We had an insane wind storm here on Dec. 1. There were 70-100 mph gusts. 100 mph is classified as level two hurricane force winds. We didn't think to video anything that was happening, so I figured the next best thing would be for me to describe our experience and remember it that way. It was a very strange and nerve wracking day.
Of course it started during the night...a very fitful night. The winds were loud and disturbing. Bryce got up once in the wee morning hours to pop out to the back and secure a few things. Our scripture reading in the morning was not very fruitful as we kept getting distracted with the powerful bursts that would hit the house. We had a mirror sitting on our dresser that would shake every time, so we finally just took it down because it was very worrisome. We tried to go about our morning routine and get the kids ready for school. Bryce decided to stay and work from home. Alyssa and I had plans to head down to the Festival of Trees for a mother/daughter day, but as the morning progressed it became iffy that we would be going.
The trees were bending crazily. There were geese flying overhead, which is pretty typical for our house, but they were so chaotic and obviously flying for their lives. Some just gave up trying and decided to try walking up the street instead. They'd walk a few steps and then hunker down when a big gust would come. At one point Chayse hollered, "There's a satellite down!" And we all ran to see the satellite dish sitting in our neighbors driveway, then proceeded to watch his tree start to come out of the ground.
I took Chayse to school in our small car, worried that taking the van would be too high profiled. And we were just shocked on the drive to school. There were fences & trees down everywhere. It seemed that all the biggest and most beautiful pine trees were now gone all over the town. It changed the landscaping very drastically. When we turned up the next street, to all the houses that were facing the wind, every house was missing shingles, some with huge bare spots down to the plywood. All the lawns were covered with shingles. Some houses were missing siding, and one house was even missing part of its roof! Which happened to many other houses too.
There were gigantic pine trees down taking out fences, power lines, blocking streets. One family in our ward even had a tree smash their camper.
And we learned today that a man broke his hip while jumping from his shed hat was lifted 20 feet in the air with him in it. When we stopped at the light, it felt like the car was being lifted up by the wind with every gust. It was very unsettling.
Showing some of the downed fences. The house across the street had none left.
We later learned that most districts closed their schools that day except for ours. Chayse said it was a weird but kind of fun day at school. Not many students were there, many were taken out of school as the day progressed, and the power was out all day at the school so that made it interesting for them all. Brady ended up going to school for his afternoon class because the winds had died down a lot by then, but the power was still off. I had mixed feelings upon learning this later. Sort of proud of the school staff for sticking it out and making it work, but torn because it was one of those days we were wanting family together. We almost went and got Chayse several times. But it all worked out okay.
Alyssa and I were very unsure what to do. We learned of road closures because of semi trucks that were blown over and I didn't know whether I wanted to chance the drive. So we just kind of hung around together, watched and waited. The power went out early in the morning, so Bryce was trying to work from his phone the whole time. We tried to stay away from the windows because they were just shaking, but it was too fascinating and disturbing to resist watching outside. It was sooo noisy. Not only because of the wind, but our satellite dish was ripped loose and it was banging against the house repeatedly. Bryce pushed it down and out of the way, otherwise it would have surely broken our window that it started hitting. It dinged up the siding in several places, munched the edge of the roof a little bit and poked a good sized hole in the siding, even taking a chunk out of the plywood. The satellite repair guy said that it was hanging by one bolt that was in a stud. When we cleaned up the yard the next day we found a couple of huge bolts clear in the back yard...not even by the satellite side of the house. Three of our small Quaking Aspen trees were blown over, two of which displaced our new curbing. By mid morning our basketball hoop that was cemented in the ground blew over onto the driveway. A small little blessing happened there because when I came back from dropping Chayse off the power was off and I couldn't get in the garage. So I parked in the driveway, right under the hoop. As time passed in the house I became nervous about the car being outside, so we lifted the garage door and moved it in. The next time we looked out the window the hoop was down.
When I drove home from the school and went down the hill it was like entering a cloud. Because of the pond and dam at the end of our street the air was full of dirt and water. It was crazy. Even during the seemingly never-ending winds, we were feeling very blessed. We felt somewhat sheltered because of the street location we were on, being down by the creek. The houses up on the hills fared much worse. We were also grateful because of the way our house faces. Even though our house is probably the tallest on the street and it was shaking like crazy, the winds were hitting the side with the least windows and it wasn't hitting the roof directly, so we didn't lose any shingles. So happy with our strong construction and also grateful for the layout of our addition, it actually provided some buffering and shelter for many things in our yard.
At one point during the morning, we came in to find Alyssa and Brady huddled in the corner of the kitchen saying a prayer together. It was so great that they thought to do that on their own. She also asked several times if was a day that warranted the use of our "backpacks" (72 hour kits). I also thought it was great she would think of that. Then they grabbed some flashlights and headed to the basement to hunker down for a while. I know I prayed that day as well as probably every other person experiencing it. It was a bit scary, and I hate wind...I always have. It's the scariest weather to me, always makes me nervous. It was kind of funny because when it all began Chayse and I spoke at the exact same time. I said, "I hate wind." He said, "I love wind." He thinks wind is awesomely fun.
Our fast and testimony meeting today was kind of neat, hearing everyone express their gratitude for their safety and recognizing their blessings. It was amazing that in all of the damage, and there was much, that so many of the trees that fell missed houses. The experience made me remember three major things: we need more work on our emergency preparedness, God has great power, and I remembered what was really important. My family. And the safety of all the other people that I love. And with all the fences that literally came down, it seemed that invisible fences also came down. Neighbors were out talking to and helping neighbors that they hardly ever talk to. It was neat to see the efforts of so many to work together to help clean up and repair. I know many wards just held sacrament meeting then all went home to work together to help clean up debris because another windstorm was supposed to hit us again Sunday night. (Which thankfully didn't...many prayers answered there.)
Well, the winds eventually started to die down, so Alyssa and I decided to brave the roads and try to make it down to Salt Lake. It was like trying to get out of a maze. There were trees in the roads and police blockades all over the place. There were diversions on the highway going around overturned trucks and every single traffic light was out. Once we finally made it on the highway then freeway, both were lined with semi after semi pulled off to the side on both sides. We took several pictures on the way out of town and back. We did make it safe and sound to the festival and enjoyed some of the afternoon there. Our power was out all day. It came on for a couple hours at night so we were able to have a hot meal and keep warm. But it was sporadic for a while in the evening. We felt very blessed that way as well because I know there are many without power still. When the power was out and the winds were gone it was so dark and quiet...too quiet and still. A sharp contrast to the day. But the calm was nice.
Boy! What a memory. We are grateful for our minimal damage especially as there were others with so much more. We've already spent the last two days cleaning up our yard and helping neighbors, and I'm sure there will much more of that to come. It was nice that the following day was pretty and pleasant to be able to clean up in. I hope it was a once in a lifetime experience. It was quite surreal and eye opening in many aspects. It was strange and sad to wake up to see all the destruction the next day, but at the same time, again made me grateful that it wasn't worse. I couldn't imagine waking up to a town that was flattened or completely destroyed. So grateful for a community of people that jump in and start taking care of things right away instead of waiting around for someone else to do it or bemoaning the loss. I think many heard the wake up call.
There's a trampoline tangled in this tree. So many people also have no idea where there trashcans and door mats are.
Saw the news on our way home doing a story about a big power line that was down.
