When it Rains it Pours…

My office was joking yesterday that with the amount of rain we’ve been getting that we should all chip in some money so we could build an ark.  It’s been pretty crazy.  Bucket loads of water falling from the sky and then it’ll stop and the sun will come out and the humidity chokes you.

So last night, I didn’t think much of another storm coming through the area when I headed out to get my hair cut.  As my stylist was finishing up, she turned me around and I looked out the window to find some scary black clouds looming overhead.  We quickly finished, I had to pay in cash because their computers had already gone down with the lights flickering and I made a mad dash to my car, thinking it was good that I didn’t pay extra for her to style my hair!

On the way home, I saw numerous trees down and a lot of debris in the road.  I had half a thought to call home and tell my parents to watch the trees out front, but I thought it was safer to keep my hands on the steering wheel instead of fishing my phone out of my bag to call.  I made the turn at 3rd and Hazlett and this is what I came across…

My dad’s poor Ford Flex (the 4 slice toaster as it’s lovingly called) was sitting beneath a pretty good sized chunk of tree.  A Jeep pulled up from the rear side of the Flex/tree and the driver inched forward, like he was going to push the tree out of the way.  I waved him off and yelling, “There’s a car under there” and he eventually turned around and drove off the way he came.

It was dinnertime and with all of the thunder and lightening that had been going on, I wasn’t sure my family knew about this devastating find since no one was outside.  I ran in and pandemonium was in full swing.  My dad and Andy went outside to try to assess the damage and took the pictures above, in the midst of the pouring rain.  I swallowed down my dinner (which included some delicious butter squash from the Wilson’s – thank you guys!) and changed my top to go out and see what I could do to help.  About an hour and some really sopping wet clothes later, we managed to get the Flex out from underneath the downed branches, using a jack to lift to support some of the weight and a not-so-sharp saw to cut off the culprits that smashed the sunroof.

It could have been worse.  My dad could have been in the car.  The minivan could have been sitting across the street, as it usually is, and gotten struck too, but it is still in the shop getting new brakes.  It could have happened next week while we’re on vacation and not know about it until we returned home.  Nonetheless, trees and cars together are never a good combination, so in case it has not dawned on you yet, I highly suggest to park your car in a garage, a car port or some place away from trees during storms with heavy rain and high-speed wind.

And so we will all keep breathing and look forward to the sunshine…and dream of scenes that look more like this…