Like a lot of people, Sunday's wind storm kept me on edge for most of the afternoon. Rarely has a high wind warning from the weather forecasting types delivered the goods as promised yesterday. It just felt angrier, the howling and the gusting and blowing stuff around like I can't really remember witnessing around here for a long time.

TSM
TSM
loading...

Mid-afternoon I received a phone alert about a seven car pile-up on Interstate 182, thankfully no one was seriously injured in that, and I continued to wonder what would be next. Driving home to Kennewick from seeing my daughter in Richland about 5:00 p.m., I had to slow way down as KPD cruisers were securing an area where a tree was partially blocking the south sidewalk on 10th Ave about a quarter mile east of Columbia Center Blvd affecting a lane of vehicle travel. And then it was my turn.

97.1 KXRX logo
Get our free mobile app
TSM
TSM
loading...

I first noticed an askew landscape about 6:20 p.m. as there was a hole in my outdoor world where wood used to be.

My across-the-fence neighbor had little clue about the damage on my side of the arbor vitae when he gave me a call and wondered if I'd noticed something not right on my side of the property. I told him, yes, I had just seen it, thanked him for being a good neighbor, even though I don't have State Farm, and said I was painfully aware of the situation, promising to text him a couple of pictures. His reply to the shots after I sent them was, 'Holy Jake!'

I'm thinking of calling him at three in the morning to talk new insurance rates and also determine if he's wearing khakis. Most of the morning after today, Monday, I could hear a chorus of chain saws all over the neighborhood, so I knew I'm wasn't the only one with these issues.

TSM
TSM
loading...

The estimate to get it all cleaned up is about $1500, and that's not enough damage to meet insurance deductible (go figure), so I guess an out-of-pocket hit, that is a good thing? Admittedly, it could have been a lot worse, no one was injured and the damage done was minimal compared to the possibility of it toppling in a slightly different direction.

LOOK: The most expensive weather and climate disasters in recent decades

Stacker ranked the most expensive climate disasters by the billions since 1980 by the total cost of all damages, adjusted for inflation, based on 2021 data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The list starts with Hurricane Sally, which caused $7.3 billion in damages in 2020, and ends with a devastating 2005 hurricane that caused $170 billion in damage and killed at least 1,833 people. Keep reading to discover the 50 of the most expensive climate disasters in recent decades in the U.S.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

KEEP READING: Here are the best places to retire in America

More From 97.1 KXRX