I didn't have any plans this weekend, but it wouldn't have mattered if I did, Mother Nature (that bitch) had her own plans.
Friday afternoon, my oldest son was off with friends, and I was bored. So, I put Christopher (my 2 year old) on the back of my bike and decided to go for a ride. We rode to the end of our block, and across the street. Here's a graphic (yes, I'm bored right now)
Anyhow, shortly after crossing the street the tornado sirens went off. At first I thought it was just the emergency siren (small towns have that to call the firefighters and police when there's a problem), but quickly realized it was actually a tornado siren. I thought this was weird because the sky was just overcast and not at all threatening. That is, until I looked to the north. There was big black wall of clouds heading straight for us. It didn't look like it was moving very quickly so I continued around the road. Just on the other side of the bank, I changed my mind and decided to head back.
Just before I got to the cross street the wind picked up from a slight (5 - 10 mph) breeze to a full on gail (at least 30+ mph winds, not sure) in a matter of a few seconds. Okay, time to panic a little. Not because I worried about my own safety, but because my 2 year old was with me. So, I downshifted and started pedaling to beat hell. Only problem was, the wind was so strong, I could barely gain any ground. I had to downshift again, so I was in 4th gear. I've never had the bike in that low of a gear before, but it was the only way I could keep moving.
After I cleared the cross street the houses shielded the wind just enough for me to get back to 7th gear and get home. By that time, debris was starting to fly around. So, I slid into the garage, grabbed Chris off the back, got the dog off his chain and ran inside for cover.
Once inside, I went to the TV to turn on the weather. I got to see about 30 seconds of it before the power went out. Once the power went out, I figured we should just hang out under the stairs until it passed. The storm only last about 10 - 15 minutes, but it seemed a lot longer than that.
After it subsided, we went outside to survey the damage. You can see what happened to my blue spruces. They were about 30 foot tall before the storm, and significantly shorter after. Now, the no longer exist.
To make things even more stressful, James, my five year old was in Council Bluffs (about 40 miles away) with his friend and friend's mother. I had no phone, no cell phone (haven't had a cell in 5 years) and no power. So, I didn't know if he was okay or not. James and company showed up about an hour later, just fine. After my wife got home, we went to Wal Mart to get supplies (along with the rest of Waterloo, Valley and Elkhorn). Spent WAAAAAAYYYY too much on flashlights and assorted crap, then ended up going to a hotel anyhow. We should've have skipped Wally World and headed straight to the hotel, but we were a little frazzled and not thinking clearly.
Long story short, it's been real this weekend, but certainly not real fun. Just wanted to share my story with friends.
This was taken two weeks ago to show how deep the water gets in our backyard. You can see one of the spruces on the left standing tall.
Trees fell down, went boom.
Taken about 20 minutes ago. No more trees.
Friday afternoon, my oldest son was off with friends, and I was bored. So, I put Christopher (my 2 year old) on the back of my bike and decided to go for a ride. We rode to the end of our block, and across the street. Here's a graphic (yes, I'm bored right now)
Anyhow, shortly after crossing the street the tornado sirens went off. At first I thought it was just the emergency siren (small towns have that to call the firefighters and police when there's a problem), but quickly realized it was actually a tornado siren. I thought this was weird because the sky was just overcast and not at all threatening. That is, until I looked to the north. There was big black wall of clouds heading straight for us. It didn't look like it was moving very quickly so I continued around the road. Just on the other side of the bank, I changed my mind and decided to head back.
Just before I got to the cross street the wind picked up from a slight (5 - 10 mph) breeze to a full on gail (at least 30+ mph winds, not sure) in a matter of a few seconds. Okay, time to panic a little. Not because I worried about my own safety, but because my 2 year old was with me. So, I downshifted and started pedaling to beat hell. Only problem was, the wind was so strong, I could barely gain any ground. I had to downshift again, so I was in 4th gear. I've never had the bike in that low of a gear before, but it was the only way I could keep moving.
After I cleared the cross street the houses shielded the wind just enough for me to get back to 7th gear and get home. By that time, debris was starting to fly around. So, I slid into the garage, grabbed Chris off the back, got the dog off his chain and ran inside for cover.
Once inside, I went to the TV to turn on the weather. I got to see about 30 seconds of it before the power went out. Once the power went out, I figured we should just hang out under the stairs until it passed. The storm only last about 10 - 15 minutes, but it seemed a lot longer than that.
After it subsided, we went outside to survey the damage. You can see what happened to my blue spruces. They were about 30 foot tall before the storm, and significantly shorter after. Now, the no longer exist.
To make things even more stressful, James, my five year old was in Council Bluffs (about 40 miles away) with his friend and friend's mother. I had no phone, no cell phone (haven't had a cell in 5 years) and no power. So, I didn't know if he was okay or not. James and company showed up about an hour later, just fine. After my wife got home, we went to Wal Mart to get supplies (along with the rest of Waterloo, Valley and Elkhorn). Spent WAAAAAAYYYY too much on flashlights and assorted crap, then ended up going to a hotel anyhow. We should've have skipped Wally World and headed straight to the hotel, but we were a little frazzled and not thinking clearly.
Long story short, it's been real this weekend, but certainly not real fun. Just wanted to share my story with friends.
This was taken two weeks ago to show how deep the water gets in our backyard. You can see one of the spruces on the left standing tall.
Trees fell down, went boom.
Taken about 20 minutes ago. No more trees.
But the little inner tubes we had in it under that tarp blew away. They landed about 4 houses down on the other side of the street. I'm surprised they didn't go farther.
