HURRICANE IKE'S EFFECT WIDESPREAD
I haven't written any more entries lately because school has started and I have had a ton of homework. But I don't have school today because of the windstorm that came yesterday. It was the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Winds got up to speeds of 78 miles per hour. I wasn't here for it, I was visiting relatives, but on the 3 hour drive home, I could see the destruction worsening the farther we got towards home.
Because wind storms don't show up on the radar, the first sign we got of knowing about the it was a call my dad got. He does odd jobs, so people call him for repairs. Someone from my neighborhood called about a tree that had fallen through one of their windows. A few minutes later, he got a call about a bunch of missing shingles.
Shortly after that, we started noticing a few small branches and some leaves along the road every mile or so. As they grew more frequent, He got a call from someone who lost a whole lot of shingles. About 20 minutes after that, there was a call from a lady who had an 80-foot tree fall on the side of her house. By then, there were so many leaves on the road and beside it, they were pelting the car and sounded like rocks.
That's when we turned on the radio to a station that was taking calls about the damage. We found out that about 36% of Franklin County (where i live) was without power. That's about when the branches along the road, and sometimes in the road, were getting larger and larger, and i noticed a huge tree that had been blown down. We passed a barn that was missing part of its roof. Part of the missing piece was blowing across the road about a quarter mile away.
We passed a road that was closed because of a fallen power line. My dad soon got a call about a bunch of missing siding. I then noticed that one of the window covers on the car was bending and flapping in the strong winds. As we progressed toward home, we passed areas that had many large trees on their sides. The broken window cover almost came off of the car.
When we got within 10 minutes of home, buildings became more frequent. About half of the stores we passed didn't have power. Same goes for about half of the traffic lights. As we turned into our neighborhood, just about every house we passed was missing shingles, siding, or both. Many of the trees had broken branches.
When we reached home the only thing different about our house was one small broken branch on a tree and my dad's potted plants had been knocked over. I wasn't surprised. My house has never even lost a shingle. The neighbor, however, was outside inspecting some siding than had torn off the side of his house.
Luckily, we still had power. Although, around half of our neighborhood didn't. At least part of the neighborhood next to ours was also without power. It amazed me the damage that a hurricane hitting landfall near Texas could bring such damage to central Ohio.
Even now, the next day, hundreds of thousands of people and businesses still don't have power. Many schools and businesses are closed today. It's still not determined when everyone will have power again. Who knew a hurricane that struck so far away could have such an effect here in a place so far away.
Misfit_Mistress Community Member 
|
|
Community Member