Power Back On
Across Louisiana we have been pounded by the remains of hurricane Gustav. 
Rather than keep moving, it stalled over Shreveport, and the bands of torrential weather deluged and swept the state as it expended it's last breath.
In my neighborhood we have been fortunate. Quite a few trees fell as the water logged earth coughed up large rootballs after the wind applied leverage against the branches. Streets have been closed as crews worked to restore power. Several lines and transformers were down.
The trunks of mossy old oak trees were broken, the winds having twisted them beyond their endurance.
As our water recedes, the evacuees are flooding the highways on the way back down South. After work this afternoon, I had the opportunity to ride my bike around the neighborhood to survey the damage and to get a fix on how long it might take to get power again.
When I got home, the power was back on, the fish were still alive, and Ilsa was overjoyed to see me. I decided to curl up on the sofa and take a nap instead.
Rather than keep moving, it stalled over Shreveport, and the bands of torrential weather deluged and swept the state as it expended it's last breath. In my neighborhood we have been fortunate. Quite a few trees fell as the water logged earth coughed up large rootballs after the wind applied leverage against the branches. Streets have been closed as crews worked to restore power. Several lines and transformers were down.
The trunks of mossy old oak trees were broken, the winds having twisted them beyond their endurance.
As our water recedes, the evacuees are flooding the highways on the way back down South. After work this afternoon, I had the opportunity to ride my bike around the neighborhood to survey the damage and to get a fix on how long it might take to get power again. When I got home, the power was back on, the fish were still alive, and Ilsa was overjoyed to see me. I decided to curl up on the sofa and take a nap instead.
Labels: Hurricanes
posted by Xavier at 7:49 PM
5 Comments:
Glad to here you were spared the worst of what could have been tragic
Welcome home!
Welcome back, and good luck getting everything 'back the way it was'. Hurricanes always gave me a tropical depression.
Glad to hear the damage to your neighborhood was minor and that power was back on quickly.
We were down here (in Virginia) for Hurricane Isabel and without power for 10 days. It wasn't as bad as you might think and we had a pretty good time, but after a while, not having the Internet really started to suck.
It looks like we'll be seeing some of Hanna this weekend, and we're now in a part of southern Virginia that is ... more rural in nature. We'll see how that plays out. I expect the power will go and the bridge will close, if anything.
Here in Minnesnowta we occasionally get some of the rain bands sweeping their way up from a Gulf hurricane, but nothing like what you're seeing. On t'other hand, we get some pretty violent storms with straight-line winds, or super-cells that drop tornadoes.
Part of our basement survival gear is a Stihl chainsaw, a full can of two-stroke mix (changed out twice a year), some cans of bar oil, a couple of spare chains (hard to stop and sharpen in the middle of a disaster), and a hard-case for the whole mess into which I've also thrown a pair of safety goggles and ear-muffs.
We had one storm here where I had to cut up downed trees just to get out of my neighborhood (and get up to my folks' place, where they were trapped in by fallen trees in their driveway).
Looks like people are going to have their hands full clearing the streets of the downed trees. A chainsaw and a pick-up truck with a winch (or even just a heavy-duty pulling cable) makes it a lot simpler. Lop off the big branches, and drag 'em off to the side so that there's at least one truck-width through it for ambulances and firetrucks...I figure it's not only being a good neighbor, it's also pretty much common sense.
Stay dry!
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