'The Big Prune' in Orting

By: Rich Carr

January 21, 2012

January 2012 will forever be remembered in Orting as "The Big Prune". Snow was one thing, but inches of freezing rain that followed proved to be more...far more...then Area trees could manage as hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage from throughout the valley became more apparent Friday morning as some residents began venturing from their frozen abodes.

Orting's historic downtown park seemed as though the hammer of Thor was aimed maliciously at Orting Park's large, stately and several hundred year old maples. As of this writing five of them were smashed on the north side, with limbs broken into the roads. Some of the town's old timers shed a silent tear.

"Worst weather non storm thing ever." said a PSE engineer, resting his truck on Orville. "With the mess we are clearing, we will be lucky to see power restored by Wednesday. Poles down, wires down, trees and branches down. There is a lot of wood in the way long before we can start connecting wires."

The Pierce County Emergency Operations Center will continue collecting damage information from homeowners and business owners affected by last week's ice and snow storms.

Residents and business owners that suffered damage should call the Pierce County Damage Assessment Center at (866) 798-6363 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Callers should have the following information available:

• Name and address of affected property
• Contact information
• Type of insurance (homeowners or business) and deductible amount
• A description of damage and losses, even if uninsured
• Estimates of the fair market value of the damaged home or business (it is not necessary at this point for property owners to have a contractor's estimate)
• Individual lost wages due to impact of the storm
• Business inventory and revenue losses

The findings from this assessment will be used by the governor to request a possible disaster declaration and federal disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This process could take up to a couple of weeks or more. FEMA disaster assistance, if and when it becomes available, only covers uninsured losses.

Among the immediate steps that individuals and families should take include:

• Call your insurance agent to check on your coverage.
• Keep detailed records of all clean-up and repair costs, including photographs.
• When the time comes to make repairs, be aware of local permit requirements and do a thorough check of potential contractors online.

Visit Pierce County's blog for up to date emergency information.