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12/02/2006: "Emergency Declared By County"

(While not everyone is convinced the last storm has created an emergency for the county, we are convinced this heron may be feeling a personal emergency as it stands on a frozen pond looking -we presume- for something to eat -photo sent in by Piet Visser. Speaking of emergencies, the following is a press release from the County that was emailed to us at 9:30 P.M. Friday Night:)

San Juan County continues to struggle for a fifth straight day from the worst storm to hit the islands in over twenty years. Schools and county offices remain closed for the fourth straight day. At one point, the majority of county residents were without power, many had no water for up to three days and thousands of trees came down, stranding residents in their homes as temperatures plummeted into the teens.

"This storm was one of the most severe storms I have experienced in 22 years", said Councilmember Bob Myhr. "Trees were falling in numbers never seen before."

"This storm gave us a combination of heavy snow, strong winds, and a deep freeze on the back end that really left us reeling. Roads have been extremely dangerous since Sunday, and even today we're facing treacherous conditions," says San Juan County Public Works Director Jon Shannon. Shannon also noted that it will take months to clean up debris.

In response to the power crisis and the bitter cold, San Juan County worked with the Red Cross to open emergency warming shelters on Lopez, Orcas, and San Juan Islands.

As a result of the November 26th storm, a Declaration of Emergency for the entire county was signed by the San Juan County Council on November 28th.

"It has been a real disaster," said Councilmember Kevin Ranker, with some of our residents stranded with no power and frozen water pipes for days." "It brought out the best in our communities, with neighbors helping neighbors and our local power, road and Emergency Services crews working 14+ hour days all week."

"Several of us were out with our chainsaws and shovels, checking in on our neighbors by the end of the first day – this is what our island communities are all about," He continued.

Due to the extreme cold and falling trees both line and back-up power have been out since the 26th at the Mt. Constitution antenna site on Orcas Island, a key communications link for emergency responders from the islands and the mainland, and commercial TV, radio, and cell phone companies. Local crews are fighting three to four feet of snow, strong winds, and a thick coating of ice to reach the site to begin repairs.

"We were severely impacted by this storm. It brought up to 18 inches of snow and temperatures as low as 12 degrees, resulting in several days of widespread power outages and extremely dangerous travel conditions," said Council Chair Alan Lichter. "Citizens and non-essential county workers are still advised to remain in their homes."

As the islands thaw out, a great many of the islands' residents are coping with burst pipes and flooded houses. As a result local water districts are struggling to maintain adequate supplies.

It is too soon to know the full financial impact of the storm, but early reports indicate a significant hit on local budgets. According to County Administrator Pete Rose, "San Juan County is looking at cumulative personnel, contractor, and repair costs upwards of a million dollars. For a county of our size this storm event will have a major impact of our budgets and will seriously affect our finances in the months to come."

The impact on the public power utility was equally large according to Cornelius, "Our initial accounting is putting the cost of this storm at about a half a million dollars, and that is a conservative estimate. We're still busy repairing our infrastructure, but soon we'll be sitting down to figure out how exactly we're going to pay for this."

With warmer weather on the horizon, the snow will soon melt, and the roads will begin to be cleared, but this is a November that few islanders are likely to forget anytime soon.