120 Hours

On Wednesday November 30th a STRONG wind storm came ripping through our area.  Arcadia (where we live) and Pasadena were two of the hardest hit areas and were even declared a state of emergency!  The evening it hit, I had only heard "high wind warning" on the news, Brandon hadn't heard anything.  We went to bed around 9:30pm that night and by 10pm the wind was starting to really pick up.  At 11:30pm we lost power and would be without it for 5 more days!!!  It sounded like the trees outside the bedroom were going to crash down on us or come through the windows - SCARY!  I think I was up every hour looking out the window trying to see what was going on; neither one of us really slept well.  Here is what we found the next morning outside our apartment:

 

And this was our street!  Brandon called on the way to work and told me how to get around all the trees - it was CRAZY!  

 

 

Did you notice the power lines hanging??

It was three days before they could even get to the trees to start cutting them up!

 

When I went to work, I followed a Tundra pick up truck and he led me through all the trees - I couldn't see around anything!  When I got to work, the news was asking everyone in our area to stay home if possible because it was dangerous with all the fallen power lines, oops!  

The storm felt like a tornado without the rain, hail, and purple sky.  Well, that was a close assumption!The news stated our area was hit by winds as strong as a Type 2 Hurricane!  Just without all the rain!  It was really bad!  Just funny because we didn't hear strong warning for what was to come.....

I found this video on youtube of someone driving around our area, about three/four days after the storm hit because roads were open - around time 2:20 is the street we live on:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Ox78ZpzqE

The damage was so severe we had police at each end of the street directing traffic and checking driver licenses so only residents could go down the street - it was a nightmare!  Only one way in and out unless you were able to drive around a few barriers ;)

Since it gets dark at 5pm right now, we got bored really quick!  Listened to our crank radio (thanks mom!), played bananagrams, and sat by lots and lots of lit candles - trust me, dinners weren't that romantic by the candlelight, we could barely see our plates!  ha!  We spent most nights at Sean and Michelle's apartment with cocktails and good company entertaining each other :) I think one night we were in bed at 8pm!!

A typical night:

Most people were without heat but luckily our furnace has a pilot light and not an electric starter.  So we had heat, hot water, and gas to cook on the stove - just no lights.  I can't tell you how many times I turned on a light switch.  The best was when I got a shower then tried to dry my hair!  Duh!

The storm hit on 11/30 and our power came back on 12/5 = a very L-O-N-G 120 hours.