Wet and windy

[altivo]

We had thunderstorms. Did we ever have thunderstorms. Other than a lot of falling water and several brief power outages, there was no significant damage here at the farm as far as we can tell. I thought that it was all over as I got ready for work this morning, but I was no more than out of the shower and mostly dried off when the power went out again. I'd already observed that there were servers apparently down or offline at the library, so I silenced the beeping of the UPS at home and made sure everything was shut off and headed for work.

Road closed. The usual route I take, and the only direct one, was blocked off by sheriff's cars with strobing lights. It does get partially flooded sometimes and I figured it was that or else a tree down across the road. However, the Northwest Herald had a rather different story on it. They say that an old wooden barn collapsed in the winds and the large debris blowing against utility poles sheared them off, bringing high voltage lines down onto the roadway and threatening more. They had a photo of poles hanging only by the electrical wires, broken quite free at the bases. Oddly enough, no debris and no barn was visible. I recognized enough in the picture to be able to place the location along the road, but I don't remember a barn anywhere near that spot.

I figured the road would be open by the time I came home, but no. Now it has barricades at the intersections north and south of the damage (about two miles apart) and looks as if they aren't even letting the people who live along there drive their cars into the area.

Harvard had a church fire, apparently started by lightning. Odd how often churches seem to be hit by lightning, isn't it? Nearby Hebron had a barn fire, likewise. The church suffered mainly roof damage according to the newspaper, but the barn was a total loss. Work itself was fairly quiet, as the kids are back in school today and adults were back at work. I had servers to restart and UPSes to unlock all over the place, but everything did come back up without major hitches.

Oddly, I saw no downed trees at all, which is unusual for this type of storm in our area. Gary said he saw several on his way down to the University, though.

One odd thing to notice. I've lamented the fact that my sweet old bearded collie has grown pretty deaf in the last year. Well, he used to be terrified of thunderstorms. He barely noticed this series of storms, I guess because he couldn't hear the thunder. (Though he must still feel it when it gets close, I'm sure.)

Comments

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

The hospital at Dewsbury was struck last night as well. Thats an odd co-incidence.

[altivo]

There was lightning all over the place last night. Doesn't surprise me that you'd have some too, though I do realize it's much less common there than it is here.

[moonhare]

...the large debris blowing against utility poles sheared them off...

Now that's wind! And no trees blown down?

Funny thing with churches, you'd think they'd have lightning rods all over the roofs and steeples; The church across from the library only recently wired their steeple with one.

[altivo]

I guess a lightning rod is either considered to be an admission that divine retribution is likely or else it's viewed as the tool of a Doubting Thomas. ;p

[flamekist.livejournal.com]

By all means, send some of that rain down south! We've suddenly gone dry down here and now we're nearing the peak of the pollen season. Clouds of the stuff is drifting through the air and everything is turning yellow. I think my sinuses have gone on strike...


Odd how often churches seem to be hit by lightning, isn't it?

I can see it from God's point of view...
"No, you're doing it all wrong! That's not what I meant when I said that! Don't you bloody mis-quote Me! That's it, I've had it!"
BAM!

[altivo]

Would that god would take that kind of action on politicians on both sides of the aisle. Incinerate a few to ashes and grease smears and maybe the rest would finally get their heads out of their own asses and look around.