The winds started really strong about 2 am on Thursday, and when I got up at 6 am, it was REALLY blowing! Power went out as Becky and I were getting ready, so Becky was left with no hair dryer or curling iron. As I got ready to leave, I took a quick walk around the yard and saw a couple of wood fence sections that had blown over, but it wasn't too bad. As I got on the road and saw the extent of the trees that had blown over, and the number of wires down, it became very apparent that it was a much larger event than we had anticipated. They shut down I-15 because of semi-trucks being blown over (throughout the day, over 12 semis were down). Fortunately, I snuck past the debris and the overturned trucks and made it to work safely.
The school district was unbelievably slow to respond in cancelling schools, but they did (at the request of Centerville Police), agree to close the Centerville schools. So Anna was home alone with the winds howling around her. I came home from work at lunch to start to assess the damage and this is what I found:
The wind had blown sections of the wood fence off and threw them against the vinyl fence sections
About 8 sections of wood fence were blown away, or blown over. I tied the trampoline down the night before, but the wind picked up the opposite end and bent the trampoline frame.
We lost a few shingles, mainly on the deck roof, and a few single shingles here and there.
We found 3 garbage cans in our back yard. Only 1 of them was ours, and our recycling bin (which was in the back yard), ended up on our front porch.
We lost a small strip of aluminum fascia over the garage, and the pieces of the fence were scattered over the yard and even down the block.
The Christmas decorations mostly stayed in intact because they were on the West side of the house. (But we're still puzzled as to how the recycling bin made it to the front porch!)
The lawn was littered with shingles...mainly from our neighbors roof.
The patio furniture (which I had tied together the night before) was thrown around, but stayed on the deck. What surprised me was the patio table that was picked up, thrown upside down, and landed on the OPPOSITE side of the deck!
But in spite of the damages, there were a few bright spots:
Chia Shrek on the waterfall only sustained minimal damage and just tipped over.
The cow tailbone that we picked up on Cedar Mountain at a family reunion there 7 years ago only fell off the fence.
And finally, the spruce tree on the corner survived the storm, and was one of the few remaining evergreen trees still standing in the area. The star was still on top, and when the power came back on last night, the star was lit. A Christmas Miracle! (But about 2/3 of the lights don't light.)
It was an incredible event and not one that I'd like to live through again. The official recorded wind speeds were 102 mph, but unofficial speeds were in excess of 120 mph (a category 3 hurricane)!!
Yesterday afternoon, we were getting cold, so when Becky got home from her school, we loaded in the van and drove to Salt Lake (since most of Davis County was without power), picked up Sara and joined dozens of other families at Hires Big H who were also stranded without power and trying to get something to eat. On our drive back to a cold house, Anna got a text saying the power was back on. It was such a relief to have the house heating up, internet, telephones, and lights! Its amazing to me how much we rely on those things and take them for granted. We're grateful the damage wasn't any worse than it was. We've filed an insurance claim, and now have to wait 7-10 days for an insurance adjuster to work through the thousands of claims that have been filed. Sigh.
4 comments:
Wow!!!! Despite it all you were really blessed but what a bummer to now have to deal with it all. I hope they give you a whole new fence and don't just agree to pay for the broken sections - one can hope! And, of all the saving graces, I am most happy that your big tree is still standing (I love that tree!) and I'm most impressed that you STILL HAVE THE COW BONE!!!! Gross.
Even more gross is that Anna put it on her head.
What ever happened to your fence. You need to post pictures for me so I can see the after repairs/new fence.
I'm aggravated with the fence. We decided to replace the whole thing so it matched (and it was in bad shape anyway). But they've taken FOREVER. I finally called yesterday and complained and they are supposed to coming this afternoon.
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