms at least once during the winter. But this storm is predicted to be as strong (or stronger) a storm we experienced back in 2003 when the greater Maple Valley area was without power for nearly a week. They are saying we may experience gusts of up to 90 MPH with sustained winds in the 55 MPH range.
During the 2003 windstorm we were awakened about 5:30 am by a loud THUD, when a tree hit our house. Fortunately, the top of the tree was already dying, so it cracked at the right spot. Had it been a bigger tree, my youngest son may not be with us today. (It was directly over his bed). The morning of that storm, I remember trying to get my 12 year old Golden Retreiver outside to do his thing (he'd been inside all night for petesake!). The winds were so loud it sounded like a 747 was overing 10' over our roof. The sound is what I will remember forever, and it is what I think about whenever I watch Hurricane footage.
A report on Q13's website yesterday, quotes a local meteorologist :
"It's going to be wicked and dangerous in the Cascade foothills, especially Northbend, Maple Valley, Black Diamond & Enumclaw....It's going to be major"
Predicting the weather in the Puget Sound area is not easy because things can change very quickly. I only hope this time they have over exaggerated. And if not, I hope everyone heeds the warning and stays safe.
Colleen Fischesser is the Broker/Owner of RE/MAX Select in Maple Valley, WA. She has been successfully selling and marketing properties all over South King & North Pierce counties since 1990 but specializes in the Maple Valley Washington area. .She may be contacted directly at: 425-432-5400
Copyright 2008, All Rights Reserved Colleen Fischesser
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