I've tried to think of some clever way of titling this entry: Stormy Weather (which only sounds clever if you're singing it. Well, at least in my head, it sounds clever) or Third World Neighborhood (a reference which may become clear later). But I'm clearly not clever enough for a good title, so I'll just cuss.
We had a bad storm this weekend. Now, I know you're thinking, "Yeah....summer....thunderstorms????" But this was a wee bit more. When I looked outside and saw the wall of water and the limbs (!) and leaves flying across the yard, I thought something must be up. And when I say "Limbs (!) and leaves flying" I mean small trees were sailing around our house like the Wicked Witch of the West.
By the time this 30 minute (!) storm ended, we had between 1 1/2 and 2 inches of rain, and the neighbor a few doors down on my left's car? Crushed by a humongo tree. The neighbor a few doors down on the right? Well, that was a two-fer: a giant tree crushed the addition of one house and knocked in the roof of another. Our friends, who had just had their house remodeled and moved back into it only in December, had their car and front porch crushed by an uprooted, HEALTHY tree. Thas the weird part: in many storms, you can expect the rotted trees to fall. in this storm, healthy trees fell. And it's not like the ground was saturated with water; we've had nothing for at least a week.
Apparently, it was a microburst: A short, very strong storm with winds, they estimate in our case, at between 60 and 70 mph.
Of course we lost our power for about 12 hours. (Hence the third world reference). Although 12 hours is short for us. We've lost power for over 7 days in the winter. I'd like to confirm for you that yes, indeedy, that sucked.
On a better note, after the storm, our neighborhood was packed. Everyone was lining the streets and the sidewalks to compare damage and shock over the storm as well as check in on each other. As the article says above, I really do love my neighborhood, even if I did have a tree on my house.
Anita, Wow! I've been in North Carolina during one of your "gully-washers" but I sure don't remember that kind of wind being a part of it. What a combo! I love the conclusion about your neighborhood though -- cars and roofs? A dime a dozen. Good neighbors? Priceless!
ReplyDeleteYeah. Why can't it just rain anymore? Why does rain have to be preceded and oftentimes accompanied by hurricane force swirling tornadoesque wind? We had one of those about three weeks ago. My bedroom window was open and the rain drove in so there was much wetness in the real wool carpet. :( A great many trees had large bits torn off. The weather/tree experts claimed that this was so because there had not been any rain for some time and the trees were dry and thus brittle. We did not, though, have great big honking trees tossed about roots and all. Now mind you, again, maybe in your case it was a case of dryness as well?
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Wow, says Niobe, while using a big black magic marker to cross Charlotte off the list of places that she would ever consider living.
ReplyDeleteI still remember a microburst storm I experienced in 1989 (!) in Maryland. I was actually in a car (!!) when it passed over, about 4 blocks from my house. After it was over there were trees down everywhere (including through the rails of our back deck). Our dog was completely traumatized (she was home alone when it happened). We lost power for 100 hours.
ReplyDeleteMy mom was actually traveling for business and still tells the story of calling home about an hour later. I had forgotten she was out of town and said, "Do you have any idea what's been going on here???" (add 14 yr old attitude) Of course, she didn't. :-)
OMG!!
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