stormy weather
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last friday afternoon an F1 tornado touched down in my town (Wethersfield, CT). the tornado was part of what the National Weather Service called a powerful, severe storm system that moved across southern Hartford county. lots of thunder and lightning, with massive falls of hail. the storm downed trees and power lines in many towns, leaving roughly 30,000 utility customers without power at the height of the storm (as of Sunday night, 1,359 customers were still without power!!) but Wethersfield was the hardest hit, with winds gusting to 85-100 mph. all over town, trees are completely uprooted, or split in half, thick limbs snapped and hanging jaggedly. "We know the damage is extensive," said Mayor Andrew Adil. "There are seven houses uninhabitable and 70 damaged - that doesn’t include cars and personal property." the good news: no deaths and only one injury, sustained from a falling limb the next day.
the picture above is of a house on the corner of Church and Garden, that got sliced in two by a falling tree.
my family is very lucky because our neighborhood was not close to the tornado path; we sustained very little damage, with no trees down on my block that I can see, just a few limbs. my yard had stray leaves and small branches, nothing else. our power went out (as did that of almost everyone else in Wethersfield) at around 4:40; we were lucky and got ours back at around 3am that night, rather than sometime Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. look below the cut for more pictures
another view of the chopped house. they had to use a crane to lift the tree off.
at this house (we know this family, actually) a limb broke and dropped 30 ft to land on the porch, wrecking it.
I've driven throughout town over the past three days, and each time I see all of the hurt and ruined trees I'm newly amazed. I've never been near a tornado before, but I lived through Hurricane Bob on the Cape in 1991. that was a lot bigger, but I was still young enough to find it exciting, heh. and we get strong mean winds on the Cape every few years; since the house only takes up 1/4 of the land and we adjoin town-owned swamp, there have always been half-fallen trees and uprooted stumps lurking about. but I'm used to seeing Wethersfield all tidy in that well-maintained historic way. so many old trees gone! it is very sad.
last friday afternoon an F1 tornado touched down in my town (Wethersfield, CT). the tornado was part of what the National Weather Service called a powerful, severe storm system that moved across southern Hartford county. lots of thunder and lightning, with massive falls of hail. the storm downed trees and power lines in many towns, leaving roughly 30,000 utility customers without power at the height of the storm (as of Sunday night, 1,359 customers were still without power!!) but Wethersfield was the hardest hit, with winds gusting to 85-100 mph. all over town, trees are completely uprooted, or split in half, thick limbs snapped and hanging jaggedly. "We know the damage is extensive," said Mayor Andrew Adil. "There are seven houses uninhabitable and 70 damaged - that doesn’t include cars and personal property." the good news: no deaths and only one injury, sustained from a falling limb the next day.
the picture above is of a house on the corner of Church and Garden, that got sliced in two by a falling tree.
my family is very lucky because our neighborhood was not close to the tornado path; we sustained very little damage, with no trees down on my block that I can see, just a few limbs. my yard had stray leaves and small branches, nothing else. our power went out (as did that of almost everyone else in Wethersfield) at around 4:40; we were lucky and got ours back at around 3am that night, rather than sometime Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. look below the cut for more pictures
another view of the chopped house. they had to use a crane to lift the tree off.
at this house (we know this family, actually) a limb broke and dropped 30 ft to land on the porch, wrecking it.
I've driven throughout town over the past three days, and each time I see all of the hurt and ruined trees I'm newly amazed. I've never been near a tornado before, but I lived through Hurricane Bob on the Cape in 1991. that was a lot bigger, but I was still young enough to find it exciting, heh. and we get strong mean winds on the Cape every few years; since the house only takes up 1/4 of the land and we adjoin town-owned swamp, there have always been half-fallen trees and uprooted stumps lurking about. but I'm used to seeing Wethersfield all tidy in that well-maintained historic way. so many old trees gone! it is very sad.