EVERETT — Allen Pinkham found a spot to watch Tuesday’s storm whip the waterfront. Sitting in his Honda Civic at Legion Park, he watched churning waves, listened to howling winds, and then heard a terrifying crack.
“It was a huge tree,” the 53-year-old Everett man said. “I saw it coming at me, directly at the windshield. I guess it was like a deer in the headlights. I just froze.”
On Wednesday, Pinkham’s smashed 1989 Honda was still in the Legion parking area. Pinkham left a note duct-taped to the steering wheel, alerting anyone with questions that he’d be taking care of the vehicle.
“I feel lucky. I’m happy to be up and around,” he said.
Three people died, one in Sultan and two others in Spokane, when they were struck by falling trees.
A massive uprooted tree, ripped from the earth by winds that approached 60 miles an hour, still lay near Pinkham’s car Wednesday. Branches that had covered the Honda had been cut away.
He said he was waiting for a friend to finish a class at Everett Community College when he drove to the park around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“I was waiting for her to call so I could pick her up,” said Pinkham, a self-employed artist. At first, he parked at the northern end of the park. So much debris was hitting the Honda that he moved it.
His engine was running, but Pinkham was so stunned when he saw the tree falling that he didn’t have time to back out of the parking space. He thinks he was spared because the tree “glanced off to the right and crashed into the passenger side.” The right rear side of the Honda was most damaged.
When his driver’s side door wouldn’t open, the uninjured Pinkham crawled feet-first out his window.
“I let people nearby know I was OK. They were trying to call 911, but I told them I was all right,” he said.
On Wednesday, passersby snapped pictures of the downed tree and Pinkham’s car. Taking in the scene, one man wondered whether the driver ended up in a hospital.
He didn’t. He was lucky.
He just needs a new car.
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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