Now THAT was a storm
I posted about this on FB last night (breaking my LJ before FB rule :-p) because it was storming so hard I didn't want to turn on my computer... Last night driving home on the freeway from the PT, it started raining. It's Florida. It does that here. I noticed some really spectacular lightning off in the distance. What I didn't notice, because I was behind a semi truck, was how hard it was really raining. When I got to where I knew my exit was, I looked over and realized I couldn't see it. The only thing I could see was that the guard rail on my right seemed to be opening up to form another lane, so I carefully moved into it hoping I wasn't mistaken about where I was and driving in the breakdown lane.
Driving down the highway toward my house started getting pretty scary. I could barely see the lights of the car in front of me. Luckily we were all going pretty slow, because everything came to a sudden stop. There was a car pulled over in a turn lane, and another sitting with its front a bit out in the traffic lane. I couldn't tell if it was an accident or if the person was just trying to get out of the road and... failed. Anyway, got around that, everyone was moving ok again.
But I could barely see the turn lanes, and I couldn't see anything PAST them, meaning I had only the vaguest clue of where I was and which road was mine. I picked by guessing, luckily I guessed right, but even as I was sitting there waiting to turn, I couldn't see the huge car/boat/RV dealer on the corner. I was watching small waves being blown over the road. It was unreal.
When I finally was able to turn, nature kicked it up a notch. The road was half flooded. Luckily all my time driving in storms in Miami taught me the proper way to react when my car hits a deep puddle (basically take my foot off the gas, DON'T hit the brake, hold the steering wheel hard to keep it from turning, and DON'T turn the wheel if the car starts drifting), because at least a quarter of the drive was me hitting deep puddles. (I referred to my car doing its best Jesus impression - the walking on water bit.) That road doesn't flood, BTW. It was flooded only because all of the land around it was also flooded. And... we don't really get floods out here.
I've been in storms, really bad ones, both here and in Miami. I keep referring to Miami because we had some truly impressive storms like this on almost a daily basis summers when I lived there. You just get used to it. I've been in storms where I could barely see past the hood of my car, relying on the yellow line next to me and the taillights in front to keep me on the road.
But there were times driving down the road to my house where I literally could not see out my windshield. It was like I was parked under a waterfall. Luckily this only happened for a few seconds at a time. But I was driving 100% blind. My instinct (if I wasn't in a puddle) was to hit the brakes, but I had no idea if there was a car behind me, so I just kept driving exactly how I was, trusting that the road would stay where I knew it should be and that nothing would appear in the road where it shouldn't be.
If our road wasn't pretty much straight and if I hadn't been so close to home and determined to make it there, I'd have tried to pull off the side of the road, which I have NEVER done during a storm. But I couldn't tell driveways from ditches and if I had pulled off, odds are it would have been into a flooded ditch and I'd have had to call K to come tow me out of 3 feet of water. I couldn't even see where our driveway was until I was right on it.
I finally got to my parking spot and just looked around stunned at the water that was up almost to the middle of K's tires (so by my estimate, almost up to the bottom of my door), watching the waves blow, wishing there was a kayak nearby, and deciding I was going to sit there at least until it quit raining so hard. (I had tunes, and I had internet on my phone. I was good. :-) I tried calling K to let him know I wasn't dead, but he didn't answer. But I saw movement in the garage, barely, so I realized he was out there, and at least knew I wasn't dead.
Then suddenly I realized he had a huge umbrella and was wading out to me in the mess. I didn't really want to walk through almost knee-deep water, but if he was going through that kind of trouble... He opened my car door, handed me the umbrella, and PICKED ME UP OUT OF THE SEAT OF THE CAR and carried me inside. (God my man is strong. I think I'd have difficulty reaching into a car and scooping a child out of the seat, given the angle.) He then went back out and got my phone, purse, and water bottle, which I kept insisting could wait. ("I'm already wet, I might as well," he shrugged.)
In summary, really fucking scary storm, honestly I think the worst I've ever driven in. (And really, that's saying a lot.) I felt like I was in a hurricane. But hey, I've been going on a lot lately about life being about having experiences. That sure was one! Also, I love my Honda and its determination not to let me die, and am very glad to see I still know how to drive in a really bad storm. And my husband is awesome. ♥
Oh, and we lost one tree during the storm, a huge dead pine that K had been meaning to cut down. It luckily fell the ONE direction where it wouldn't hit a fence, the house, or our RV - right on my dog Walker's grave. Um, sorry about that, boy.
Driving down the highway toward my house started getting pretty scary. I could barely see the lights of the car in front of me. Luckily we were all going pretty slow, because everything came to a sudden stop. There was a car pulled over in a turn lane, and another sitting with its front a bit out in the traffic lane. I couldn't tell if it was an accident or if the person was just trying to get out of the road and... failed. Anyway, got around that, everyone was moving ok again.
But I could barely see the turn lanes, and I couldn't see anything PAST them, meaning I had only the vaguest clue of where I was and which road was mine. I picked by guessing, luckily I guessed right, but even as I was sitting there waiting to turn, I couldn't see the huge car/boat/RV dealer on the corner. I was watching small waves being blown over the road. It was unreal.
When I finally was able to turn, nature kicked it up a notch. The road was half flooded. Luckily all my time driving in storms in Miami taught me the proper way to react when my car hits a deep puddle (basically take my foot off the gas, DON'T hit the brake, hold the steering wheel hard to keep it from turning, and DON'T turn the wheel if the car starts drifting), because at least a quarter of the drive was me hitting deep puddles. (I referred to my car doing its best Jesus impression - the walking on water bit.) That road doesn't flood, BTW. It was flooded only because all of the land around it was also flooded. And... we don't really get floods out here.
I've been in storms, really bad ones, both here and in Miami. I keep referring to Miami because we had some truly impressive storms like this on almost a daily basis summers when I lived there. You just get used to it. I've been in storms where I could barely see past the hood of my car, relying on the yellow line next to me and the taillights in front to keep me on the road.
But there were times driving down the road to my house where I literally could not see out my windshield. It was like I was parked under a waterfall. Luckily this only happened for a few seconds at a time. But I was driving 100% blind. My instinct (if I wasn't in a puddle) was to hit the brakes, but I had no idea if there was a car behind me, so I just kept driving exactly how I was, trusting that the road would stay where I knew it should be and that nothing would appear in the road where it shouldn't be.
If our road wasn't pretty much straight and if I hadn't been so close to home and determined to make it there, I'd have tried to pull off the side of the road, which I have NEVER done during a storm. But I couldn't tell driveways from ditches and if I had pulled off, odds are it would have been into a flooded ditch and I'd have had to call K to come tow me out of 3 feet of water. I couldn't even see where our driveway was until I was right on it.
I finally got to my parking spot and just looked around stunned at the water that was up almost to the middle of K's tires (so by my estimate, almost up to the bottom of my door), watching the waves blow, wishing there was a kayak nearby, and deciding I was going to sit there at least until it quit raining so hard. (I had tunes, and I had internet on my phone. I was good. :-) I tried calling K to let him know I wasn't dead, but he didn't answer. But I saw movement in the garage, barely, so I realized he was out there, and at least knew I wasn't dead.
Then suddenly I realized he had a huge umbrella and was wading out to me in the mess. I didn't really want to walk through almost knee-deep water, but if he was going through that kind of trouble... He opened my car door, handed me the umbrella, and PICKED ME UP OUT OF THE SEAT OF THE CAR and carried me inside. (God my man is strong. I think I'd have difficulty reaching into a car and scooping a child out of the seat, given the angle.) He then went back out and got my phone, purse, and water bottle, which I kept insisting could wait. ("I'm already wet, I might as well," he shrugged.)
In summary, really fucking scary storm, honestly I think the worst I've ever driven in. (And really, that's saying a lot.) I felt like I was in a hurricane. But hey, I've been going on a lot lately about life being about having experiences. That sure was one! Also, I love my Honda and its determination not to let me die, and am very glad to see I still know how to drive in a really bad storm. And my husband is awesome. ♥
Oh, and we lost one tree during the storm, a huge dead pine that K had been meaning to cut down. It luckily fell the ONE direction where it wouldn't hit a fence, the house, or our RV - right on my dog Walker's grave. Um, sorry about that, boy.