End times keep coming, but no one's getting raptured
The storms in the midwest have been just awful, these past few days. It's just devastating to see the pictures and video coming out of Joplin, MO. That cell-phone video that someone shot while taking shelter with several people in a gas station was just about the most terrifying thing I've ever heard. (There wasn't much to see, as it was dark for most of the time, what with no power in the building and Armageddon happening just outside. First they crowded into the back of the store, and when all the windows blew out, they crammed into the walk-in fridge. It was pretty much an audio recording of eight or nine people who were certain they were about to die.)
Yesterday, Bloomington got a storm of its own - not tornadic (so they report), but with terrifying straight-line winds. I was at work, sticking around to catch up on backlog, and it was utterly frightening. There I was, in a solid concrete and limestone building, but I did not feel secure. The tree just outside my window seemed to VANISH, and I couldn't differentiate the branches from the sky behind them. The windows themselves were "breathing" - sucking in and out in their frames. (When that happened, I bolted into the hallway.) I finally gave up when the power flickered a second time and took out the internet. (Can't work without the internet.)
When things calmed down, I drove home, dodging downed tree limbs (which were EVERYWHERE) and drivers who forgot that non-functioning stoplights are to be treated like 4-way stops. Thankfully, everything was OK at my place - the enormous oak tree still stood, and all of my flowerpots were even fine. One had fallen off the balcony but landed upright in the center of a larger planter, missing the chili plants that were in it. My power had gone out at some point, as evidenced by the fishtank filter being off its groove and the microwave telling me it was about a quarter past midnight, but that was it.
Not everyone was as lucky, though - in addition to widespread power outages (some of which apparently lasted through the night), many large old trees were uprooted, causing them to block roads and smash down on roofs. One apartment building lost about half of its roof due to winds, and several other apartments and homes had century trees smash through their upper floors.
We're scheduled for more storms, today. I hope that those get downgraded to "maybe some rain". That's all I'd really like, anyway - a nice gentle rain that I can run around in, without fear of being struck by lightning, squashed by debris, or sucked up by a tornado.
Yesterday, Bloomington got a storm of its own - not tornadic (so they report), but with terrifying straight-line winds. I was at work, sticking around to catch up on backlog, and it was utterly frightening. There I was, in a solid concrete and limestone building, but I did not feel secure. The tree just outside my window seemed to VANISH, and I couldn't differentiate the branches from the sky behind them. The windows themselves were "breathing" - sucking in and out in their frames. (When that happened, I bolted into the hallway.) I finally gave up when the power flickered a second time and took out the internet. (Can't work without the internet.)
When things calmed down, I drove home, dodging downed tree limbs (which were EVERYWHERE) and drivers who forgot that non-functioning stoplights are to be treated like 4-way stops. Thankfully, everything was OK at my place - the enormous oak tree still stood, and all of my flowerpots were even fine. One had fallen off the balcony but landed upright in the center of a larger planter, missing the chili plants that were in it. My power had gone out at some point, as evidenced by the fishtank filter being off its groove and the microwave telling me it was about a quarter past midnight, but that was it.
Not everyone was as lucky, though - in addition to widespread power outages (some of which apparently lasted through the night), many large old trees were uprooted, causing them to block roads and smash down on roofs. One apartment building lost about half of its roof due to winds, and several other apartments and homes had century trees smash through their upper floors.
We're scheduled for more storms, today. I hope that those get downgraded to "maybe some rain". That's all I'd really like, anyway - a nice gentle rain that I can run around in, without fear of being struck by lightning, squashed by debris, or sucked up by a tornado.