You may be hearing helicopters and seeing large emergency responses happening on Puget Sound.

Drills are taking place along the Seattle waterfront today including an active shooter on a Washington State ferry. KOMO News has video of it here.

It just so happens there was an actual emergency response off of Beach Drive when someone called in for what appeared to be a paddle-board without a person. In fact, the board is tied up to a buoy and the owners are safe and sound… it didn’t take long at all to get a major response with the timing of the drill.

Early in the morning yesterday, we awoke to see a bald eagle. It’s not unusual to see them in the tall tree a few blocks away from us located at the most southerly part of Emma Schmitz View Point…however, this is the the first time we’ve seen one on a neighbor’s fence (next door to Beach Drive Bungalow aka Alki Yacht Club).
The eagle had dropped his snack (a fish) on the neighbor’s bulkhead and decided to hang around until a crow encouraged the eagle to move along.

The base of Jacobsen Road towards Beach Drive is covered with inches of ice.

The Seattle Department of Transportation is on the scene. As we have not had real snow in days, I’m guessing this build up of ice is from the natural springs and our freeeeeezing cold spell.

Bundle up and drive safe, friends!

We have another stormy day ahead of us as the remains of Typhoon Songda hits our area. Today’s storm is supposed to be much stronger than yesterday.  Currently the National Weather Service has a “storm warning” for the Puget Sound and “high wind warning” for our region. Weather Guru Cliff Mass is warning people to stay away from trees during this storm as branches are likely to come down. Seattle’s Mayor recommends that we stay out of parks this weekend to avoid injury or worse from falling trees.

We’re issuing another “Barking Dog Report” because we are preparing for another day of water coming over the bulkhead. Even though the wind direction is not what we typically require for flooding for our home (SW), the winds are predicted to be powerful at the same time of higher tides.

The strongest winds are expected to hit our area in conjunction with higher tides. This afternoon’s high tide is an 11.9 at 4:45 pm.

Here’s the current Puget Sound Marine Forecast:

PZZ135-151900-
PUGET SOUND AND HOOD CANAL-
258 AM PDT SAT OCT 15 2016

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON
STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE
TONIGHT

TODAY
SE WIND 5 TO 15 KT EARLY…BECOMING E 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS EARLY…BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN.

TONIGHT
S WIND 30 TO 40 KT WITH GUSTS NEAR 60 KT…EASING TO 20 TO 30 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 5 TO 7 FT…SUBSIDING TO 3 TO 5 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAIN IN THE EVENING…THEN SCATTERED SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.

High Wind Warning from the National Weather Service:

High Wind Warning

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
400 AM PDT SAT OCT 15 2016

EVERETT AND VICINITY-TACOMA AREA-HOOD CANAL AREA-
EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-BELLEVUE AND VICINITY-SEATTLE AND VICINITY-
BREMERTON AND VICINITY-
400 AM PDT SAT OCT 15 2016

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE PUGET SOUND REGION
FROM 3 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 2 AM PDT SUNDAY...

* WIND...INCREASING FROM THE SOUTH AT 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS
  LOCALLY NEAR 60 MPH LATE THIS AFTERNOON BEFORE SUBSIDING LATER
  THIS EVENING.

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS...SEATTLE...EVERETT...TACOMA...
  BREMERTON...BRINNON...WOODINVILLE...BELLEVUE...AND SUMNER.

* TIMING...THE STRONGEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR BETWEEN 4 PM
  AND 9 PM PDT.

* IMPACTS...HIGH WINDS CAN TOPPLE TREES ONTO ROADS...VEHICLES...
  AND ROOFTOPS. FALLING TREES OR LARGE BRANCHES HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO
  CAUSE FATALITIES DURING WINDSTORMS. DOWNED POWER LINES CAN
  CAUSE POWER OUTAGES LASTING A COUPLE OF HOURS OR LONGER.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

SECURE LOOSE OUTDOOR OBJECTS OR LIGHT WEIGHT FURNITURE BEFORE THE
STRONG WINDS ARRIVE. IF THERE IS A POWER OUTAGE, AVOID THE RISK
OF CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING BY KEEPING PORTABLE GENERATORS AND
BARBECUE GRILLS OUTDOORS.

Here’s Wind Alert‘s current chart for predicted winds by Lincoln Park.

Yesterday is old news… however we did experience flooding at our home. It wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been had the winds been more southwest. Thank you to our wonderful neighbors who stopped by to check on us and help out with the pumps. Our immediate neighbors did not seem to be impacted with flooding yesterday. I posted live videos on Facebook/beachdriveblog.

Stay safe everyone! Charge up those cell phones, check those flashlights for batteries and check on your neighbors. Take care.

A Beach Drive neighbor reports:

My truck was broken into last night. Had a late work day so still had computers and chargers in truck. They took everything plus my workout backpack with gear and running shoes. 5600 block on Beach Drive.

This took place on Friday night. The back side window of the truck was busted out.

This boat is floating by Emma Schmitz View Point heading north.

...COASTAL FLOOD WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM PST
THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A COASTAL
FLOOD WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 AM PST
THURSDAY. THE COASTAL FLOOD ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

* COASTAL FLOODING...SALT WATER FLOODING IS LIKELY AROUND THE
  TIME OF HIGH TIDE TONIGHT.

HIGH ASTRONOMICAL TIDES...AUGMENTED BY UNUSUALLY LOW ATMOSPHERIC
PRESSURE...WILL LIKELY FLOOD VERY LOW LYING COASTAL AREAS.
NORMALLY...FLOODING WITH THE TIDES WOULD BE MINOR. HOWEVER...
WINDS WILL WHIP UP WAVES OF 4 TO 6 FEET AROUND THE TIME OF HIGH
TIDE WITH WATER COMING OVER SEAWALLS AND IMPACTING STRUCTURES IN
LOW LYING AREAS NEAR THE WATER. FLOODING IS EXPECTED AROUND
THE TIME OF HIGH TIDE.

THE TABLE BELOW GIVES TIME AND HEIGHT OF PREDICTED TIDES...THE
PREDICTED TIDAL ANOMALY DUE TO LOW PRESSURE AND OTHER FACTORS...
AND THE SUM OF THE PREDICTED TIDE AND THE PREDICTED ANOMALY.

STATION NAME: DAY  TIME     PRED   ANOMALY TOTAL TIDE
 SEATTLE      THU 05:38 AM 12.44    ~1.9     14.3
 PORT TOWNSND THU 05:12 AM  8.99   ~ 1.9     10.8
 FRI HARBOR   THU 05:53 AM  7.89   ~ 1.9      9.7
 CHERRY PT    THU 06:12 AM  9.48   ~ 1.9     11.3

* IMPACTS...FLOODING IN LOW LYING COMMUNITIES NEAR ALONG THE
  PUGET SOUND AROUND HIGH TIDE. WAVES MAY DAMAGE STRUCTURES
  IN LOW LYING AREAS ALONG THE SOUND.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A COASTAL FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR
IMMINENT. COASTAL RESIDENTS IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD BE ALERT
FOR RISING WATER...AND TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION TO PROTECT LIFE
AND PROPERTY.