So it's been an eventful week around here. Wednesday afternoon, some kind of "weather event" came through here - I don't think it's been officially classified as a tornado, but several people I spoke to claim to have seen a funnel cloud so who knows. At any rate, it was the most devastating storm I personally have ever seen. Hurricane Sandy hit this area hard a few years ago and this was like 10 x worse. We had hail and horrific winds and it basically demolished my street and those surrounding it. Huge trees were toppled at the roots or just snapped in half. We got away lucky, losing only a few trees near the edge of the property and suffering hail damage to the cars and metal roof. A friend of mine had a tree come through her roof and the subsequent rain collapsed her ceiling. A huge stand of trees came down about 150 feet from our driveway and up the street another huge tree and power pole blocked access the other way so we and several neighbors were trapped in our neighborhood for several days (well, we could get out to get emergency supplies by driving across a dirt road through a farmer's field). Neighbors 2 houses up had their car crushed under a tree and people a few streets away had a tree basically cut their house in half - I think that house may be a total loss. We just got power back last night and several people on the street where the house was cut in half are still without power.

Oddly the damage was very localized - I drove my kids to school (through the dirt road farmers field) and just like a mile away you'd never know that anything happened. The school district announced on facebook that there would be no bussing from our township and people were all confused wondering why. And LL#1 and I weren't home at the time. We drove home through some heavy rain and stopped at the drugstore like 5 minutes from our house and could hear all kinds of sirens and stuff but had no idea what had happened. Then to get home from the drugstore 5 minutes away took us over an hour - every street going towards our house had downed trees and powerlines and it was absolutely the most insane thing I have ever seen. We did make it home by driving off road around the back of a church but the next morning that route was also cut off by powerlines that had fallen during the night.

Anyhow....in the midst of all this was LL#1's senior prom - it was yesterday and she had to get ready for it with no power, LOL! (We got wise and bought a generator a few years ago so at least we had water for her to take a cold shower, but the generator can't power things heat-intensive appliances like a curling iron...) We did the prom photos at my house because thankfully they opened the road yesterday morning so her boyfriend and his family could get here....our house overlooks a valley that was hard hit and for the photos we had to strategically cut out the boom cranes lifting trees off of houses and smoke from people burning the trees that fell. We got so lucky!

Anyhow, here's some photos!

This is what was blocking the road about 150 feet from our driveway. My "best friend" neighbor was on the other side of this and we literally could not get to her - she had huge ash trees fall on her chicken coops and needed help rescuing the chickens but the trees were so thick we couldn't get through (there's a huge ravine on the other side of the guardrail so couldn't go around):


The next morning, Mr. Lisa and another neighbor sawed through the left side of this blockage to clear a lane to my neighbor -- we still couldn't get far past her house because of downed poles, but we could at least get to her to help. This is her house - her chicken coops are on the near side of the house where you see all the fallen trees.


Here's a photo from the other side - these are the coops that survived. There are others that are completely crushed under the tree. All the chickens did survive though!


This was the blockage in the other direction (along with the church that I off-roaded around to get home that night):






Here's the view overlooking the valley. You can see the area where trees are just stripped of all their leaves and are basically just trunks. There are 2 boom cranes lifting the tree off the house that was cut in half.


Our patio chairs were bowled in a perfectly straight line several hundred feet across our field from where they started.

OMG, Lisa! I heard there were storms in PA, but had no idea they were right on top of you. Glad you got out relatively unscathed.

Thanks for checking in, and best of all, for the prom pics!

All I can say is holy ****.

But great prom pictures!

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
All I can say is holy ****.

But great prom pictures!

+1

Did you ever tell us where LL#1 was going to college? I can't remember, and I feel as if we've been watching her journey from afar!

Scary! Nature is powerful.

Lovely prom pics!

O.M.G.

How terrifying.

Love the prom photos.

Aw, sweet prom pictures.

Holy carp, though, that's some serious damage. I'm glad you're all okay and that the chickens survived.

I remember seeing pictures of your house before but not of the surrounding countryside. It's just lovely!

Wow! What a storm!

Was anyone hurt!?

Amazingly no, no one was hurt.

I just got back from a stroll around the worst hit areas....the roads still aren't open but there's a trail that runs right through the area. The trail guys did an amazing job clearing the trail!

Bucket trucks as far as the eye can see. There must be 30 of them all lined up along the road.

A house across the creek from us (about a half mile away as the crow flies):


Chicken coop neighbor's husband on a stepladder chainsawing an overhead branch while Mr. Lisa helps. Not wanting to become a widow, I put a stop to this immediately, LOL!


Mr. Lisa and neighbor after I made them stop!

Oh and Quirt, LL#1 is going to Miami University of Ohio.

quote:

Originally posted by Lisa:
Oh and Quirt, LL#1 is going to Miami University of Ohio.

quote:

Chicken coop neighbor's husband on a stepladder chainsawing an overhead branch while Mr. Lisa helps.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I've done that. Solo.

Holy cow! That "weather event" sure looks like tornado damage or perhaps a microburst. How scary, and how lucky your house was unscathed.

Great prom photos! What memories LL #1 will have of that day.

Oh my...how scary and awful for you and the neighbors. I am glad to hear that you are safe.

Pics tell the story.

daughter looks beautiful!

Whoa ...Glad everyone is ok.

And the prom will be remembered for many years to come!