Warnings
If your name happens to be Diane or Susan, or if you already believe I’m an idiot and are simply waiting for another opportunity to call me one, please do not read this. If, however, you like everyday occurrences enlivened by this undertaker, read on. My guess is that that leaves rakkity.
From early afternoon on Thursday, TV peppered our local programing with storm warnings. I thought, “How cool is this? The middle of February and I’ll be treated to a southern Indiana thunderstorm.” I might add there were also tornado warnings, but those, I poo-pooed. It looked to be a classic warm front (seventy degrees)/cold front battle.
After dinner (catfish, rice pilaf with lentils, cornbread, and salad, prepared by Karen), I hop into my truck and head for the river. The high banks over the Ohio provide the best long range view. I can see for miles in three directions. However, rain chases me off those banks and back into my truck, so I head for the road that swoops down by the river to the boat launch. Except: Road Closed Due to High Water. Undeterred, I drive a bit further east, just past the floating gambling boat, Casino Aztar, and find an access path winding down to the river behind the boat.
As the wind and waves kick up and darkness descends, I notice three or four rather large figures standing on the top of the floating casino, looking at moi. Then comes a car. A non-intimidating sub compact with Casino Security emblazoned on the side stops in front of my truck. Apparently, as part of the Homeland Security Act, all floating vessels are protected from my curiosity. I walk directly to the uniform behind the wheel and engage him in friendly conversation. He’s doing his duty, I’m doing my thing, they are incompatible, I walk back to my truck and back out of the area. The weather intensifies, but I figure “So what; I love thunderstorms.”
Almost as soon as I cross back into the city, the wind and rain change from disappointing to let’s-see-what-we-can-throw-at-this-simpleton. As if blinding horizontal water droplets are not impressive enough, here come various store front signs, roof parts, garbage cans, branches and even trees. I zig and I zag.
“I guess this wasn’t such a good idea after all,” I think, which morphs into, “Diane is going to kill me.” Earlier I’d written, “Tornado warnings here…boy am I glad I brought my camera.†To which Diane responded, “Tornado/camera comment was so uncute, unfunny, I didn’t even comment.†See, I’m not void of perspective. What I never fully appreciated was how a city storm is a breed apart from one in the country.
Night View
Following Day
On my circuitous way back, I pass this house (the homeowner’s crying outside). After commiserating with her neighbors, I jump back into my truck, turn a corner, and snag a downed power line. I feel it grab, sense the wire leading out like fishing line, and whip-like, I hear the crack and feel the flash as the live wire contacts the metal frame of my truck. Just behind my left ear.
From raindrops to war zone.
I hunch down in my truck and think to myself, “Now, why is it that I’m safe in my truck? It’s not the tires… .
But by then I’ve left the dangling, arcing wire far behind.
Lord love an idiot … ! He/she spares you because he/she also gave you the gift to then write of your encounters with a certain detailed grace and humility (appropriate to your lack of sense). 13.8kV … Now THAT’s a dodged bullet … !
And impressive pictures! What happened to the spreading roots of those trees … ?
Comment by adam — February 17, 2006 @ 7:54 pm
Adam, are you encouraging him?
Comment by homefront:waiting wife — February 17, 2006 @ 9:22 pm
He needs no encouragement, and I offer none (directly)nor does he brook dissuasion, which I do not attempt. But his tales and images ARE mighty entertaining …
Comment by adam — February 17, 2006 @ 9:30 pm
a classic. and i should know, having been led by him through innumerable near-death experiences, until i learned to create them (though not so spectacularly) on my own
Comment by pohaku — February 17, 2006 @ 10:31 pm
Your are clearly the supidest man I ever cared about. Given a difference in circumstance, Jimmy would be having a conniption. I am just wanting to wring your neck. Mikey, Mikey, Mikey!
Comment by FierceBaby — February 17, 2006 @ 10:31 pm
Silly Michael.
Comment by La Rad — February 18, 2006 @ 8:51 am
I’ve been scooped by Mikey. Just working up my latest near-death story, and suddenly the blog appears with house & truck crush shots by the intrepid, fearless, insane, on-the-spot blogmeister. This is much too Katrina-like to really enjoy.
Comment by rakkity — February 18, 2006 @ 2:30 pm
The curious thing about that storm, for me, is how narrowly focused it was. I drove to my parent’s house to help them deal with whatever (lights out, etc.), but they had no idea anything was up, and I cruised back to Jeff and Karen’s, who live but a few blocks away, and they were lying in bed watching the Olympics. Iow, it took great skill to happen upon Washington Ave, the area that suffered the brunt of those winds.
From the local newspaper:
Storm wreaks havoc on city
By JIMMY NESBITT Courier & Press staff writer 464-7501 or nesbittj@courierpress.com
February 18, 2006
Strong winds Thursday night tore an 80-foot chunk of roof off a city water filtration plant and turned broken branches into roof-piercing darts, damaging several South Side homes.
Tom Woods, who lives on SE Second Street, was watching television in his upstairs den when he heard a crash from the hallway. A large limb snapped off a poplar tree next door and shot through his roof. It penetrated the ceiling and lodged in the hallway. About eight smaller ones followed.
By the time the storm had passed, Woods’ chimney was gone, and his roof, which he had replaced two weeks ago, was ruined.
“It was pretty scary,” he said. At least six buildings at Evansville’s water filtration plant were damaged, Utility Director Harry Lawson said. Straight line winds ripped an 80-foot hole in the roof of the north filter building. The building was out of service, so the water supply was not affected, Lawson said. The winds, estimated at speeds up to 70 mph, shattered glass windows and plucked pieces of sharp slate from the roofs, some of which date back to the late 1800s.
The slate punctured holes in other buildings. Earlier this week, the utility board discussed buying new roofs and took bids from contractors. The cost was around $2 million, Lawson said. Most of the damage in Evansville occurred on the South Side, but it was unclear how many homes were affected. Sherman Greer, director of the Evansville-Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency, said the heaviest damage was reported on Washington Ave.
A home in the 500 block was destroyed when a large tree fell on top of it. Two sun rooms in apartments at the corner of Spring Street and Washington Avenue were also damaged. The storm knocked out power to more than 2,500 customers in Evansville and Newburgh, where downed trees and roof damage to one home was reported in the area of Indiana 261 and Fuquay Road. Ken and Annie Kuester own a barn at 3101 Old Henderson Road. The storm blew the barn’s roof into a neighbors’ yard and took several shingles from their home.
“All of a sudden, the house started shaking, and we heard this constant, horrible roar,” she said. “We thought the back of the house was coming off. There was no time to go anywhere.”
The storm was part of a massive front that stretched from Chicago to Arkansas. An arctic cold front clashed with mild, southerly air, causing unseasonable warm temperatures and strong winds.
Comment by michael — February 18, 2006 @ 4:26 pm
ON THE ROAd AGAIN is on the road, again, outside Cincinnati as we speak.( Just a news blast from the homefront; ever since the-day-he almost-died story from Evansville, I have no comment.)
Comment by homefront:waiting wife — February 19, 2006 @ 9:34 am
I’m home.
Comment by michael — February 20, 2006 @ 1:32 am
And that brevity speaks volumes. Sleep well, He-Who-Was-Last-Known-As-On-The-Road … !
Comment by adam — February 20, 2006 @ 7:49 am
This actually is his son.
But yea, it’s the metal frame that protects you from the lightning, although it wouldn’t do much against a tree as that truck found out.
Nice story though
matt
Comment by michael — February 21, 2006 @ 12:59 pm