Let's Call It a 5:30 p.m. Microburst...Not a Tornado, But It Wouldn't Surprised Me If it Confirmed as One. That Was a Wednesday.

Abu and I got our hair cuts at 4 with Jerry, but we're home by 5. He needed to shower to get the hairs off of him, and I sat down to plan Little Labs for Thinking and Thoughtful Thursday. We knew a storm was coming, and looked forward to the relief from humidity. It got dark and we beat the rain home. I watched the clouds move in fast, but then they seemed to stop over our house. Like, literally stop and try to move in all directions....it was still and then the lightening hit. Flashes were everywhere and it was quite the show...the thunder matches the bright streaks and then it started to pour. 

Yet, for four or five minutes, the winds picked up and you couldn't see across the street. It was sideways rain that reminded me of the Laborl Day storms in Syracuse. At one point, I thought I should probably move off the porch in case it was to blow away, but I sat their chiseling away at the presentation, and yellowing, "Whoa," every time a clap of thunder and lightening seemed to hit next to me. 

Karal climbed onto my shoulders and shook. She normally is unfazed by the weather.

Then the winds stopped and the rain lessened. Up and down the street all you could see were down tree limbs. Cars could not get through because it was a maze of fallen trees. One guy drove up on my lawn trying to get around the debris and failed. So, we got on shoes and went outside to pull what we could to the side of the road. It seemed like all the neighbors on my street were doing the same. 

Everyone was like, "WTF was that as we went to work?" 

Apparently we did a good job because cars from Nichols Avenue were rerouted down our street, making it like I-95. We later learned (and saw) that there were too many trees on Nichols Avenue blocking the roads. We went outside with saws and machete and began hacking away to fit the tree by the road, and then went over to the 94 year old woman's home next door and did the same with her street. We could not get far, however, because the trees that fell there were much too big (again, later, we would see all of this). 

Obviously the electricity went out. It was restored around 10:45 p.m. which surprised us. Abu and I went to Big Y to get a few things (as an excuse to drive around). It was hard to find a path to the main roads, and we were curious how much damage it cost. Interestingly, the north side of Stratford was untouched as was the Southside. It was as if whatever it was started before Wooster Middle School and moved its way towards our street. The damage is 1/2 a mile wide and 1/2 a mile long. It's very contained to the streets in our neighborhood, and some of them had lots of damage with trees fallen on cars and houses. 

It was something and I was a wee bit paralyzed without my laptop or ability to get CWP-Fairfield work done. But I rode with the evening and was very thankful to bro-in-law Mike who bought me a head lamp headband years ago that I've always wanted to use. It came in very handy and made me feel like a celebrity in my house as I could light up every room.

And that is the tale of July 16, 2024.