Derecho

A Derecho is a widespread and straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms with gusts and winds often exceeding hurricane-force. In other words, a quick land hurricane.
Friday was a sunny, hot day. I remember hearing that we could have a thunderstorm that night, but nothing alarming and we really needed the rain and break in the 100 degree weather!

 
That night we went to a late movie with Julie & Jonathan. Julie and I were sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start while the guys were getting snacks. Then the screen and lights went out. We were confused, but figured it was nothing. Power came back on and we enjoyed the movie. Moonrise Kingdom was different and funny btw.

Walking out it was sprinkling and obvious that it had been raining. Driving home was a little creepy. The streets were steaming from the day's heat and there were small branches and leaves everywhere. Hmmm, that thunderstorm must've hit. They dropped us off and we walked up to our front door and I asked Nate why he had turned our porch lights off. At that same moment he opened the door and tried to turn them on. No power. Dangit!

Then we heard Julie yell, "you guys, look!" and she was pointing down our street. We ran down and saw that our neighbor's tree was split in three, one side blocking the street. Wow, must've been some storm!

Nate's creepy eyes made me think of how scary it would be if we had a zombie attack while without power.

Luckily they still had power and it appeared only our street was without. So Nate and I settled into our basement to sleep for the night as it was the only spot in the house that wasn't 80 degrees already.

The next morning still no power and we went outside to check out the tree. It was burned down the middle, so we're guessing it was lightning. Our neighbors said the storm hit fast and was like a sudden hurricane and then they heard the loudest bang, power went out and the tree was down. Thankfully the tree just barely dented their car, but didn't smash it.

I had plans to go shopping for wedding dresses with my mom that day so I called her and learned she too was without power. Luckily the store we were going to had power, so we planned to go anyway and enjoy the A/C. I drove to work first to check on the building and we luckily had power there too.

Driving to my mom's was scary. Trees were down everywhere - even on the highway! And when I say trees, I don't mean the little ones. HUGE trees knocked down like they were nothing. Listening to the one radio station that had power and was able to be on, I learned that we had been hit by a Derecho. Half a million people were without power. Trees hit houses. Two were killed in Springfield (where we live) - one was hit by a tree while driving, one hit by a tree in her own house. So sad.

I got off the highway and Old Georgetown Rd. looked like a complete war zone. All traffic lights out. Idiot drivers not knowing that you have to treat it like a 4-way stop so I watched about 3 almost horrible accidents. Driving was like an obstacle course because of all the trees down and debris everywhere. Half-mile long lines to the gas stations as everyone needed to gas up their generators and most gas stations were without power.

Then I noticed my mom's neighbor, two houses down. It was split in two by a tree. The tree fell directly into the middle of the house and completely cut the house into two. No one was hurt, but it made me realize how horrible the storm was so thankful that my mom was safe and so were we.

We made it to the dress shop and enjoyed our day :) News hit that we should prepare for the power to take days, if not a week to come back on because of all the damage and amount of people without. Then Nate called and said our power made it back on. YAY!! Mom came and stayed with us until power was restored in her area.

Being without power is one thing. Being without power when it was 90-100 degrees everyday was pure misery. I am so thankful that we just happened to be one of the first areas with power restored. But I felt so bad as we talked to others and heard the news how miserable people were as their houses reached 90-95 degrees inside. Metro buses were turned on and stationed as cooling centers. People turned to all the malls just to walk around and cool off. I'm sure restaurants have made plenty as everyone has been eating out.

Each day since another 100,000 people have had the power restored and I think we're down to the final 100,000 without power. Mom's finally came back on yesterday. Cleanup is almost done. End of the tunnel is very near!

Last night Nate and I went to dinner and noticed lightening. Crap. We watched the storm get closer and asked the waitress to grab our check so we could make it out before the storm. Just as we were chatting with her about how bad Friday's storm was, the power went out. NOOOO!! Luckily it came right back on but we had to wait for the credit card machine to come back on. So we didn't beat the storm, we watched it hit. Crazy winds and lightening all over again. As we approached our neighborhood, all street and traffic lights went out. Not again!! Luckily they too came back on a minute later. Anxious to see if our house had power, we turned the corner and I've never been so happy to see our porch lights still on!

So this 4th of July we're so thankful for our freedom, our power and safety!