Thursday, December 1, 2011

Day #315 - Shelter from the Wind

WOW - the wind really blew through Davis County. It is a very unusual condition when there is low pressure to the South and a high pressure from the North (or visa verse) pushing against each other creating a wind tunnel of extraordinary power. We got that in Utah today.

When Travis and I turned on the news this morning there were 5 Semi's turned over on I15 between Bountiful and Layton. While the news was on we saw the wind pick up a trailer (like a horse trailer without windows) being pulled by a truck and flip it onto it's side. Lucky for the guy in the truck only the back of the truck lifted up off the ground and the hitch broke with the pressure so the truck didn't go with it. The poor guy had just pulled over off the highway in front of a Semi truck that was teetering back and forth in the wind as well.

I called my Mom and sister Amy today to see how they were faring. Mom and Dad lost 1/3 of the shingles off their extra garage and the power was out for about 13 hours. Amy's trampoline took flight and broke down one side of their fence and frisbeed into the neighbors yard where it still sits. She also lost one side of her chicken coup and the chickens got all excited and could not be contained. Amy's power is still out tonight so they are camping at Mom and Dad's to stay warm.

Mom told me the news reported hundreds of trees that have been uprooted by the wind in more than one golf course, trees are down in the streets and electric poles are snapped in half. There are estimates that some places won't have power for 48 hours or longer...all from a little wind.

This of course puts me back in mind of that book I read and wrote about in an earlier post - in today's situation all that went out was the power. Mom and Dad went to the store and bought a chain saw, but the store had sold out of them and had to back order it for them. They also sold out of generators and other emergency items. The only reason they had power for the cash registers was due to their own store generators. Mom and Dad were just about to hook the fridge up to their generator when the electricity came back on. I can't imagine, even though this was a small scale emergency, what it would be like to not be able to reach my parents to find out if everyone was doing ok.

Travis talked to my brother Jason who told him their neighborhood was getting wrecked, but it sounded like they are doing alright and he also checked in with his Mom to make sure she was doing ok. Keri is in Vegas, so not much to check on there for now. The only other house to find out about is our rental in NSL...we called the property manager and I am praying the roof stayed put....fingers crossed. The important thing is that everyone is safe.

I Am Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: "Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great." Mark Twain

1 comment:

  1. Geez, it sounds like Florida around there. Not used to hearing about that kind of stuff happening around your neck of the woods. It sounds a lot worse than I had realized. I was kind of making light of Jason's FB post about his neighbors fence blowing down. Feel a little bad about that now. I will check in with mom and dad tomorrow and see how things are going. Thanks for the update.

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