The Kennewick Wind Eliminated My 40-Year Old Backyard Tree

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.

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.

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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.

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.