Day Of Sirens And Chainsaws
A little while ago I mentioned I was curious about what it might be like to live through a hurricane. Know what? I ain’t that damn curious anymore.
Last night we had a humongous thunderstorm (actually about three storms) roll through the North Metro, with winds ranging from 60-80 mph. My neighborhood played host to wind closer to the 80 mph range. Trees down everywhere. Not just little ones either. Some of these were huge, and healthy.
We were fortunate that we only lost a few big branches. Our backyard elm tree is leaning pretty badly though, so we’ll probably have to take it down. Neighbors all around us weren’t so lucky. Some lost roofs. Many lost huge trees. All of us lost power.
The Bogus domicile has been without power since virtually the same time the storm first hit last evening. I took off to find a place with some Wi-fi where I’m posting this from. Fingers crossed that power will be back tomorrow morning. The power company isn’t promising anything. We've already lost everything in the refrigerator and freezer. We're afraid to open the deep freeze yet.
This morning was filled with the sounds of sirens and chainsaws. With no way to boil water, I went out in search of someplace to buy a hot cup of coffee. The streets around me proved impassable. I’d start down a street in the vague direction of “south” hoping to find someplace with power. But I kept running into trees lying across roads, making me detour again and again. Eventually I gave up and headed home to enjoy instant coffee mixed with hot tap water.
Around noon we stopped hearing sirens, and it was just chainsaws. All day has been chainsaws. The amount of wood lining the street from downed trees now gives the place a Northwoods timber company look and smell. Much discussion among the neighbors about whether the city will pick up all the wood and branches, or whether we’ll all have to pay for special pickup. But our phones don't work either, so we couldn't call to find out.
I snapped a few pictures of the houses immediately around mine. I didn’t have the camera with me when I walked down the street later, but six or seven houses down the damage was quite a bit worse when trees of similar size landed squarely on some houses.
Last night we had a humongous thunderstorm (actually about three storms) roll through the North Metro, with winds ranging from 60-80 mph. My neighborhood played host to wind closer to the 80 mph range. Trees down everywhere. Not just little ones either. Some of these were huge, and healthy.
We were fortunate that we only lost a few big branches. Our backyard elm tree is leaning pretty badly though, so we’ll probably have to take it down. Neighbors all around us weren’t so lucky. Some lost roofs. Many lost huge trees. All of us lost power.
The Bogus domicile has been without power since virtually the same time the storm first hit last evening. I took off to find a place with some Wi-fi where I’m posting this from. Fingers crossed that power will be back tomorrow morning. The power company isn’t promising anything. We've already lost everything in the refrigerator and freezer. We're afraid to open the deep freeze yet.
This morning was filled with the sounds of sirens and chainsaws. With no way to boil water, I went out in search of someplace to buy a hot cup of coffee. The streets around me proved impassable. I’d start down a street in the vague direction of “south” hoping to find someplace with power. But I kept running into trees lying across roads, making me detour again and again. Eventually I gave up and headed home to enjoy instant coffee mixed with hot tap water.
Around noon we stopped hearing sirens, and it was just chainsaws. All day has been chainsaws. The amount of wood lining the street from downed trees now gives the place a Northwoods timber company look and smell. Much discussion among the neighbors about whether the city will pick up all the wood and branches, or whether we’ll all have to pay for special pickup. But our phones don't work either, so we couldn't call to find out.
I snapped a few pictures of the houses immediately around mine. I didn’t have the camera with me when I walked down the street later, but six or seven houses down the damage was quite a bit worse when trees of similar size landed squarely on some houses.
Posted by Doug Williams on
Thursday September 22, 2005 at 10:00pm
As the last few weeks have made crystal clear, Mother Nature can be a bitch sometimes.
If you need a generator or chainsaw help let me know.
Andy
I know how you feel about the electricity, though. We lost ours in the thunderstorm the weekend after Katrina. We lost all of our fridge and freezer goods, including our wedding cake topper. But it was right after Katrina, so we felt like just the fact that it was cool and we could walk someplace to get water and ice was good enough.
You never really notice how attached you are to electricity until you try and turn the bathroom light on for the 15th time.
I think someone up there likes you!
Glad you and yours are OK!
My parents live in your vicinity and I've already taken them in, so I know it's nothing trivial you guys are dealing with.
Best of luck. And like I said, if you need help, just drop me a line.