PORT ANGELES – One step forward, 2.7 steps back.
That’s roughly the ratio of John De Luna’s trips to and from Ocean Shores during Monday’s rains, winds and floods.
Measured by time instead of miles, he drove four hours to reach his mom’s house on the Point Brown Peninsula but needed 29 hours to get back.
The Port Angeles man was just trying to be a good son when he set off Sunday to take his mother to the doctor the next day.
But the physician canceled the appointment when the monster storm came onshore, eventually blowing gusts of up to 81 mph in Ocean Shores.
De Luna, 41, could have stayed put – and perhaps still be there – but chose to drive home to his two teenage daughters.
At 8 a.m. Monday, he set out north, aiming to reach the Moclips Highway.
Along the Pacific beaches, he found downed lines and trees that De Luna – a wildland firefighter and engine captain for Olympic National Park – attacked with the 14-inch chain saw he carries in his truck.
