Severe Weather ... schools closed today.

I saw that on the news Jenn. I am glad you all are safe. Unbelievable the way the storm was.. we had that the other day over the weekend... hunker down and be safe.

 

Oh Jenn, that is scary stuff! We've had bad rain and some wind with this storm, but nowhere near what you experienced/are experiencing. Last night our power flickered twice, and I was sure we'd lose it for a few hours, but we didn't.

Fingers crossed that the worst of it is over...and fingers crossed you all don't get cabin fever locked up at home today!

 

We had some crazy storms, right!? I was outside as the clouds were rolling in, before the storm hit - getting the dog one last walk in before the onslaught. We were luckier than up by you, Jenn! We had terrible winds, sideways rain, thunder and lightning like crazy! It was for about 2 and a 1/2 hours straight.No power loss, we are connected to the train power lines so that is a plus when others around us have lost power!

Plus, we have about 7 HUGE trees on our lot! There are a couple, if DH and I tried to touch hands around the circumference, we wouldn't be able to. They are healthy and strong, but they still make me nervous. (I calm myself down by reminding myself that we have good insurance, and I used to be a claims adjuster, so I know the ins and outs a bit.)

 

Yes, on Monday evening. We had the worst loss of electricity I can remember. I think only once before in the 18 years I've lived here have we lost electricity for more than a minute or two. It was about an hour and a half on Monday evening.

In my area we also had lots of downed branches and trees, and my county (Spotsylvania, Virginia) canceled school Tuesday.

edited to add my location for @gduncan I agree. I wish our locations were listed under our profile photos in the sidebar, as is the case at many other forums. I've often read someone's post and wondered where she's talking about.

 

It would be interesting to know where each of you are located! I live in Oklahoma, and we have many tornadoes, but so far this year has not been bad. I know what you are going through! It's terrible. Hope and pray everyone stays safe.

 

Wow! That would be so scary. I'm glad your hubby & daughter made it home safely.
I grew up in So Cal and always said I would rather deal with earthquakes than tornadoes or hurricanes... I guess it's what you get used to, huh?

 

Indeed. I also grew up in southern California. Strangely, now that I've lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia for 18 years, the earthquakes and droughts of CA scare me a little now, when I ponder the possibility of moving back. We get tornado warnings here, but actual touch downs are very rare. And when hurricanes pass by the most we get are high winds and torrential rains because we're so far inland.

 

We got out of Florida just in time!

 

Oh Jenn, that is SO frightening to even hear about it! I'm glad you're all okay. There will be a lot of clean up now. Stay safe! {{{{hugs}}}}

 

I saw a national weather forecast yesterday that said it appeared that the Virginia area would be have a "derecho". The definition of a "derecho" is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a land-based, fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms. They can cause hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains and flash floods. What you guys are describing sounds like that might have been what you had in both Virginia and the northeast.

My small town was hit with a derecho in June of 2012. It hit right at the time I was scheduled to get off work, so those of us still left there, hung around and watched out the windows (I took pictures since I always had a camera in my purse... yes, they are scrapped). The rain was falling horizontally from west to east and we could hardly see the ODOT building across the street. When we could finally leave, there were trees down all over town, some blocking roads. I had no major damage in my yard but houses around me had trampolines upended, jungle gym play sets turned over and torn apart. One house in the neighborhood had a huge, old tree come down on it. They had only lived there for 3 months and since there was a great big hole in the roof as well as being shifted off the foundation, they had to go elsewhere. Every room in the house was damaged in one way or another but no one was in it at the time. In the end, the house was able to be fixed and they were able to move back in about 6-9 months later. Many people actually felt like we were in a tornado. The only thing missing was the actual tornado causing the winds. In my opinion, a derecho can cause just as much damage if not more since there is no actual path of destruction like a tornado. About an hour or so after the storm went through, I walked the neighborhood with my dogs and took pictures. Neighbors were already out helping neighbors clean up some of the trees that were blocking the one road in the back of the neighborhood.

Glad everyone here that had bad weather is OK.

 

YIKES!! Glad you're all okay!! It's scary reading about things like this...not sure how I'd feel living it in real life!

 

I thought Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas were tornado country, but looks like they're going everywhere! I'm glad you're all okay! Tornadoes are horrible.

 

That's scary stuff @jenn mccabe - glad you're all ok.

My hubby was trying to fly out of NYC yesterday afternoon and his flight was delayed several hours. They were out on the runway for over an hour waiting to take off and then went back to the gate and sat for another hour or so refueling and waiting for a break in the storm before they could fly out to Houston. He didn't mention tornados, just thunder storms, probably because he didn't want me to worry. I'm a grade A worrier... hehe Hopefully the weather in Houston will be good so he can make it home on Friday.

 

Yes... DH was in the basement since it was 15 degree cooler from the humid 89*, and I started shutting all the windows. He came up wondering why I closed both sides of the houses windows... I said the rain is nuts and going sideways, and in every direction. I heard there were some tornado that went across 287, but haven't seen anything on the news. Me too about the trees!

 

I live in Ohio and we have tornadoes as well. That is why a lot of houses have basements. It is a fact of life around here but thankfully due to the advancement of weather forecasting, deaths are not as many as they have been in the past. In 1974 there was an extremely devastating tornado on Easter weekend that killed 33 people and injured over 1300 other people causing over $100 million in damage in the county just 1.5 hours from me, near Dayton, Ohio. It was a part of a "super outbreak" that spawned 148 twisters, killing 335 people in a 16 hour period. States affected... Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois and Michigan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1974_Super_Outbreak

 

I love storms, but man, that's scary!! I saw some video on the weather channel today. It's when that wind gets so bad that I get worried. My house is surrounded by old, not so healthy tress. We've had a bunch cut, but need to cut a bunch more. We got hit by the derecho in 2012 and that brought a HUGE oak tree down that thankfully landed right between my house and the next door neighbors without hitting anything. Glad you all are safe!!