Storm Last Night - DH and I are safe

16 years ago

Hi everyone

Just thought I would let you know that John and I and the boys are safe. The storm last night was a micro-burst with winds hitting 79 miles per hour.

I was never SO scared in my life. The storm started around 8:30 with LOTS of thunder and lightning. At 8:50 I finally had to turn off the tv because the lights were flickering. Then at 9:00 the winds kicked in and I thought it was a tornado going through. John and I were watching from the backroom when the walls starting shaking. It was then we saw the debris blowing. We were going to head for the basement when suddenly everything calmed down. We grabbed the flashlight and went out onto our deck and it looks like a war zone. Huge tree limbs everywhere. Our 60 foot pine tree in our backyard was sheared in half (itÂs about 30 feet now). Half of it is in our yard and part is in our neighbors. Some of our neighbors roof shingles are on our front lawn. Our tree in the front yard has some large limbs that cracked off but are still up in the tree. It will take John and I at least 2 days of cleaning up the yard. When I left for work this morning I went down our main road and the church a few blocks from our house has a collapsed wall. Milledgeville is a mess but thankfully our house didnÂt suffer any major damage. John has to wait until the rain stops to get a closer look.

Will keep you posted.

samkaren

your resident DJ

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Comments (15)

Georgysmom
16 years ago
Wow! Glad you are safe. We had a storm last night in VA. It wasn't predicted at all. Actually it was this morning...5:30 am. The lightening was quite severe and very close. I couldn't stay in bed...too scary. Golf close was closed this morning due to all the debris on the course. But I don't think our storm was as severe as yours.
marlingardener
16 years ago
Thank heavens you and your family are safe! We have been through fierce Texas storms, but yours sounds like a real doozy. Sorry you have so much clean-up, but at least you didn't lose your house, or part of it.
Our thoughts are with you, and waiting an update. Hope the news is good!
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Q
Comments (12)
What a terrible blow, I'm sorry to hear what happened. Not to trivialize your disappointment, but this is something that happens on a large scale to people whose living depends upon their crop. A tornado, hailstorm, flood, drought, or whatever wipes out an entire cash or subsistence crop in one fell swoop. Farmer's know this eventuality can happen any time and it is part of man's battle against the elements. I don't mean to wax philosophical and I'd be upset to lose my garden as well. But this is the way of Mother Nature and there isn't much we can do about it except pick up the pieces and try to salvage those plants the best you can. BTW...where did this big storm happen? We had rumblings of a thunderstorm last night but it never cut loose here (in Georgia).
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Comments (10)
G.M., We're fine but we had a pretty rough night. We had 3 to 4 separate waves of storms after the NOAA weather alert went off to let us know that bad weather was approaching from Jefferson County. Just about 3" of rain, high wind, power out, some tree limbs down, but nothing serious at our house.....well, except for a serious lack of sleep. Marietta had more damage in town than we had here. There was a strip of power poles along Hwy 77 south of town where one pole went completely down and then quite a few others snapped in half. We got our power back more quickly than Marietta did, I think, 'cause our particular power lines run up to us from Thackerville, instead of down from Marietta. We saw lots of ornamental pear trees split right in half, which is typical after a big windstorm. We made a quick run to Ardmore to Lowe's this morning so I could get bags of mulch. Figured if I couldn't plant, I'd mulch what's already been planted. You wouldn't believe how many trampolines we saw in the middle of nowhere.....fields and pastures.....alongside the road (with no houses nearby).....piled up on top of cars or sheds or swingsets or fences. None of those trampolines looked salvageable. During the worst of last night's wind and rain, (before the power went out....so we still had light to see by), our trees and shrubs were blowing in a rotating manner, but none of the trunks snapped. It is very wet and windy out there today. I am operating on a severe sleep deficit. I never really went back to sleep after the NOAA alert went off because every time I was almost asleep, it went off again for a total of 3 or 4 times. At least mulching is a easy task and I don't have to think real hard to to it. LOL Did you know the Roosevelt Bridge over Lake Texhoma was shut down half the night and most of today (one lane is currently open) because all the power lines and poles are covering the bridge? The stuff during the night was scarey, but I was more afraid of the storm cell that was moving our way sometime after 8 or 8:30 last night....it was the one that spawned a tornado or two near Breckinridge, Texas, and then very slowly and laboriously made its way towards us. Just south of Gainesville, though, it veered southeast towards Whitesboro. We had watched it on KXII for an hour or more and I was just relieved it slid south of us. On the radar at the time, it looked like we'd take a direct hit, but we didn't. That same cell may be the one that did all the damage that has been reported near Denison. It looks gorgeous outside today, but the wind is really blowing hard out of the west. Dawn
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Anyone get damage from last night's storms????
Q
Comments (11)
Hey all, Thanks for thinking of me. Me and DH are fine but our town did get damage. Channel 5 news cast was out here taking pictures so it might be on the news this evening. Our ballpark was wiped out and they will have to rebuild it, the bridge that goes across the creek was up lifted, they were trying to repair the bridge but I don't think they're doing a good job of it. They're only taking a big backhoe thing and trying to get the cement road to go back down? I'm not willing to drive on it till it's fixed right. Some of the neighbors around have water damage to the inside of their homes. Anyone that's looking to buy a home remember to never get a home that sits lower than other homes. Our house sits up on a small hill but the homes below get all our run off and it's not good. It is very sad about the little girl, I saw it on the news this morning that she was swept out of her mothers arms. I'm sure she needs prayers to cope with the loss of her baby. Nothing else in the world can be worse than losing a loved one. Barb
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All OK after last night's storm!
Q
Comments (40)
Very good information, chas045. Thanks. I have always suggested everyone to get a generator. Weather problems will be with us for the next century. You need to power up your heating system in the winter. Pipes bursting in the winter can cost you thousands. You need to run your water pump if you have a well. You need to keep your refrigerator going. It's good to have lights, computer, phones and internet. I am not advocating this, because it is illegal. Back-feeding with a generator is the cheapest way to go to power up half of your house. However, I always find it difficult to understand with the main technical reason that back-feeding can kill a lineman. A professional lineman takes all kinds of precaution when he is working. If you don't turnoff your main breaker, you simply cannot start your generator. Your generator will be attempting to power up your entire neighborhood and all the street lights. Repeat: Don't do it, just use a heavy duty extension cord. It is not that painful to use an extension cord for a few days. A 1,000 watt generator is about $200. How big a generator do you need? Incandescent light about 100 watts CFL light, 25 watts Computer about 100 watts Phone charger, 1 watt Small electric fan, 50 watts Microwave, 600 to 1,250 watts Toaster oven, about 1,800 watts Refrigerator, Freezer, depending on size, from 800 watts Attic fan, 350 watts Forced air heating system fan, 500 watts Refrigerator, 20 cf, 800 watts TV, 250 watts Air conditioner, about 1 watt/BTU rating Hair dryer, up to 1,850 watts Electric oven, forget about it. Takes too much power. Electric water heater, 2,500 watts to 4,500 watts. Three other important things to keep in mind, besides capacity of a generator. 1. full-load running time 2. Noise level - quiet generators are more expensive. But you don't want your neighbors complaining. 60 dbs is very quiet. You will get lots of complains at about 80 dbs. 3. weight - A good 2,000 watt generator can be light enough to go camping with, others can be very heavy to transport. dcarch
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jannie
16 years ago
Just glad you are safe.
sue_va
16 years ago
Georgysmom,where are you in Virginia?

I heard/saw one flash of lightening, and a sound like something had hit the window. Woke me up, and I went right back to sleep.

Only evidence here was a little water in the bird bath.

Samkaren.. sorry about your damages. Will you have to take down what is left of the 60 foot tree? What a shame.

Sue
patti43
16 years ago
Wowzer! That sounds like more than a storm. I'd have been in the cellar when the lights flickered. Who are the boys??? Glad you're safe and your home, too.
kathleenca
16 years ago
Sure scary - you were right on the edge of it. So glad you are all safe.
samkaren
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks everyone
I'm borrowing my bosses camera so I will have some photos to show you. Our tree will be okay...it was the top half that was blown off so I think the roots are okay.

patti...my boys are my two furbabies...OKE and Dusty

Samkaren
your resident DJ
whidbeykathy
16 years ago
Wow! Scary winds!! This has been a very wierd weather year!
tami_ohio
16 years ago
Karen, I'm glad you are safe and little damage. In 1991, we had a bad storm in Nov. Now, here in n central Ohio, you don't get 70Â° days in Nov, but we did. DD & I had a girl scout leader daughter camp out the next night, DS had been sick, DH was on midnight shift and was sleeping. I was just getting ready to put the kids to bed. Thought we were having a tornado! They said it was straight line winds, but we don't think so. We had a similar pine in our back yard, also lost the top half of it. It still stands today! We lost two other pines and a back yard light on a pole. Hope you don't find any other damage now that the rain has stopped and you can see in the daylight.

Tami
patti43
16 years ago
Aah, furbabies--thought maybe you were holding out on us ;-)
minnie_tx
16 years ago
I'm sorry I forgot where your new house is
Isn't Milledgeville in Ga? No matter where you are those storms are really scary. I'm so glad you're ok.
jemdandy
16 years ago
Your pine tree will likely survive, but its appearance will be affected. If it were a spruce, it would correct its shape in 10 to 15 years. Lightening took the top 10 ft out of one my spruce trees. For the next 5 years, it developed a ring of linbs at the very top and made a nesting platform for owls. An then, one year, one of the limbs in the top tier began to turn upward and after 2 years was pointing straight up. It became the main trunk and 10 years after the hit, the tree appears normal to the casual observer, but one who is practiced in reading tree growth can make a good guess about prior damage. But for landscaping purposes, it has made the repair and needed 10 to 12 years to do it.
trishaw
16 years ago
Those things are very scary. We get hit with them every year. No warning really either. My house is so old and very shoddily built so we are afraid that one of these days we are going to blow into our neighbors! Thankfully all of our big trees are away from the house, as long as the wind does not blow them across 2 acres we are safe!

Trish in SC
samkaren
Original Author
16 years ago
Minnie
Milledgeville is a small town in Northern IL. There is a Milledgeville in GA too.

I'll send a few photos of the damage.

SamKaren
your resident DJ
minnie_tx
16 years ago
Thanks I don't know why I was thinking you were in the south somewhere. looking forward to the photos and so glad you are safe

Storm Last Night - DH and I are safe

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