Not a Good Day in the Neighborhood

My daughter & I were in the backyard sitting under our gazebo this eveningwhen I could see that a storm was possibly brewing (even though none was forecasted). We had just gone inside when all of a sudden wind whipped thru my open windows like I never expereinced before! Rather than wait for any sirens to go off, I screamed for us to get in the basement! Getting 3 totally freaked out dogs in the basement is not easy when one is trying to bolt under my bed!


Now this is what my neighborhood looks like ...


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Apparently, it only hit the area of my city that I live in. They are not calling it a tornado but a "super cell thunderstorm" although there was not rain.More trees are down around me than I can count. Also, so far, it is reported that one person (a motorcyclist) died in this very bizarre storm. I do not know yet if it is oneof my neighbors.

I may post more photos tomorrow ...right now, I am physically and emotionally drained.

Denise

Wow! That's a lot of damage! That must've been quite an experience, I'm glad you and your family are safe.


Last year a similar storm went through my area. It wasn't a tornado either, it was straight-line-winds. The storm uprooted many trees and took off parts of a couple of unfortunate people's roofs. I was lucky that at my home I only suffered a few large tree branches down, no damage to the house. The storm happened just before dark, so I didn't get any photos until the next morning and by then cleanup was well under way.


Here's a photo of what the storm did to a corn field.


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Glad you are OK Denise, that must have been scary. It

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Originally Posted by ddt0725

...right now, I am physically and emotionally drained.
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Glad you are ok.


Mark

Wow, Denise - scary! Glad you're ok!!

We are all ok ...but my gazebo isn

Wow Denise.., that looks absolutely awful!


I

Thanks! Now my house lost power and it is HOT! They don

Denise,


Can you stay at a Hotel or with family or friends, they better be close to you, with 3 dogs?


I

Glad to hear that you, your daughter and your dogs are OK, Denise. Hopefully you will have power soon, but like Rich said, it may be wise to find a safe place to stay for a little while. Depending on how large an area was affected you may be without electric for a day or more.


We experience storms in the winter and several years ago I installed a generator similar to what Rich suggested. It has paid for itself several times over. In addition to winter outages, it has been called into service a few times in the summer for the A/C. It needs to be large enough and installed properly, but once that is done it should serve you for years with a little annual maintenance.


Your family is in my family's prayers.


Chris

Thanks everyone! The latest word is no electricity until at least Sunday! It is suffacating hot! I don

If things couldn

Latest update: mynext door neighbor dicovered that her huge really huge tree is split completely down the middle of the trunk to the ground. Police told them to evacuate and told me not to park in my driveway. The crack gets wider when the wind blows. We are expecting violent storms tomorrow so the tree is going to fall if they don

Definitely not a good day in the neighborhood. Seems to be a lot of that going around this year. Glad you're alright!

So sorry to hear about this huge mess. Glad you are safe. Hang tough Denise!

Saw your pix on flickr D and was wondering where this was......glad to see you and your family (pups also) are alright.

Denise...that is awful. Stay safe. Is it possible to go to your work for AC?


I third the thought of a generator. I

Bill W - I live in Kenoha, WI. Some of the city wasn't affected at all. The southeast side that I live on was ripped apart. I still have not ventured into the worst hit areas. I'm going to leave and go over there shortly. I know some of it has been cleaned up but I hear it is still pretty much a mess. We had a beautiful marina at the lake but I've heard a number of the docks broke apart and yachts are all crashed up to the shore next to each other.I'd say 100's of trees are still on houses and cars. In the last pic below you can slightly see there is a car under there.


The first pic below is (was) my next door neighbors tree, it was removed late last night because it was split down the middle. I'm glad we noticed the split because I think my house and car would have been damaged along with theirs (that's my driveway they are standing in).








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My electricity came on at 3:30 a.m. but it was one heck of a hot &amp; humid night up until then! It was over a 100 degrees (real feel temp) at 9:30 this morning and many people still won't have power until tomorrow!

Thank you so much for all the well wishes and concern! All in all, I think many of us can count our blessings ...it could have been alot worse since many people were outside when it hit with no warning!

I am headed out to the worst hit areas now to see for the first time. I will post more pics later.

Denise

To end this thread, here are a few more photos taken well after cleanup began. Crews have been working around the clock in sweltering heat to get things cleaned up as quickly as possible. The hardest hit areas were down by Lake Michigan not far from my house. The owners of over 100 boats and yachts docked a the marina usually live for this weekend to take their boats out. The docks were shifted 50 ft. - 60 ft. toward shore and there is no way for them to get out.


These are the last photos I will post here but will be posting more on flickr as I go them. You can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/18085870@N07/sets/72157626975987861/





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Hang in the Denise. I'm sorry to see so much destruction. We got hit like this in 2005 by 3 tornados and the repairs are still ongoing - so I understand what you're up against. I'm glad you are safe and my thoughts are with you as your community starts the long process of recovery. I hope you get all the help you need.

Sorry to hear that Denise, hope things will be better for you!


I feel so lucky to live in peaceful Washington. About the worst we get is some minor flooding in certain areas (were I live). But nothing like you have there.


John.