Rita McGaughy took a quick break from raking fallen branches and glanced at the tree precariously leaning across the road near her home.
It hovered above power lines and appeared to be partially propped up by her own tree situated in the 8000 block of Southeast 72nd Street at the corner of 80th Avenue Southeast.
As cars drove up 72nd and were faced with a shuttered section of the road, they turned back to where they came from and McGaughy shook her head.
“We don’t know when it happened, but this morning I looked out and it was like, ‘Oh, oh, not looking good,’” she said of what occurred the night before during the “bomb cyclone” severe wind storm on Nov. 19.
Like a majority of Islanders, McGaughy lost power between the hours of 6-8 p.m. Puget Sound Energy’s power outage map signifies that the estimated restoration time on the Island is by noon on Nov. 23.
In the Town Center portion of the Island, The Crawlspace gastropub’s sandwich board out front conveyed the message, “Pray for Power.”
McGaughy said she hoped the power would eventually return while she raked away and recalled what happened during the storm: It was a scary situation as loads of branches were hitting the roof of her home.
“It sounded like little bombs are dropping,” said McGaughy, who couldn’t work her Amazon job on Nov. 20 because of the power outage.
She raked instead and kept an eye on that tree, hoping it would soon be taken away.
“Actually, manual labor feels very good compared to sitting at a desk all day,” she said. “There’s nothing to complain about, really — other people live in war zones.”
In her neighborhood, residents helped out during the day by picking up branches and just being there for each other. There are good people living on the Island, she said with a smile.
Nearby McGaughy’s home across from Islander Middle School, a man was spotted standing amongst a pile of branches as he broke them apart. A bit further away, the lights were out at the QFC by Pioneer Park, and Island Crest Way and East Mercer Way were closed in spots due to significant downed power lines, hazardous trees and dangerous debris blocking the roadway.
The city of Mercer Island issued an urgent shelter-in-place alert at 12:15 p.m. on Nov. 20 for residents that reside between the 4200 to 4600 blocks of East Mercer Way and between the 7400 to 7800 blocks of Island Crest Way. The city said it is unsafe to walk, bike or drive these roads, and residents are urged not to recreate in these areas.
Outside the Metropolitan Market in Town Center, a store employee sat out front near a sign informing customers that they were closed due to the power outage and were without a backup generator. To keep food safe, they placed items into a refrigerator truck that took up a small section of the parking lot.
Over at nearby Mercerdale Park, Robin Zhang and his family spent the day together as other Islanders strolled around the path and a plethora of kids took up an afternoon residency at the playground.
The Zhangs lost power, but Robin said he was prepared by charging batteries and was lucky to have a gas fireplace.
Robin pointed to his son Derek, who cruised up on his bike: “I told him before the power outage, here is the ‘bomb cyclone’ — I showed him what it looks like on the weather app.”
Derek said he missed watching television and had to get to sleep early the night of the storm.
“The only good thing is that I can stop in the middle of practicing Chinese,” said Derek, adding that he didn’t mind missing school for the day and had to clean leaves and sticks from their fish pond.
Like McGaughy’s neighbors, Robin said everyone banded together to clean branches off their street and he posted on Nextdoor that he was available to help anyone in need.
The Mercer Island Community and Event Center, which was running off backup power, was more crowded than normal as the city opened the facility from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. so residents could charge phones and devices and utilize the internet.
Island Park Elementary School librarian Crystal Taitague sipped on coffee while charging her kids’ devices and visiting with Island Park kindergarten teacher Sharon Jarnigan. Downstairs in the gym, Taitague’s children engaged in their pickleball activities along with a host of other players.
Taitague praised the city for making the center available for residents following a night of wild wind.
“You can just kind of see how the community comes together,” said Taitague, who added that one of her Island neighbors carried a rake on their morning walk while pushing their baby in a stroller. Taitague’s 8-year-old daughter joined the crew — which also featured the neighbor’s 8-year-old girl — and they would clean as they traversed the area.
One of Taitague’s neighbors checked on her the morning after the storm, which felled a some small branches by her abode, to show that they’re all sticking together and lending a hand.
“Last night was surprisingly charming because we never light all of the candles that we have and we have quite a collection. The kids actually thought it was really fun and they said that we should probably do it more often. So that was very positive — I don’t think they’re going to feel that way in a couple days,” she said about the continued power outage.
Also in the family bonding realm, Taitague enjoyed having a candlelight chat with her 17-year-old daughter until about 1 a.m.
Jarnigan said she knew the storm was coming so she cooked up some food and cranked up the heat to prepare for the windy night at her Island condo.
“I’m up high and I have a view, so you can see the transformers blowing — looked like lightning happening. Lots of loud thumping as balcony things were blowing around — the wind was really really gusting,” said Jarnigan, adding that she also lit candles for the evening.
Utilizing her 19-year-old son’s Coleman stove the morning after the storm, they cooked bacon and eggs and boiled water for tea on the balcony before walking their neighborhood to clear branches.
