| We call this Not Fun |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|12:15 pm] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  tired | ] |
I'm sick of this weather. A few weeks ago, we had the first tornado which went haywire. Then we had the series of multiple tornadoes in which four Boy Scouts lost their lives and major destruction was everywhere.
And now this.
Friday morning, I parked my car across the street from work. Where I work, there are several buildings, all belonging to my company. There are only 30 slots in the parking lot at my building, and over half of them are reserved for VIPs. Of those, I have yet to see more than 6 being used at any one time. That means we park across the street, on the street, etc.
I parked across the street under a shade tree. I had planned on having lunch there, then leaving and coming home in the evening. Oh, Mother Nature laughed at me. But I'll get to that in a minute.
Around 11, some co-workers came to my cube and practically dragged me outside. I had told them repeatedly that I wasn't going out, but I was "convinced" to go try a new pizza joint not far away. I did. When we came back, the spot I was in had been taken. I parked farther away in an area where there were no trees. I rolled the windows down to about 1 inch down, in all 4, then went inside.
20 minutes before 5, the sirens went off. We were ordered downstairs, and there we went, for all of 3 minutes. Back up we went, and I thought about my car windows, then realized my keys were on my desk, as was my badge to get back in (keycard on the back of the badge unlocks the door). I went back to my desk to get them. As soon as I got there, the sirens went off again. Again, we went downstairs. No one was allowed to leave the building for any reason.
About 5 minutes after 5, the sirens stopped and we were allowed to leave. That's when the power went out. No lights, not even the emergency backups. And then the rain started. I had my new golf umbrella with me, so I let Amy (my boss) run under it while I ran across the street ... It was too late, the inside of my car was a mess, water everywhere. And then I looked over to where I had parked in the morning. A tree had fallen onto the car in that space.
It was totaled.
Right next to that was my friend Shelley's car. It also was damaged. She needed to take pictures for her insurance and I offered to drive her someplace to get a disposable camera. That was a mistake. There were none. Cuz the power was out. Everywhere. No stop lights, no street lights, no lights in any buildings, the whole city was dark.
An hour or so later, I returned her to work. She had someone coming to pick her up, and found someone with a camera phone who took pictures for her. Then I started on my way home.
It took forever, as there was no electricity anywhere, at least until I got to 52nd street. Then, for a short while, there were a few places with lights and then darkness again.
That night, I stayed home with flashlights. Saturday, we decided to go to a motel. And now, Sunday, we're still here.
There were 133,000 homes without power on Friday. By Saturday at 10 pm, it was down to 59,500 homes. While that's good, my place is one of those without power. OPPD (power company) says it will be at least next Saturday before everyone is back up with power.
At least there are libraries with power, so I can post this.
If you've sent me email or whatever, I may not be able to get to it for a couple days, so hang tight.
As for me, I'm just hoping we're done with the crazy weather. Stability, please. That's not too much to ask, is it? |
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