Peninsula spared by storm

By Rick Sorrels

Special to KP News

Western Washington was hit hard by heavy rains and high winds in early December, with several counties declared under federal disaster. While Kitsap, Mason and King counties experienced various problems, most of Pierce County and the Key Peninsula in particular were spared the worst of nature’s wrath.

Officials with Tacoma Power responded to the Powerline Road washout to examine the damage  Photo by Vic Renz

The worst damage found on the KP is in the 16800 block of Powerline Road (144th St NW), where a large quantity of decades-old fill across a ravine collapsed, isolating seven occupied homes. Tacoma Power, the owner of the road, has obtained a $150,000 estimate for repairs. A generous neighboring property owner was allowing the stranded residents temporary access through his property. Access for heavy vehicles like fire, ambulance, and fuel oil delivery remained impossible as of mid-December.

Dennis Dudley, one of the isolated Powerline Road residents, used a four-wheeler to drive through a narrow road from his home. He said, “I’ve lived here since about 1980 (and) this rain is the worst that I’ve seen. The power company (Tacoma Power) is responsible to maintain the road to access their lines and poles, but I’ve never seen them do any maintenance. The only road repairs that have been done were done by us that live here. The rain was just too much for the patchwork repairs, and it all finally just gave way.”

A few days before the heavy rainstorms, snow wreaked havoc around Puget Sound but brought nothing but beautiful scenery to the KP. Pictured here is Sunnycrest Nursery in Key Center looking like a winter wonderland. Photo by Danna Webster

 Hillside slippage along State Route 302 just north of the Victor fire station blocked highway use until the mudslide could be cleared by Washington State Department of Transportation crews. The road survived without any apparent damage, but, according to Guy Allen, the operations chief for Fire District 16, “The mudflow entering the residential garage across the street pushed two boats clear out the back door of the garage.”

Barbara and Marvin Rowland at Sunny Key Farm lost about 14 animals during the storm period, but they don’t believe the wind or rain was at fault. “They may have been poisoned from chemicals, like the road de-icers used when it snowed,” Barbara Rowland said. “It will be (awhile) before the lab results come back.”

The local animal hospitals, Rocky Bay Equine and Minter Veterinarian Hospital, both said they had no storm related animal problem.

The media spokesman for Peninsula Light Co. reported following the weekend storm, “There were no significant outages. All work was done during regular duty shifts, and completed by early Monday afternoon.”

No storm-related instances were reported to the local sheriff’s office. “The weather hit us so lightly that we didn’t even open the FD-16 command post,” Allen said. “The only storm-related instances we had were one where we had to place some sandbags to divert some ground water from entering a garage, and another where neglected maintenance at Lake Minterwood allowed an overflow pipe to become plugged, overflowing toward a house, where we also placed sandbags.”

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