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June 10, 2008
Sweet Electricity!
We just spent the last 52 hours without power. I hear, though, that we were lucky; some of our neighbors aren't expected to get power back until Friday.
On Sunday afternoon I went to the grocery store. I knew there were storms due, so I checked the radar before I left. They were severe, but they were still several counties away; I had plenty of time to get to the store and back. I took my two little ones with me, but left the older two at home.
While we were in the store, the power went out. I went to the front to look out, and saw torrential rain. How did I not manage to beat the storm home?
This store was able to check us out even without the main power. While I checked out, I kept trying to get my older kids on the phone. There was no answer at the house. I got a little nervous.
Finally, we made it through the checkout line and to the door of the store. The rain had slackened considerably, but ... there was the tornado siren! The woman next to me said that she'd heard a report of a tornado at a very nearby road. That was enough for me. With the tornado siren blaring, I pulled the two little kids out into the rain and into our car. On the surface that might not sound like the smartest thing to do, but experience tells me that the siren is more likely to sound once the actual danger has passed.
I drove home through streets that had suddenly been transformed. HUGE trees were down everywhere; they had simply been pushed over, roots and all. Debris was all over the road, and I had to keep pulling over for emergency vehicles (not the kinds of things you want to see when you're trying to get home to your kids). The boys finally reached me with their cell phone, to tell me they were okay, but the power was out. They had done what they were supposed to do. When they saw the storm coming and realized it was going to be bad, they grabbed the cell and headed into the basement.
Our subdivision was fine - some siding and roof tiles blown off, a couple of smaller trees blown down. The bad stuff was just a block away (one patch of it, anyway - there are several patches all over the area).
Apparently it wasn't a tornado. Looking at the damage, that makes sense. None of the trees are stripped of their leaves, and I don't see other things I associate with tornado damage. It simply looks like these trees have been pushed over by a giant hand. The weather service says it was a type of storm called a derecho, which basically means a tornado without the rotation.
I haven't gotten any pictures myself, but you can see some here.
We were without power from Sunday afternoon until sometime between 6:30 and 9:30 pm tonight. That's always a fun thing to do with your four kids, when your husband is out of state, right? Actually, the kids handled it extremely well. Since we have a gas stove and hot water heater we could still cook and take showers. It wasn't too hot. The only problem was that it was so very humid - 70-100 percent the whole time. Ugh. I packed our freezer so well with ice that if we lose any food, it will be because I froze something that wasn't meant to be.
Most of the rest of our neighborhood had generators, which means the nights were loud and I haven't slept much since Sunday. So goodnight - I'm off to bask in the air conditioner!
Posted by lynx at June 10, 2008 9:38 PM
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Comments
So glad the boys were OK! That was a real doozy of a storm wasn't it?! This past weekend's weather was just crazy.
Posted by: Obi-Mom Kenobi at June 11, 2008 7:36 AM
Wow! Sounds pretty scary. Glad you got your electricity back on - I know that's hard to live without! (BTW, I found your blog searching for classical homeschooling)
Posted by: Dana at June 16, 2008 8:18 AM