Secrets of the Season

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North Oregon Coast Town Recovers from Storm Drama

Story and photos by Jenny Maxwell

Storm debris in a Seaside yard

(Seaside, Oregon) - The third day of normal Pacific Northwest living dawned this morning in sunshine, and coastal residents are beginning to clean up the storm-battered pieces of their houses, cars, and lives. Every street in Seaside is packed with road crews hauling away fallen trees and neighbors checking on one another.

There is a palpable relief present in the normalcy of people heading to their first Monday morning workday since the end of the blackout.

The days since the storm have provided personal insights for many coastal residents. For me, the introspection has affected my life permanently, and it has been a largely positive change.

Having just moved to the coast from Colorado three months ago, I was incapable of imagining the magnitude of the storm and the community aftereffects. I’d seen enough snow fall in three hours to obliterate my front door in Colorado, and it hadn’t been a big deal. With this mindset, I approached warnings of the impending storm last Sunday night with unconcerned apathy. I figured I’d watch the rain, play a few sentimental card games by candlelight for an hour or two, and relish the enforced rest time.

That was before my living room window was sucked out by the wind during the night, making nearby household objects fly about as if they were inside a blender. It was before the shed in the yard and the surrounding fence collapsed as if a bomb had gone off. It was before the floor, damp and dilapidated, gave way beneath my feet, causing me to shatter three ribs as I fell through it.

These events scared me a great deal at the time, and I spent much of Sunday night wishing as hard as I could that the winds would abate, and that the storm would disappear. I was in pain, and shocked by the storm’s violence against which I had such negligible power. When daylight returned, however, I saw that I was less affected by the storm’s turbulence than many. Two houses away from my own, a large tree had cleanly bisected my neighbor’s place, and another had smashed the car parked in her driveway. Reports flooded in of people who were unable to reach their family or loved ones and who were unsure of their welfare.

I was fortunate in that I knew where my family was; I share a house with my sister, Katy, and she was fine. The rest of my family lives outside of the storm-affected area.

Alex Chandler didn’t have the same comfort. Away at college in Portland, she read a BeachConnection.net report containing a quote from her father, Keith Chandler. He had been quoted saying that the town resembled Hiroshima.

What was once a greenhouse now covers a Manzanita yard in pieces

“It was really nerve-wracking to see my dad’s name on Google news and not to be able to contact anyone in all of Clatsop County,” she said. “It was just so scary; I had no idea what had happened.”

Alex drove home as soon as the roads opened, and was relieved to find that her father and the rest of her family were just fine. Keith was only a little tired from a six-day vigil at his Seaside Aquarium, where he awoke every two hours during the entirety of the blackout to refuel the backup generator for his fish tanks and insure that none of the Aquarium’s sea life was threatened.

The Chandler family’s story mirrors that of many coastal residents as well as my own. There were several tense, worried hours, followed by an influx of community support and a citywide recuperative effort.

Storm debris fills a Cannon Beach access

“The community really came together,” said Keith Chandler. “Some local restaurants, instead of losing their food, donated it to the church for people who didn’t have any food. The guys at the fire department just worked their tails off around the clock for people who had emergencies.”

Ryan Giefer, a volunteer firefighter for the Seaside Fire Department, estimated that he went out on approximately 50 calls. “People would stay up for a couple of days at the fire department. We all worked and slept on shifts. We got a lot of calls from people who said a tree was about to fall on their house, so we’d go and cut it down before it did,” he said.

Now that the storm over, the vast community effort has made me realize that I have learned more about Seaside in the past week than I had in three months. Despite the shock of the storm and the financial and emotional upheaval it has caused, the most important residual impression I am left with is gratitude for the neighbors and friends I am lucky to have.

"Now that the storm over, the vast community effort has made me realize that I have learned more about Seaside in the past week than I had in three months"

Every day of the storm, friends stopped by with food and to keep my sister and me company. Staff at the Seaside Aquarium offered us hot showers with their generator-powered capabilities, and gas for our car when there was none to be found in Seaside. My neighbor Vic Cook boarded up our broken window so we could keep heat in the house. Our landlords, Eva and Ben Millikan, gave us complete understanding and free rent even though parts of their house had been demolished. The ER staff at Seaside Providence Hospital was kind and efficient even with a full waiting room and only generator power.

I am unsure that such support and care would have been available in a larger city, but I am certain that I have never lived in a place like Seaside before. Now that we’ve all begun dealing with aftereffect matters such as lost work, insurance issues, bodily injury, and property cleanup, it’s been exponentially easier for me, and those with whom I’ve spoken, to face these factors because of the significant support systems nearby. It’s been impossible to become disheartened for long despite the frustrations caused by the storm.

When I first moved to Seaside, I sensed that there was a strong community presence here and in surrounding areas. After last week’s storm, I am happy to say that I feel that I am now a part of it.

Inn at Cannon Beach. Beautifully wooded natural setting at quiet south end of Cannon Beach. Great during winter storms with a new book by the fireplace – or when the sun is out for family fun and beach strolling. Handsome beach cottage-style architecture. Lush flowering gardens and naturalized courtyard pond. Warm, inviting guest rooms. Continental buffet breakfast. Warm Cookies. Family and Pet Friendly. Welcome gifts. Smoke-free. Complimentary Wireless Connectivity. Wine and book signing events. 800-321-6304 or 503-436-9085. Hemlock At Surfcrest, Cannon Beach, Oregon. www.atcannonbeach.com.

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