OWL-DRAGON

In A Flash

Got up this morning to a light rain, gusty winds; walked the dog; did my morning routine and was just in the process of shaving when my wife said “These winds are worse then the hurricane” with that the lights went off. Still not aware of just how bad it was. Then I noticed that pieces of trees were everywhere. In the cemetery behind my house large obelisks were knocked off their pedestals. A fire engine came down the street (later I learned a trees had caught fire from fallen wires). As I drove down my street I saw tree after tree down. And when I entered the business district a short distance away I knew we had been hit with something dramatic. The “experts” are still debating whether it was wind shear or a tornado, but it doesn’t matter the damage is done. A huge old tree fell into a nearby church shattering the stain glass window. Cars were crushed under heavy trees. My daughter who lives nearby said not a street in her neighborhood didn’t have a tree down. A large tree just missed her car. The property losses are huge but fortunately no one was seriously hurt.

Of course there were no traffic lights and power which, strangely, briefly went back on is off again. Incredibly as often happens in these wind storms the damage is very localized. Go a mile and everything is normal. The local all news radio was still saying light rain with clearing by noon.

I have seen this kind of devastation on TV and I remember the damage from Floyd but I never experienced this sudden, terrific damage so close up. (This is suburban Philadelphia not Kansas.) My neighborhood will be different for a very long time. I’ve never seen so many large trees down. Some of the smaller ones were just snapped in two. Many streets are closed but crews are already hard at work.