breakfast gathering when it hit; I felt the car sway as in a gust of wind,
but no trees were blowing. I started to see people out in front of their
houses. I got home and found my wife and three girls (8 years to 2 years)
clustered in a doorway (we didn't know then...).
As aftershocks came, we tried to say cool--I don't mean so much calm as not
hot, because the temperature went to 104F (memory fails, but that was either
the day of the quake or the day of the aftershock). The Denver papers,
according to my brother-in-law there, headlined "L.A.: SHAKE AND BAKE".
On Sunday, Oct. 4, the aftershock caused a parapet stone to fall off the
church where I was the caretaker, and the building was red-tagged at about
8:00 am, causing us to really scramble to relocate the three churches which
met there starting at 9:00.
At the time, we were providing spelling words for our second-grader, and the
following week, her words were earthquake related, e.g. seismology, temblor,
Richter. The student who usually administered our daughter's test (the only
other student in the class who could read the words we gave her) couldn't
cope with any reminders of the quake, and the teacher had to give the tests
on that category of words.
HOWEVER: Just as my family in the Northeast were starting to think--again,
"How do you live with the earthquakes?", THEY were hit with a blizzard:
=========
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/aly/Past/1987_Oct/Oct_4_1987.htm
An unprecedented early season snow storm occurred on October 4th, 1987.
Three inches up to about 2 feet of extremely wet snow fell across eastern
New York and western New England resulting in many deaths and injuries and
an enormous amount property damage. There were widespread power outages. The
trees still had their leaves which was a major contributing factor to the
number of trees and limbs that came down taking out power lines. Snow to
liquid ratios were as low as 3.5 to 1 (Kenneth D. LaPenta, 1988). The
hardest hit counties were Dutchess, Ulster and Columbia counties where the
power was out in some areas for nearly two weeks (Storm Data, NCDC). Albany,
Columbia, Rensselaer, Dutchess, Greene and Montgomery counties were declared
disaster areas (Storm Data, NCDC).
http://rogerowengreen.blogspot.com/2007/10/snowstorm-of-october-4-1987.html
The Times Union solicited readers to send in their stories from the storm.
And you did, in the form of hundreds of e-mails, a likewise number of calls,
a letter from prison, even a drawing from a then-5-year-old.
The stories are uniform and unique, of weddings canceled, cars destroyed,
days without power, food spoiled, babies born and camping in living rooms.
These tales almost invariably start with disbelief, then spiral into
different recollections of perseverance and hardship and compassion and
humor.
=========
My mother was without power for almost a week, but otherwise okay. (Electric
stove, oil heat, but oil heat needs electricity to run the injector and
controls.)
Albany area deaths from the storm were nine, about the same number (but a
much higher percentage) as ours in the quake. Damage was extensive, as the
storm brought down tree limbs, wires, poles, some crashing into houses.
Power crews from all over the Northeast came in to help restore power. Many
worked round-the-clock because they couldn't find hotel rooms anyway. It
wasn't unusual to see various colored power trucks from NiMo, ConEd, PP&L
gathered, not unlike mutual aid at a fire.
As I've pointed out since that time, after the Whittier quake, we said,
"Well! Glad that's over!" They said, "Well, that's the first storm of the
season."
BTW, we had students in school for twenty years,* and there was never an
earthquake while they were in school.**
----------------------------------
* No, they weren't slow! That's from the start of the first to the end of
the last.
** Whittier occurred before school and we kept them home. Northridge was a
holiday, and besides, was well before school hours. Sierra Madre and Landers
were in the summer.
----- Original Message -----
From: <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com>
To: <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Friday, October 01, 2010 7:35 AM
Subject: [californiadisasters] Anniversary Reminder
> Reminder from: californiadisasters Yahoo! Group
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/cal
>
> 1987 Whittier Narrows Quake
> Friday October 1, 2010
------------------------------------
Be sure to check out our Links Section at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/links
Please join our Discussion Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters_discussion/ for topical but extended discussions started here or for less topical but nonetheless relevant messages.Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/californiadisasters/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
californiadisasters-digest@yahoogroups.com
californiadisasters-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
californiadisasters-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment