The back end of a severe storm system arrived just in time
to allow a few minutes of sunlight before sundown. I watched the storm track across the radar
for 60 miles in a direct line towards our house, while the local TV
meteorologist gave reports of funnel clouds and tornadoes on the ground. Electricity was lost when the storm was still
eight miles out, so I watched for storm clouds from the window. When the approaching rainwall blocked all
from sight, I told my wife we’d best adjourn to the cellar. While hail pounded on the outside cellar
door, the emergency radio reported a tornado on the ground in the vicinity of
the small town just down the road. A few
minutes later, things calmed down and we headed up stairs. The storm had lasted less than ten minutes.
The ten minute rain event dropped 1.2 inches of water. That’s a lot of water to put someplace it’s
not going to stay. The ground was still
saturated from the 2.0 inches we got two days ago, so every drop of this new
accumulation ran overland to the creeks.
A massive amount of water routed through the pond. That water to the right of the picture has
all moved through the pond spillway. The
storm was still producing some impressive lightning at this point, so I took
these photos from the house window.
There was a strong current running through the center of the
pond. A string of organic debris snaked
around the shrubs and shot through the spillway. It’s fortunate that the frog eggs are well
anchored to the shrubs. At least during
the times I was able to hear anything other than the storm, the Wood Frogs continued
calling right through the event.
I’m glad I had this area mowed. With standing grass, I’d have never seen how
wide the flood waters can get through this section.
No one ever explained to the deer the hazards of playing in
flood water. While looking at
this, I imagined what was happening down in the creek. Dark was fast approaching, so there was no
time to go down to see the flood water.
I’ll wait a few days to let things dry out before going down to survey
the flood damage. I doubt it’s going to
be pretty.
The violent storms are the ones most likely to present you
with a rainbow at the end. It’s a nice
little touch, but it doesn’t always make up for what you endured during the
storm. Watching the radar track of the
approaching storm was particularly troubling.
Each time the radar plotted a new position for the possible tornado, I
thought of the people I knew who lived in that area. I pictured their families,
homes, barns and businesses and hoped that I wouldn’t be hearing later that any
of that was lost. I was surprised when
our electric came back on after only a few hours. The emergency radio had reported three
separate tornadoes touching down within the boundaries of our local Rural
Electric Cooperative, so I was imagining the possibility of many miles of lines
down. Hopefully everyone else came
through the storm as well as I did.
Hi Steve..Good to hear that all is ok with you!!
ReplyDeleteTerrible what is going on down there...I am thankful for snow..lol!!
Okay now that is some serious water ..hope you home is up high ; ], and there is not a lot of damage...glad the frogs took it well lol!
That is a pretty site that last photo!!
Grace
Hi Grace. Our house sits on a hill, so there are no worries about being covered by water. Beneath the house is the 140 year old cellar from the original farm house that burned down about 40 years ago. The rain was so heavy that several springs developed in the cellar walls and we spent our time watching streams flow across the floor toward the drain.
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