During the storm my husband said, “I wish we were getting this on video.” And yes, it would have been very nice to have on video. But… in the moment when trees were flying past our windows, and we could hear tree limbs hitting our house from all sides, it was more important to keep the kids wrangled into the safest area of the house (away from windows, etc.). That might sound simple, but it was particularly difficult with Ella, who simply didn’t understand why she couldn’t walk around. So my husband ended up carrying her/holding her throughout the entire storm – just to keep her in a safe area.
So taking video really wasn’t a top priority in that moment.
After the storm, it was far too hot for me to go prowling about with a camera, and then my MG flared up, etc. So due to that, and the continuing heat, I still haven’t been out with a camera much. And my father (the hardest-working retired person you’ll ever meet), has already cleared many of the damaged trees.
I wish I could show you the massive ones that were across our road, just down from my home, the night I was taken to the hospital. One of them was knocked over (roots and all) and somehow picked up in the wind and pulled backwards across the road, with the massive root ball blocking 3/4 of the road. It was really bizarre looking.
But my Mom got some photos of some of the damage around our homes and she was nice enough to share them with me, so I thought I’d show you some of them here. Looking at these it looks like nothing compared to the experience of watching it all happen. Still, I thought you might like to see them.
These will be clickable if you want to see them slightly larger.
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Below is the Mimosa tree that was my Grandmother’s.
If you’ve never seen one they are gorgeous. They bloom lovely pink blooms that hummingbirds love, and it has bloomed beautifully every year since my Grandmother’s passing. Sadly, as you can see, it was pretty badly damaged. The left side was broken off, the rest is bent, and many limbs are broken. But since the storm it is starting to perk up and even some of the pink blooms are starting to come out again. But here is what it looked like after the storm:
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Some of the many trees that broke the lines going to our home and my cousin’s home:
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More of the downed trees that took down the lines to my home:
You can see one of the snapped utility lines strung across my parent’s carport.
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I have more photos to share, but blog posts tend to get a bit wonky when you add too many photos inside of one post. So I think I’ll just separate them in to different posts. I hope to add more tomorrow. But our internet provider has informed us that they will be shutting off the internet for everyone in our area “sometime after midnight”, to do more repair work necessary because of damage from the storm. They said the hope to have it back on by morning, and if it isn’t to call them. I really hope we don’t have to call them, because it took over 2 weeks to get them out here the last time. So…. I will hopefully post more photos tomorrow, if possible.
Thank you for all of the kind and supportive comments on my previous post. You are all so kind and I appreciate you all so much. I look forward to getting caught up on viewing my friend’s blogs and replying to comments and messages, etc. Everything is a work in progress at this moment, as we work towards “normal”. We are now caught up on laundry though. LOL! So that’s a start!
Holy Toledo, that’s quite a mess! It must have been scary for all of you. I am glad you all came out so well (except for you, Deb *hug*). Let’s hope that is the last big storm you guys have for a long time.
I’ve never seen a mimosa. You can tell how beautiful it is, even with the damage.
Yikes. I love how, in the first photo, your cat is just casually walking along taking everything in stride, as if the trees were supposed to be that way.
Wow — the pictures sure back up your description of the storm! Our little house is towered over by trees (with trunks in other peoples’ yards. Every storm with wind gets scary — too scary and we go over to the landlord’s house which is on the same property but away from the trees. I can picture the trees flying by your house! Hubby was here for the hurricane last year, and the trees were bending over double. But the most damage was when we had an early heavy wet snow that snapped trees in half with the weight. We kept knocking the snow off as best we could. Another major storm system due this afternoon — cold front meeting warm air. I hope it’s nothing like you experienced, and that you don’t go through that again. Thanks for sharing the pictures.