Hurricane Jeanne: attack of the mini-tornados − 25 September, 2004
This was it. Hurricane Jeanne came by at the end of September 2004 and nearly destroyed our house.
Just days after the rehash of Ivan, in came this new storm. Just like Frances, it flooded roads, downed trees, and closed the schools. But it had a special surprise for us.
Our power went out, and even our phone lines -- which is amazing, since the phone lines were actually buried cables. Hannah was talking on her cell phone, assuring some of our family members that we were all right.
Now, despite the wind and the rain, this was still Florida, and the weather was still hot and muggy. Sure, there was a 50 mph wind, but the air was like getting hit by a soggy waffle. We had many of the windows open, and were hiding out in the music room with our dogs -- it has the most windows, so we could see out.
While Hannah was on the phone, I went into our bedroom to look out and see what the clouds looked like from the windward direction.
Oops.
As I got to the window, the trees suddenly flattened. The wind grew to an insane pitch, and I thought, well, that's it, we're dead. I'm not exaggerating when I say the trees flattened -- normally they block our view of the interstate, but this time, I could see straight across the road. The pines were bent dangerously close to the snapping point. I heard crashes and thuds all around.
It was pure luck. A big tree fell in our yard, but missed us totally -- it went into an area of the yard I call "the pasture". Our neighbors were not so lucky. One, Peter, had a gigantic live oak lifted out of the ground and dumped into the middle of his house; he had to escape to a neighbor's house, carrying his sick mother-in-law.
We later learned a group of mini-tornados had passed through our neighborhood. You couldn't see them; there was no obvious funnel cloud. They existed for us only as nightmares of wind.
The rest of the night was spent in a fitful sleep. The night was humid, wet, dark, and filled with the sound of shrieking winds and falling trees.
We survived, and thinking back on it, it seems a miracle.
Just days after the rehash of Ivan, in came this new storm. Just like Frances, it flooded roads, downed trees, and closed the schools. But it had a special surprise for us.
Our power went out, and even our phone lines -- which is amazing, since the phone lines were actually buried cables. Hannah was talking on her cell phone, assuring some of our family members that we were all right.
Now, despite the wind and the rain, this was still Florida, and the weather was still hot and muggy. Sure, there was a 50 mph wind, but the air was like getting hit by a soggy waffle. We had many of the windows open, and were hiding out in the music room with our dogs -- it has the most windows, so we could see out.
While Hannah was on the phone, I went into our bedroom to look out and see what the clouds looked like from the windward direction.
Oops.
As I got to the window, the trees suddenly flattened. The wind grew to an insane pitch, and I thought, well, that's it, we're dead. I'm not exaggerating when I say the trees flattened -- normally they block our view of the interstate, but this time, I could see straight across the road. The pines were bent dangerously close to the snapping point. I heard crashes and thuds all around.
It was pure luck. A big tree fell in our yard, but missed us totally -- it went into an area of the yard I call "the pasture". Our neighbors were not so lucky. One, Peter, had a gigantic live oak lifted out of the ground and dumped into the middle of his house; he had to escape to a neighbor's house, carrying his sick mother-in-law.
We later learned a group of mini-tornados had passed through our neighborhood. You couldn't see them; there was no obvious funnel cloud. They existed for us only as nightmares of wind.
The rest of the night was spent in a fitful sleep. The night was humid, wet, dark, and filled with the sound of shrieking winds and falling trees.
We survived, and thinking back on it, it seems a miracle.
u09
u10
