Throwback Thursday

Believe it or not, on this day in 1921, Washington state experienced a hurricane! According to one of my favorite sites, History Link, "a hurricane-force windstorm with gusts of more than 100 miles per hour strikes the Washington coast. Mill stacks are toppled along with power and telephone lines. Water surges over riverbanks and ships and barges break moorings."

Courtesy Washington Forest Protection Association

One man, an engineer for one of the Olympic Peninsula mills, was killed, along with an entire herd of 200 elk. Sixteen Native American homes were destroyed and the logging industry suffered the devastating loss of billions of board feet of timber.

I can't help but think of another, more recent hurricane, Katrina. I was so moved by the news reports of that terrible event that I signed on with teams at two different times to go to the Gulf Coast to help with clean up and rebuilding. 

It was my experience there -- meeting incredibly brave and resilient residents, as well as dedicated and generous rescue volunteers -- that ultimately led to the writing (with my dear friend Mary Nethery) of Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival. 

Mary and I are so in awe of the work done by pet rescue groups like Best Friends Animal Society (the organization that took in the two Bobs) that we donate 10% of our author royalties to that organization.