Editor’s note: The hurricanes that ravaged the Southeast this fall rekindled memories of the biggest tempest to hit the Northwest: The Columbus Day Storm of 1962. This story from News Tribune archives was originally published on Oct. 12, 2002.
The wind roared like a wild thing.
Charley Brammer leaned into it, pitting his 7-year-old strength against the rushing air. He could hear tree branches snapping.
It was Oct. 12, 1962. The Columbus Day Storm, a tempest weathermen called “a meteorological bomb,” was exploding in the Northwest. It would kill 46 people — seven in Washington — fell trees by the thousands and shuck shingles from roofs like husks of corn.
Charley didn’t know any of that yet. He had followed his parents outside to look at the roof on their house in Spanaway. His father, Ray Brammer, squinted through the wind and pointed a flashlight. The lowest row of shingles stood straight up.
Charley spread his arms out like an airplane. The wind pushed him. He stumbled. Then something heavy knocked him to the ground — something with fur. He thought it was the family dog.