Thursday, July 5, 2012

Derecho Drama

Yesterday, I shared some Daylily Drama. Today, it's Derecho Drama. A derecho is what hit our area last Friday evening, leaving us without electrical power, internet, cell phone service, land line service and since we live in the country and have our own well, no water. I shared some photos and our storm experience here.

A mile of downed power poles...

This morning, we were told that we wouldn't have our power restored until possibly July 21st. It was hard to wrap my brain around that. I've been going from one daughter's house to the other daughter's house every couple of days, with stops at our house to help with the watering and care of the animals. Luckily, we have a basement, so Romie, who has stayed at the house most of the time, has a relatively cool place to sleep at night.

We didn't want to desert the house altogether, but every time I stopped at home, I felt like I was in either a war zone or a sci-fi movie where an atomic bomb had gone off and no one had been around for weeks. We're in a moderate to severe drought and we've had 100-degree weather this week, along with no rain - not even anything to speak of during The Storm (three-tenths of an inch) - so that just seemed to add insult to injury. The grass looks similar to a wheat field after the harvest and is just about as crunchy.

Crunchy yellow grass - you can tell where we've been watering the plants.

And then a miracle occurred. I was talking to one of the neighbors on my phone while Jenna was talking to Romie on hers and simultaneously the neighbor and Romie said, "We have power!" Music to my ears. It was a downright symphony.

I'll admit, this has been mentally tough. The heat made it worse. But at least I had a place to go to get cool. The utility workers have my undying gratitude for working in this hellish heat (101° today) for long hours and many of them are far from home. I saw where teams came in from as far away as Oklahoma and Minnesota to help out. There are still thousands without power and I feel for them. I pray that power is restored earlier rather than later for them, too.

Today, NASA released a satellite video of the storm. It's incredible to see how it exploded as it made its way across the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland. It's a relatively rare storm, this derecho, and I really don't want to experience another one.

Click on photo to view video.


Anonymous said...

Yeah I'm so glad you have power-I just couldn't imagine with the heat we have been having also. You so lucky that your daughters were close by so you could escape. Now for the rain!

Dar said...

I have never heard of a derecho before...strange weather pattern and very frightening. I could not believe the line of powerlines just lying there...gads! Glad you got power restored so quickly. Power was out here once for 10 days...thank God we had a generator or we would have lost all of our frozen meat and veggies. Stay safe and cool. It's been in the dreaded 100's here in N Central WI too,then add the humidity. Phew~~~~

Cindy Garber Iverson said...

Oh thank goodness your power was restored early!!!! You've been in our thoughts and prayers this week. I hope somehow it helps.

Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

Kylee Baumle said...

Vickie ~ Yes! Now for the rain! Where in the heck has it been all summer??? Surely not here! :-(

Dar ~ I'd never heard of it before this either and I've lived here my entire life. They said we had one in July 1980, but I don't recall that. I know we had a tornado go through here in April of that year, because I was nearly ready to deliver my first baby and I was alone at home when that happened. Spent some time in the basement then, too, but I don't remember the derecho.

Keep cool! It's tough, with temps like we've been having, isn't it?

Cindy ~ It took a few seconds for it to sink in when I heard the news! Power? For real? LOL. Yes, absolutely knowing that we were in your prayers helps! Hugs and love to you, Cindy!

garden girl said...

Never heard of a derecho before either, Kylee. Thanks for the links. The satellite video is so dramatic. I knew the north and west suburbs of Chicago got hit pretty hard, but didn't listen to news and had no idea how severe the storm was until seeing what happened at your place.

So glad you and Romie are ok, and sorry to see all the damage. The least the darned storm could have done is give you some rain. We got quite a bit here, only without the wind damage.

Yay that your power is back on, and I hope the rest of your summer is much less eventful weather-wise. (Though I do hope you'll get some good, soaking rains soon.)

Hope things are settling back down to normal (whatever that is!) Hugs back atcha, and looking forward to seeing you at IGC!

RobinL said...

Wasn't that derecho something else? I was sitting in a car dealership, buying a new car when it came creeping in to town. And because I had been there all afternoon, I had no idea what was in store for us, other than it looked NASTY. And there were glass walls all around us! Luckily we did not lose power, and there wasn't much damage at home. Hope you gets yours cleaned up soon!

Kate said...

Wow! I am just now finding news on the derecho and the damaged it caused. My husband was sent down to MD and WV to help restore power. He's still there, in fact.

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