Winds batter traffic signs Sunday on Jenny’s street. This picture was taken after the really rough stuff had past.
On Sunday, Ohio was hit with the remnants of Hurricane Ike, resulting in wind gusts of over 70 mph and leaving more than 1.92 million people without power.
Including us! Fortunately, our power outage was short-lived, relatively speaking. But it was fun while it lasted.
Yesterday afternoon, Andy was watching football with a friend in a neighboring town, and the kids and I were out taking a walk. When we started around 1:00 p.m., it was a pretty windy day. Then it became really windy, then can’t-hear-each-other-talk windy, and eventually can’t-push-the-stroller windy. When we were still a few minutes from our car, I turned around and walked backwards trying to keep the wind and debris out of Sam’s face, and I tried to communicate the importance of walking quickly without scaring Kate to death. I was worried that we were missing the tornado warnings while we were outside. I was quite relieved to get the kids in the car, but even then I didn’t know what we were in for.
I had promised Kate ice cream as a reward for our nearly-two-hour walk, so we headed around the corner to McDonald’s, but quickly discovered that the whole shopping center was already out of power. I called Andy to alert him of the situation, but I don’t think it sunk in until the NFL Network suddenly became unavailable. So because Kate still wanted ice cream, we headed to our version of 37 flavors – Grandma’s house. Not long after we arrived there, the power went out. By this point, Andy was on his way home, but what should have been about a 12-minute trip had turned into a 45-minute one because nearly every street leading to our town was blocked by fallen trees.
Eventually we got back to our house and discovered that half of the tree in our front yard was down and we were missing a few shingles, but nothing terrible had happened, thank goodness. The sun was still up, so the biggest inconvenience about our lack of electricity was the absence of television. Kate kept saying “But I want to watch a show!” as though that were enough to make it so. We played War, Chutes and Ladders and Candy Land more times than I could count, and eventually it was time to put the kids to bed.
Well, it was time according to Mommy’s clock, anyway. The sun was not cooperating. And neither was Kate. But by 7:30, they were both asleep (don’t be jealous – Sam proceeded to wake up every 30-ish minutes for the REST OF THE NIGHT). Andy listened to football (baseball? one of those) on the radio (that we lifted from Grandma’s house because we are unprepared for emergencies) and I read a book by candlelight.
Around 9 or so, Andy commented that he was waiting to get a call from the superintendent saying that school was canceled for Monday, and sure enough, five seconds later my cell phone was ringing with that very news. And right after that, I got a text message saying that “essential staff” were the only ones to report to my work. I called one of my co-workers, and he and I quickly came to the conclusion that we are far from ‘essential’ and would have the next day off. Suh-weet.
“You know,” i said to Andy about six hours into our power outage, “Not to get all Y2K on you or anything, but I guess we should probably get some emergency supplies together in the basement for the next time something like this happens.” We don’t always have the most, uh, well-stocked pantry, and while my dinner of Cheez-Its and My Little Pony fruit snacks was oddly satisfying last night, we could probably stand to have a few more provisions set aside. You’d think we would have thought this idea up before, but apparently we are still working on this ‘responsible adult’ thing.
About three seconds after I had this revelation, though, our power was restored. The tv came on, I fired up the computer, and angels sang.
Despite my long-winded description of our trauma, what we experienced yesterday was a minor inconvenience. A very minor one in comparison to what many people in our area and in the rest of the country are still experiencing. Many, many people in Ohio are still without power, and in our rural community, for a lot people no power means no water. Not cool at all. We drove around today and the sheer amount of branches and limbs and entire trees pulled out by the roots is ASTOUNDING. And even that doesn’t begin to compare with what people who bore the brunt of Ike are dealing with.
We are very thankful, and we are thinking of all of those whose lives aren’t yet back to normal.
So that’s our Crazy-Ass Wind Storm of 2008 story (yes, that is the technical term). What’s yours?
We were extremely lucky – we did not lose power at all. Everyone around my plat did, but not us. Best I can figure, is that our power grid had been updated when they put in the new city hall, court and police complex right next to our plat some years ago. We did however have a lot of downed trees in our neighborhood.
Two doors down a big maple fell on top of the house. Before the winds died down, my DH was on that roof with a chainsaw helping to get it off, for fear that if it shifted and fell off, it would cause even more damage. Then he was hit in the head by blowing debris and nearly fell off the roof. Thankfully, he was fine, just stunned briefly.
My office had power, so I worked as normal yesterday. Driving to the office was easy – easier than normal with less people on the road. Driving to pick up my kid and home from there was not. I waited 7 minutes at one major intersection and 15 minutes at another. Most other intersections were less complex and only took a few minutes though.
I too feel fortunate to be safe and sound, and like I should prepare. My parents are still without power and all their food is in our freezer. Good for me because I skipped the grocery this weekend and many of the groceries are running on generators and are less than well-stocked.
we are still out of power and I’m camping out in my in-laws basement with my 2 kiddos. My husband and dog are roughing it with no electricity in an ALL electric house. 2 days off school so far for my oldest. Yesterday was the best snow day ever! We went out to lunch and painted pottery.
We were driving back from Kentucky on Sunday and saw it all the way across I-64 and up I-77. Trees were thrashing back and forth the whole way, and it was a bit tricky trying to stay in just one lane.
I was in Florida last month and the wind we got in Ohio was worse than Tropical Storm Hannah moving through Orlando.
My parents in Dayton used to have a FUGE pine tree in their front yard. Well, it was toppled on Sunday… onto their cars in the driveway. But, the miracle was, it fell onto a power line WHICH HELD THE TREE and saved the cars from being crushed… just scratched instead. It is a miracle that there wasn’t more damage.
We were very lucky and only lost power for a few seconds. My brother who lives 5 blocks away from us STILL does not have it! My other brother 20 mins. away also does not. We have three VERY large pine trees in our yard and thank God they are still standing! One lost a big chunk of branches but that is ok. They are very close to the house and Bobby and I were pretty nervous about that. There were times the whole house shook. It was insane.
Driving around trying to find an open CVS yesterday (hey, Joshua needed Zyrtec!!!) was surreal. Finally found an open one on my 3rd try. Most traffic lights were not working, and there were downed trees everywhere! I am hoping to get out with my camera today and get some good pics. If I am able to, I will post them later.
I would also like to note, ALL our local schools are closed for the 2nd day in a row…because of winds from a hurricane…in OHIO! this is unprecedented!
(PS, Lori, love the use of the word FUGE. you rock)
Loved your description, Em. We learned from neighbors last nite that we are the only house on the block with power. We had a “power out” party for our kids and grandkids who had no power yesterday and we may have a repeat performance today, as they still have no power. We Buckeyes got a little taste of a hurricane and it definitely gave us some sympathy for the coastal dwellers.
I also need to say a big “Thank you!” to Jenny’s wonderful dad. He climbed up on my in-laws roof yesterday and replaced the 3 rows of shingles that had come off. I am very appreciative for your help and I’m so glad that God kept you safe and nearly dry as you made the repair.
I’m in VA so we didn’t get any of Ike.
Glad to hear that you didn’t suffer any minor damage…although your stomach could probably argue that fact after hearing about your “emergency” meal. :]
Sorry, I don’t have a story. But, I’m glad y’all are okay, and didn’t lose power for too long.
Dude, I read your post and was all, “HUH?” Because I thought Ike did damage to Houston & Galveston but kinda died out. I guess NOT.
I live just west of Dallas. Here, we got a little bit of rain on Saturday but that was it. Kinda boring. I even cut the lawn on Sunday, it was so sunny and the rain had already dried out.
Sorry to hear it, on your end, though.
Finally, we have power back! It went out Sunday around 1:30, and when we got home tonight (Wed.) around 10pm, it was on!!! I couldn’t believe it. Hallelujah! It felt like everyone around us was back to normal (along with the high-n-mighty generator clan) and our little section of town was forgotten. I will definitely appreciate the comforts and conveniences of electricity more often. It’s so nice to flip a switch and have something happen! And it was a good reminder and a kick in the butt to pray more for those really affected by Ike. My couple days is nothing in comparison.
Ah, the memories. We stood in our house and watched things blow around and blow over (and blow into the pool) all the while thinking, “We’re closing on this house in 5 days—will the buyers still buy it if it’s blown down?”
We were also lucky, a few shingles, a lot of downed limbs, and minimal loss of power. Thankfully, because packing up to move 1000 miles would have sucked without power! (considering we were also some of those “need power to get water and flush the toilet” kinda people)