I woke up groggy from frequent weather alerts on Friday. The lights flickered a few times and then went out completely. I struggle now to remember the exact sequence. I remember hearing something strange outside. I looked out and saw that the neighbor’s oak had fallen in the backyard. A bit of damage to the garden, but nothing serious.
When Landry and I were looking for a house, we liked that this neighborhood had lots of trees. There were tall oaks and whatever else is native to the American Southeast. And when we signed papers, we were told that a tree had fallen and hit the house several years ago in a microburst. This is why there aren’t many trees on our lot. All but one were taken out around that time.
And there it was, Friday morning around six o’clock, and a previously healthy tree had fallen in the backyard. I looked out to check on the one tall tree on our lot. It was still standing, but wouldn’t be for long. And then came the crash like thunder. Anyone who has lived a long time in thunderstorm prone areas knows that a very close strike sounds different. There is a sharp *crack* on the front end of the thunder in such cases. And the house may shake from the shockwaves of rapidly expanding, super heated air. Well, we got the loud rumbling noise, the house shook, but no *crack*. Looking out the windows, we saw that the neighbors seventy-plus year old hickory had hit the back side of the house. Fortunately, it did little damage. We were still safe inside and the resulting leak in the roof was contained to our bathroom.
The winds peaked a bit later in the morning and then slackened. Though, there were still surges in the wind for several hours. As the light brightened, we went outside to survey the damage. Landry’s car was trapped in the garage (our garage is at the backside of the house). Our other neighbor lost a tree in the front of the house, breaking the water pipe supplying them, and blocking the road in their direction.
I tried to get out of our neighborhood by car that afternoon to buy ice. Have you ever watched a lab rat figure out a maze for the first time? Advancing, getting blocked, turning around, trying a new way, lather, rinse, repeat? That was me trying to get out to the main road. I discovered we were blocked in. Everywhere I went, trees had fallen on the roads making passage impossible. It was a giant’s game of pick-up sticks.
Tuvela Two-Step 