Evacuated

Once again Dana came banging on our door at 4am. Although we are still 15 miles away from the Kincaid fire, the winds are gusting at 80mph making the fire burn erratically and unpredictably. 190,000 people between Geyserville and NE Santa Rosa and from Santa Rosa to the coast are under mandatory evacuation. There is an evacuation warning as Far East as Sonoma.

Although it is only a mile from us, Dana’s area is still ok, so we are at her house now.
They don’t have power but they do have hot water. The temperature outside was in the 30’s overnight but that didn’t register with me as I threw some things together in the dark and dressed in shorts and a t-shirt.

We were escorted off the street by the police who were announcing via loud speakers,” this area is under mandatory evacuation. Gather your belongings and leave immediately.”

I hate to think what the exodus south was like in the wind and the dark, for we only had to go as far as Dana’s and that was bad enough. We were initially happy to see the sun come up and relieve the pitch blackness, but the chaos of broken limbs, leaves and bent trees is not reassuring.

The weather forecast is not reassuring either. High winds are predicted through tomorrow morning and returning Tuesday evening.

If they expand the evacuation zone we will probably have to leave, but for the moment we’re staying put. I’ve called Tim to see if we can go there and he said, “sure. We can sleep on the floor and take numbers for the bathroom.”