Aftermath of the Derecho

Ever heard of a Derecho? Definition of 'Derecho' according to Wikipedia: "A derecho (from Spanish: "derecho" meaning "straight") is a widespread and long-lived, violent convectively induced straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms ..."

And may my first encounter with this type of storm be the last!

Friday morning one of these crazy storms blew through a chunk of the midwest including my little area of the world. These big 50+ year old trees in our front yard were blown over. Three were ripped from the ground, and several others lost huge limbs. This elm limb I photographed a short time ago is now gone. Huge limbs from another tree hit the top of my husband's school bus, smashing 3 windows and denting/dinging several spots.

This is part of our wrap-around front porch - where winds ripped the soffit down and the blown-in insulation along those walls mixed with rain and then adhered to our porch walls, windows, floor, and wicker furnishings like a thin layer of dirty paper mache.

Another view of the porch where you can see our roof is now missing some shingles.
I am thankful none of my family was hurt - thankful much of the damage can be managed by a few strong men (wonderful, amazing, beloved sons and sons-in-law!) with chainsaws and a tractor - thankful insurance should cover the worst damage. And really thankful the last 24 hours without electricity is behind us! (I'm a little ticked off that my freshly sown strawberry seeds are MIA - the whole thing - just disappeared! - but, of course, that can be replaced.)

So many others who were in the path of this monster have much worse damage, suffered physical injuries, or, in a few cases, lost loved ones. I pray for them all.

So yes, I feel very fortunate. Still, I would prefer to never encounter another Derecho!

Ice in '07 and Tornadoes in '08

Just a year ago, our world ground to a brief halt thanks to an ice storm that severely damaged our trees, kept most homes in SW Missouri without power for days on end (some up to 2 weeks!), and in general cost us weeks of cleanup time. Yet, we were one of the few that kept power (except for a few hours on a couple of days) and, generally count ourselves lucky that it wasn't any worse. And with camera in hand I wandered out, to find unusual beauty in the aftermath....nature is so humbling...brutal and beautiful all at once.

And just a few days ago, our area was ravaged by severe thunderstorms with tornadoes ripping across the Ozarks, killing at least 2 people, and straightline winds that caused nearly as much damage. I have no photos, because we were extremely fortunate and suffered nothing worse than having some patio chairs blown around a bit. No beauty to be found, sifting through the remains of one's home blown to bits I fear.

Here's hoping the rest of our January is "normal" - I'll take the cold and the wind and a few inches of snow any day over the storms!