At 11:30 am, a thunderstorm hit our area. Wind gusts of about 30 - 40 mph. I was actually quite excited for this one. It had cooled things down considerably - except that lasted all of 20 minutes. I did get worried enough that I brought our outdoor rocking chairs on the front porch inside the house. Thank the lord I did not put them back out.
At about 4:10 pm, the weather radio went. Thank goodness I got this new weather radio. I love it. It tells me a severe thunderstorm watch, then 2 minutes later it goes off again saying it has switched to a warning. The storm is noted as having 60 mph winds and quarter-size hail. As an observer of the weather, it is quite normal to be able to see most approaching storms coming from the west through our dining room window. Oh yes, weather radio you were right. There was a massive gray/black cloud. I give another minute - watching by the window. Then what seems like hell - breaks loose. I watch two cars pull onto our street and park. It's raining - more like pelting. My neighbor is outside on her deck trying to get something secure. I watch her swing set swings go nearly vertical. Small toys are being bounced along down the street. Another neighbors basketball hoop is down and has slid down their driveway and up the street about 7-8 feet. I look back to the dinning room window - branches, not from my trees - up in the air. 15 - 20 feet in the air, swirling. OH Shit! I won't even try to bleep that out. I run to the bedroom grab our emergency lantern, grab phone, and frantically start pulling down every blind in the house. I go to turn off the computer and at about 8:16 ~ 8:17, there is no need to worry because the computer is dead and all the lights are out. I make sure the front door is locked, grab my purse, Silvio's leash, a toy, phone, lantern, and scream at Silvio to follow me down the stairs. He's way out of it. I throw the stuff down in our workout room by our "safety" closet. (The "safety" closet - has all of Andrew's extra army gear - which is a lot, and I have added to it cases of bottled water, first aid kit, meals that are not canned, but don't need heat to eat.) Silvio is running up and down the stairs, I pick him up off the landing as I hear a massive boom as it shakes the house. I run into the workout room and plop on the floor. I watch through the underground window as rain, branches, and later hail come bouncing down. In the dark with our little lantern - you can hear the wind cause the windows to rattle, the walls to creak, and the thunder that shakes everything. More thanks to goodness, I chose to charge my phone last night. I had a full battery. Texting my mother. Who else would I call?? I estimate at 4:20 - 4:25 she tells me that there was an alert at 4:17 for quarter size hail and 80 mph winds. I reply that is hailing as we speak. At 4:34, she texts again, this time a better message, warning until 4:45, wind speeds clocked in excess of 90 mph at the Manhattan airport. The airport - shit. That is down the hill from me. The planes descend over our house all the time - it's so close you can make out all the windows in the aircraft. It isn't even a 2 minute drive from our house. Thanks - just give me the willies all over again. I notice through the underground window that the wind is starting to slow around 4:45. It's still raining like a crazy person so I come out a little into other areas of the basement. No damage down here. A little bit of water came in through the windows though because they are side opening. I decided to venture upstairs and everything is in tact. Again just a little water came through the side-sliding windows. I see my neighbors outside assessing - so I figure it is safe to do that same. Only one thing outside did not make it.
Our patio furniture. I assume it was lifted or dragged sideways about 20 - 30 feet into our neighbors yard. The glass top shattered. Not sure if any of the chairs are still in tact but thank goodness again, this time for Andy. He used a crazy (I say that now but really I'm so glad he did) reinforced metal cable to connect all of the chairs and table together. He then bought a 30 pound weight and connected to the table by means of the umbrella. No the umbrella was not attached but the metal bottom part was. So right now the table and chairs is one tangled mess - but all accounted for. I can't imagine what would have happened if they were still loose patio furniture. I'd probably be sobbing on the phone with our insurer right now. Here is an after picture:
It continued to rain for another half hour or so. Around 5:45 it had stopped raining. At a quarter to 7, the electricity turned back on. Thank you Westar for working so quickly. After I walked Silvio at 8, this is the sky view that we had:
So yes, today I miss Andy. Because my stress level has gone through the roof. I was going to have done a bunch of lesson planning but that doesn't help if it's dark, you have like no light, and your head is calculating the probability of the roof coming off your house. Andy would have kept me calm. Or more likely than not, he would have scared the crap out of me by going outside and checking the patio furniture or something crazy. But maybe not in this situation. But it would be sooo nice if he was here to help when I have to clean up this table and chairs. No idea where I will put them while I wait for garbage day to roll around.
Guess I can't complain, I'm still here with both feet planted firmly on the ground. But I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight.
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