We had a special and rare weather event called a Derecho fly through our area on Saturday afternoon. As you know we are surrounded by trees but only the ones near the back deck are very close to the house. Hubby and I went from window to window watching the immensity of the storm, having no idea what we were witnessing. We'd gotten a weather alert for heavy rainfall on our phones a little while before. The day darkened like night and the wind, my gosh the wind just appeared out of nowhere blasting at full speed. The wind was so strong it was moving the tall tree tops in circular motions, something I had never seen in my lifetime and hope to never witness again.
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The power went out and came back on last night at 8 o'clock. So three days of making do with our oil lamps and lake water and bottled water. Since all the little towns around had also lost power, there was no way to get food and we were told to stay off the roads as so many trees and power lines were down. We are very grateful to family who have kept us watered and fed. Also happy we have a special radio and oil lamps. As well we had a generator running to take turns plugging in the freezer and the fridge. I know we need to get a special small stove so we can at least heat something should we lose the power for an extended time again.
Our house is thankfully unscathed unlike many that lost roof parts and shingles. A number of large trees are down on our property and of course, many leaning and lots of broken branches littering the ground. Tragically, 10 people lost their lives in this storm which would be so terrifying to say the least.
I couldn't help notice the birds were all back to the feeders within minutes of the storm leaving as if nothing had happened. Life goes on.
What did I do during those three days? I spent time in the garden weeding, read a book, listened to radio and cross stitched. Not at all a bad life though missing a shower like crazy. I hand stitched together these tiny wee squares, one inch, with the idea of making a needle book for the Jackrabbit cross stitch project coming up.
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We fretted a bit as we didn't know how long the outage would last, even while counting our blessings. We've read that this storm had its beginning south of Chicago fed by the heat dome over the eastern United States and crossed over to Windsor, Canada then continued through southern Ontario and on its way dipped back to Maine. Weather systems know no borders, just like the Arctic air systems that dip down our way to sometimes cross the U.S. border and make their way far south of us. Climate change affects us all.
Do hope nothing has blown into your life and turned it a wee bit topsy -turvy!
Hope you have time to check out Not Afraid of Color where folks link up their Thursday posts full of positive things to like. Also linking with Life in the Scrapatch.
27 comments :
Oh no! It sounds like quite the storm. So glad you and your house were safe and sound. We ordered a propane burner camp stove after a hurricane a couple of years ago to finish off our 'survival' kit. We have yet to use it but have it just in case. Hope the dogs were not too scared from the storm.
So glad you were save and only some trees went down.
I don't remember which province do you live? I think something happened like this happened in Wisconsin/Michigan a couple years ago with a lot of damage- you need to get a campstove that you can have the small propane tanks to go with - they come in really handy and you can put on your deck table to heat food and water. I have an old fashion coffee percolator also so I can make coffee. So glad you got through with "just" trees down
Wow! Glad you had no serious effects from the storm. Living without power is so hard in this day and age. Did you keep trying to flip light switches? We have always had a propane or butane camp stove that has saved us on many occasions. I also purchased a small analog TV that came in handy when cable service was out in the 2010 Nashville flood. Ice is our big worry here so our generator is a great comfort (though only used 4 hours in the 2 years we've had it!). All-n-all, I need to do a better job of disaster planning.
I'm sure glad you are okay, that had to be so scary. We saw some of the mess on the news, awful.
We count our blessings here as well - our power was off for 25 hours here, but a couple blocks north of us had power throughout. At least we're very grateful we don't live in Uxbridge where it's been decided the storm was a category 2 and the devastation is widespread and still no power in most areas. We wrapped our fridge and freezer in as many quilts and blankets as we could find and everything was fine. Unfortunately we can't have a generator in an apartment building. Very glad you're okay!
You had the Derecho, north of me was a tornado. My kids were looking at a house up near the Mackinaw bridge and were about 20 minutes after the tornado. Glad you are safe. I know it may not seem like it but you are fortunate that you were prepared.
Glad to see your post! I was worried about you😯 Glad you have your power back. I have family there who are still without power,but they are making out okay. Enjoy that shower😊
How frightening for you and everyone else affected by this weather event. And yes, we had a scare too. Our hometown had a small tornado rush through on Friday morning! We dont get tornados here in New Zealand, well, hardly ever and they are generally small and see to occur in the far north. This one ripped roofs off, downed trees and fences and sent things hurling through the air. And it came within a couple of streets of our home. Nothing of course like the huge tornados which sweep through parts of USA causing so much damage, but still very frightening. We were away in our caravan, so missed thevaction, and a quick phone call to a friend reassured us that everything was IK at our home. WHEW!
Oh wow, so glad that you are safe. We had a hurricane several years ago that took out our power. Thankfully we do have a generator that saved our fridge and freezer.
Glad to know you are safe. These storms are scary to say the least. Don't you wonder where those birds hunker down during raging storms and then reappear magically as soon as it subsides?
Our town here in Indiana had the same thing happen. The wind blew up suddenly and trees were blown over. Our neighbor lost a limb in their tree, but thankfully that was all the damage done. It came up so suddenly and poured down rain and then it was over. Many people lost power for a couple of days. We were lucky to have kept our power. The electric company has been kept busy getting the lines back up.
Sounds like you coped just fine, Jocelyn. I'm near Winchester so my power was only off for ten hours. My siblings in Ottawa are still in the dark. Very grateful that I have a century old wood burning cook stove in my kitchen. I always keep an emergency supply of firewood. A battery powered radio is so important for information. It's been a heck is a year so far!
Glad you're okay after that horrendous storm, and not too much damage. It's good to have hand-stitching projects when there's no electricity! Take good care of yourselves!
I am glad that you came through the storm. I wondered how your area did.
Out here on the prairies those types of storms are called plow winds and cause as much damage as a tornado.
God bless.
Derechos are not fun; I think they are as scary and dangerous as tornadoes. I'm so glad you did not have any bodily harm. Thank goodness you have your power back. Hopefully your weather has quieted down. ~Jeanne
Those storms are quite something; I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of lives. Glad you are safe and had no damage to your home. That little needle book is going to be cute!
Geez Jocelyn that is scary as all heck! So glad you and your family are okay! I never heard of a Derecho but it sure sounds awful! I'm always learning something from you. Glad you had the generator as 3 days with power is enough to ruin your food! Take care and hugs!
Jocelyn - wow. Glad you were safe, and that you had a generator to protect your refrigerator! Three days is a long time to be without power! These "freak" events are getting more common, so I think they are no longer "rare" but our new normal, sad to say.
Oh my, I knew Ontario and Quebec had severe storms, but I didn't know there was a derecho. Glad you came through fairly unscathed as far as house damage. Just think of all the fire wood you'll have now.
Pat
we survived one of those back in Maryland and it tore up the area. Long power outages. I'm so glad you were able to withstand, and survive.Weather is weird and extreme I think reacting to the way humans have damaged the environment. Wonder if the damage can be undone.
Love to you and your husband
Leeanna
wow - your area got seriously thumped by that storm! Glad you are well and that your power is back.
Being with our power is really the "pits". Makes us all think of "survival kits", whether for tornado, hurricanes, derechos (which I had never heard of and had to look up) or winter blizzard. Also makes me think of how quickly we would be "stopped" if a global incident happened and the enemy hit our power grid! Yikes, I'm not ready!!
We don't have oil lamps or a weather radio. We do have a gas powered grill, so could warm food, til it ran out!
Love your little bitty squares for a needle book. Sweet!!
Wow, derechos are quite the phenomenon in meteorology, but what an ordeal for you! Glad you had your family close by and glad you didn't have too much damage, although I'm sorry for your tree loss. Will you hire someone to come in and clean out trees and limbs?
Such a disaster! I'm glad you are back up. Our kids still aren't.
We barely had damage, some on the nearby lake, though.
(ツ) from Cottage Country Ontario , ON, Canada!
So very glad you are ok and that the only limbs lost came from trees!
I am late in commenting - sorry, the Uvalde tragedy…. I am grateful that you home and you both are safe and sound. We are now the new Desert - Temps running from 95 to 107 in the afternoon. Weather is cyclic and has been since I can remember. But the drought here in South Texas is very unusual. We will probably have a hurricane that breaks the pattern this summer, if not, it will be a 100+ every day through September. We had this in 2009-10. Take care and hope that the tree removal is not too expensive for you. Hugs
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