Standing on the storm-battered concrete bulkhead that was supposed to keep Port Susan out of his living room, Mike Lawless paused his cleanup Monday to take stock of the damage.
“Carpet, furniture, everything is ruined,” the 57-year-old Camano Island man said.
Two days after the storm, dozens of homeowners in his Driftwood Shores neighborhood were sifting through muck, flotsam and sea-soaked logs that had surged onto their properties during the damaging combination of strong winds and high tides.
Michael O’Leary / The Herald
Up and down the street were parked the vans of a plumber, an electrician and a fire and water restoration company that were helping his neighbors clean up.
Two doors down, Lawless’ brother-in-law, Jim Hoagland, 55, shoveled away wheelbarrow loads of a gooey mess of mulch-like driftwood bits from his patio. The storm surge had jammed his boat and his dinghy up against the corner of his house.
Lawless and Hoagland weren’t the only ones trying to regroup after Saturday’s storm.
People all over Camano and Whidbey islands and the Snohomish County shoreline were still digging out Monday, and they expected it to be a work in progress all week.
A high tide and a southerly wind combined to make Camano Island’s eastern shores some of the hardest hit. The waves crashed over retaining walls, flooding homes and streets in Juniper, Iverson and Sundeen beaches.
“We had large pieces of driftwood and logs up in people’s yards,” Camano Island Fire Chief Mike Ganz said. “Streets flooded, trapping some folks in their homes.”
High-clearance trucks, and in one case a boat, were used to evacuate dozens of homes. People in as many 200 homes received some sort of help.
“We do get these storms, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had one that had this much damage occur,” Ganz said.
Near Cavalero Beach on east Camano Island, Phil Ruckham, 62, was cleaning out his flooded garage.
“It’s the 100-year storm that happens every four or five years,” Ruckham joked.
This time, he added more seriously, the storm surge seemed bigger.
The situation was similar on south Whidbey Island, where the volunteer fire department had to respond to nearly 100 calls Saturday.
“We had some pretty extensive flooding along the low-level shoreline,” said Jon Beck, deputy chief for Whidbey Island Fire District 3. “The whole south end of the island lost power.”
About 13,000 people lost power on Whidbey Island, with most getting power back by Sunday night.
High-clearance vehicles had to be used to rescue eight people on Shore Drive, Beck said. He didn’t know how many homes were flooded, but said there were plenty.
Snohomish County had less flooding damage. But about 30,000 people lost power, with electricity restored to most by Saturday night, said Neil Neroutsos, a spokesman for Snohomish County PUD.
Outages were caused by trees and tree limbs falling on power lines, he said. Trees fell on roads, property and even cars, but no injuries were reported.
In Mukilteo, Don Surface’s dreams of restoring a 1934 Pontiac four-door sedan were crushed when a 60-foot tree smashed it.
“It was totally original,” Surface said, adding he bought it from the original owner 19 years ago.
“It was a shock. I was really saddened at first,” he said of the total loss. “However, it’s metal. It’s not a human life.”
Some residents on Camano Island said they feared for their lives during Saturday’s fury.
“My house, the second story, we had waves hitting the bedroom window,” Lawless said. “I’ve been up here 11 years, never seen anything like this.”
Monday’s late afternoon sun reflected brightly off the thick snow on Three Fingers Mountain to the east. Mount Rainier loomed to the south. The insurance adjuster was expected soon, but Lawless could only guess with a joke at what his property was worth.
“Now I have a $10 house with a million-dollar view,” Lawless said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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