Surviving The Storm

Hail collected on the steps of our front door and sidewalk.
The weather hasn't been kind to us this year - which has kind of made the girls immune to the sound of tornado sirens. That wasn't necessarily the case Friday afternoon when a severe thunderstorm pounded Omaha.

Here's an account from the newspaper of what happened:

You could say a fast-moving hurricane struck Omaha last Friday.

The storm that wreaked havoc on the metropolitan area packed wind gusts of 110 to 115 mph in western Douglas County and gusts of 70 to 80 mph when it hit the city.

That's the equivalent of a Category 1 to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.

The storm's wind speeds would make it an EF-1 or an EF-2 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale.

But, technically, the storm produced what are called straight-line winds. Those winds were powerful enough to knock down trees and power lines and damage homes and businesses.

While this storm's top winds are just estimates, thunderstorm winds of 115 mph have been measured in Nebraska only five times since 1950, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

One of Dad's colleagues called it a "Hurnado." The rain was blowing sideways and at the house it sounded like a jet roaring its engine.

When the storm hit, Mom and the girls were on their way back from a day at Zorinsky Lake with family friends in town from Kansas City. They prayed for a safe return (and no hail damage to the vehicle).

Our power was knocked out for nearly 24 hours and cable, phone and internet service didn't return for a couple days. Fortunately, Tante Frans and Uncle Joe stepped in to provide us with a place to stay in the interim.

As you can see from the pictures below, entire trees were uprooted - probably due to the fact that the ground was saturated by recent rains. These are photos from Aunt Dee Dee and Uncle Jon's house (right after the storm and the next day).