Nordland man recalls epic 1979 storm

Denny Severson shares photos from his property in Nordland (Marrowstone Island, just southeast of Port Townsend) during the Feb. 12/13, 1979 storm — one locals remember for sinking the western half of the Hood Canal Bridge. Pictures show the back end of Severson’s Datsun station wagon was lifted and pinned underneath his home. Severson, who was in Seattle at the time, runs Denny’s Saw Sharpening business in Nordland and subsequently put two chainsaws to use, to free the car. The vehicle had a minor scratch on its roof, he said, but was otherwise fine. The bridge sinking really cut the peninsula off from the rest of the region, he said. “That was a real problem,” Severson recalled. “That was a day we will remember for a long time.”