Northwest Palms

significant windstorm as predicted

No snow here lately, but I sure got blasted with wind for about an hour and 1/2 today. The top snapped off one of our large sitka spruce trees. The heaviest part of it landed squarely on Himalayacalamus porcatus, which is the most expensive plant I have ever bought. (It was well established, so I think it will actually be all right.) Gotta love those sitka spruces. Amazingly, everything else is still in good shape. I would have expected to see windthrow on at least a couple eucs, but I guess all the ones I planted wrong (too large, rootbound) have been eliminated already, because even the ones on poorly drained soil are still very sturdy. The new greenhouse is still in tact; it just needs a little, uh, "adjusting".

The really major damage is down by the water. Those of you who have been here may recall I also have a disjunct piece of garden right at the beach with a westerly exposure to the water. That area was overrun with large waves going more than 2' above the usual highest tides, and is now still inundated with seawater. (Speaking of fertilizing with seaweed.....LOL). Brahea edulis and Livistona australis are down there but still appear to be fine. Many other plants though have had soil washed off their roots, and the wood chips I spread down there (as well as some other driftwood landscaping) have largely migrated off. I guess that is not too surprising. There is also a little damage to the bank. I have had seawater in that part of the garden before in 1996 and in 1993 (before anything was planted there), but never more than an inch or two deep, and never with these large waves, which were also very impressive to look at. I tried to take a few pics, but I don't think any shots came out that well (it is next to impossible to capture crashing waves when there is a little delay after you press the camera button) ...and I gave up before it really got bad, not wanting to get "eroded" away myself.

I hear there was a 128 mph wind gust at White Pass this morning. That is pretty impressive. Most other wind gusts around the region were in the 45-65 mph range. I suppose I was probably towards the upper end of that range for this particular event. Just from looking out the window I would have expected more widespread, worse damage and power outages than what occurred. A lot of our really major windstorms "bypass" my neighborhood since the strongest winds are from the south and my neighborhood is sheltered to the south. In this event however the winds were very strong from the west for a brief period.

The following thread was started by Ian on December 27, 2002 at 10:40 pm PST

Power outages were much more widespread than first reported. I have never really had this kind of opportunity to see news coverage of a windstorm in the past, since usually we are the last to get our power back (and often even lose power in 35-45mph winds). However it came back on within just a couple hours this time; I was amazed.

The above followup was added by Ian on December 28, 2002 at 1:55 am PST.

May I suggest you get a barge load or truck load of limestone boulders from Blubber Bay quarry on Texada Island. The limestone is cheap and blue/grey in colour which really is striking against any greenscape. It is more attractive by far than cement, makes excellent retaining walls is cheap and makes a good home to Brahea Armata (mexican Blue hesper palms) and also I have found steroid like growth with the lavenders planted amongst the limestone. There is 300 years worth of limestone on Texada Island so should be enough to hold back the sea for you-also will allow you to grow some different plants. Cheers

The above followup was added by Carl McIntosh on December 28, 2002 at 2:23 am PST.

Victoria had some strong winds and there were a few trees that came down. It sounds like you were hit much worse.

The above followup was added by Jeff, Victoria, BC, 8b on December 28, 2002 at 7:40 pm PST.

It was not really that bad, when I think about it, all I really need is a dry afternoon to get everything cleaned up. I have thought of putting up a retaining wall, but the space is not really suitable to put up anything small enough to not require a permit. It would be hard to describe why without seeing the site. Here are some pics.

• pics of storm damage

It's 1:30 saturday afternoon and the wind's been blowing most of the morning. But for the last 15 minutes it's really picked up. Most of my potted plants are rolling around the yard. It's also started raining heavily. I expect the power will be out soon since it almost always goes when we get a windstorm.

The above followup was added by Chuck Fulton-Castroville, CA on December 28, 2002 at 9:37 pm PST.

No wind here on the east coast of Vancouver Isl. Quite calm in fact. We've had very little wind all winter and I hope that continues.

The above followup was added by Barrie at Las Palmas Norte on December 28, 2002 at 10:52 pm PST.

All is calm on this Rock.

The above followup was added by joe, Salt Spring Island on December 29, 2002 at 2:59 am PST.