posted
The weather man has been warning us for a couple of days of the impending doom, April Blizzard. Right now we have had 12" of snow since 11:00 last night and the wind is blowing up to 65mph. I like blizzards but I was ready to take the BMW Airhead out for a drive. We are supposed to get 24" total before its done, the county pulled the plows off the road because of the wind. Last nite it was like the end of the world at the grocery store, 3 bandanas left on the self, all the 2% milk gone, eggs a few cartons left. The company my wife works for shut down and the kids are off school. All the schools for a 100 miles around are closed. We are going to have a movie marathon starting at 12:30 first movie the WWII classic "A Bridge Too Far" with all the big names.
Getting ready to make popcorn, crawl under a blanket, watch a movie, and listen to the wind howl. Life's great in the Great White North.
When the wind dies down I'll wait for the sign damage report to come in.
-------------------- Silver Creek Signworks Dick Bohrer Two Harbors, MN Posts: 236 | From: Two Harbors, MN USA | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
All that snow and no mountains to ski down, LOL. Anchorage got 15" Tuesday; everyone had already took their snow studs off and there were 130 wrecks. Ouch! I always like your posts Dick and I like the way you flow with the seasons rather than bucking them - always a good thing in extreme conditions.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- Dana Blair Blair Signs Wooster, OH www.blairsigns.com
If sign makers go on strike, is there anything written on their picket signs? Posts: 835 | From: Wooster, OH, USA | Registered: Jul 1999
| IP: Logged |
We were awakened at 3 AM by the tornado siren. I turned on the TV and in the three seconds before the power went out I saw a big red box around my town and heard the announcement: "Tornado warning for Carrollton, take cover!" The tornado siren went dead a few seconds later when it was blown away. My wife and I cowered in the bathroom with a bunch of pillows around us as we heard the roaring grow louder and louder around our shaking house.
After the "freight train" passed to the northeast, I looked outside to see most of our 60' red oak lying in the front yard. It's now about 15' tall. We heard the sirens of emergency vehicles for the rest of the night.
About 8 AM, everyone in the tree business showed up offering to cut up the tree. I figured since I had no electricity in the home or shop, there wasn't much else we'd be doing, so I declined their offers and let that chain saw I bought last summer help pay for itself. My wife, daughter, son in law, and I were sawing logs all day but it wasn't sleep. After hours of cutting, my daughter and I decided to get something cold to drink. We had to drive several miles to find a store that had power and was open. Our power was out for around 19 hours and restored last night.
We didn't have any property damage other than that tree and a bunch of limbs from the other trees but many of our neighbors weren't so fortunate. Our neighbor across the street lost a majestic 100' tree which fell across their beautiful backyard taking down most of another tree. Their huge backyard elm ended up on the next door neighbor's garage. Early today, a house a half block away was destroyed by fire. I don’t know if it’s connected to the storm or not.
I don't know that there really was a tornado but there is tremendous damage all over town--roofs off, houses torn up, trees uprooted and snapped off, walls and fences down, signs destroyed, power lines down everywhere. Some of the schools cancelled because there was no power. We saw the news helicopters flying the area all day but couldn't watch anything on TV. We just waved and went back to cutting firewood.
I suspect the red oak got hit by lightning. As I was trimming what's left of it, I found a scorched place where the tree split. I found a matching scorch on a big chunk by the street. There isn't any burned section going to the base but the tree might have been so wet from the rain the charge got to ground on the outside. My wife takes solace in the loss of her beloved red oak by considering it saved the house from a lightning strike.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5095 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
Dave, That brings back many memories of the tornado in Massachusetts in 1953. I was in the middle of it during the daylight hours, hail the size of golf balls, roar like a freight train, looked out the window to see a huge funnel heading right for us in Worcester, Mass. Hid in the basement up against the foundation till it was over. You just can't know the fear unless you have experienced it. Glad you are safe!
-------------------- Len Mort Signmaker1.com 11 Juniper Drive Millbury, MA 508-865-2382 "A Good Business Sign, is A Sign of Good Business"(1957) Posts: 811 | From: Millbury, Ma | Registered: Dec 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I still don't know if what hit us was actually a tornado, however the TV news tonight said there were five confirmed tornados in the metropolitan area. Fortunately, with all the damage, there was only one serious injury in the region. We all got off pretty light, considering what could have happened.
There's plenty of sign work to be done but in my old age, I don't feel like measuring and installing faces--see Jill's "Knowing My Limitations" post.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5095 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'm really glad you're okay, David. It sounds about like us during Hurricane Ivan, except that it blew and roared for almost eleven hours without letting up.
quote:Originally posted by stein Saether: If signs blow down they are too week
"no hurricane is gonna come here Stein, yours signs are way to strong"
right
Hurricanes are full of tornados. A tornados winds can be well in excess of 250 mph. I'd guess I'd like to see these signs and foundations that are rated up to 300 mph winds... I'll bet you can't get an engineer to certify they'll withstand that!
One of my cousin's inlaw's home in Central Kansas got hit by a tornado a while back. It destroyed their house, tore it completely off the foundation. They couldn't find a single piece of it besides the individual boards and debri scattered across the field. It even flipped one of their cars so bad the engine and transmission came out of it and was laying separated from the vehicle by about 50 ft.
Luckily they had gone to town to eat pizza, came home and found the mess...
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
For us, the storm was over in minutes. I'm a very empathetic person and while taking cover, I kept thinking about those in hurricanes having to listen to that sound for hours on end, not knowing if the house was about to fly apart. I was grateful we didn't have to go through that and I have even more respect for those who have.
The comment I made about our monument signs in the other post was cocky and I shouldn't have said that. We've all seen what major tornados and hurricanes can do and one of my monuments would have just become more projectiles in a real storm.
[ April 12, 2008, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: David Harding ]
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5095 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
David, I'm glad you're all OK. Storms are scary. Around here they seem to bring the neighborhood together confirming our strong sense of community.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6734 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
posted
David, could they have been straight line winds??? We get both tonadoes and straight line winds around here. Straightline winds, when strong enough, can equal damage from smaller tonadoes.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
posted
You have my glad tidings, David that you missed that one. These storms are terrible. And Dick, I hope that when you roll out of the sheets, all is well with you, and there's lots of work to do.
In 1974, our town on the southwestern side of Cincinnati, on the Ohio river, experienced a tornado that was rated F4 to F5...the same storm that wiped Xenia, Ohio off the map. It came across the Ohio river; a gas station owner nearby told me you could see the bottom of the river as it passed.
Our town was devastated. 4 foot thick oak and maple trees ripped in two and thrown around; a small subdivision of about 60 homes now has about 10; a friend of my mom's had a 24 foot Lyman cabin cruiser land in his back yard from a marina on the other side of the Ohio river; any group of homes are hit...two are wiped off the face of the earth, and 3 have only minor damage...go figure.
My mom's mother-in-law was a semi invalid. Old two-story frame house, totally destroyed. Her nurse helped her to the basement; as every room in the house was demolished. A giant tree fell thru her daughter's bedroom (not home). Ironically, the mother's bedroom was untouched...the sheets on her bed were still turned back as if she'd just gotten up. On her dresser, a crocheted doily with about 30 tiny glass crystal animals that she collected....still standing...untouched.
One of the men from church that lived in an apartment closed himself in his bathroom and laid down in the tub. After the storm, he couldn't get the door open because the force was so severe, it had sucked his bathrobe that was hanging on the door, through the cracks in the panels of the wooden door, pushing them outward and wedging the door tight. His landlord said he was going to save the door for posterity.
There was lots more, but just the thought of that thing still sends chills down my spine after all these years. Here in Mississippi, we get a number of tornadoes each year, but thank GOD we have been fortunate so far. 6 of them (small ones) went thru Jackson last weekend and did a good deal of damage. They're just scary!
posted
Its all over with, we had 16 ft waves on Lake Superior which is cool to watch smashing on the rocks and making neat ice formations. Went down to the lake and there were about 16 idiots out there surfing, its was about 30 degrees out. We got about 18" of snow, I made a couple of passes with the plow and am going to let the sun melt the rest it is supposed to be 60 this week. We are lucky we don't get tornadoes up here, we do get straight line winds from time to time. The wifes parents live in South Dakota and survived twister last summer that wiped out half the small town they live in. Must be the Norwegian coming out of me Stein no blow downs, I was worried about a couple of the sidewalk signs hanging on chain. Springs coming to the North Coast even saw 3 robins this morning coming home from church looking a bit confused "Where are the worms". The minister was all excited this morning a pack of wolves killed a deer near his kitchen window while he was having breakfast. He worked it into the mornings sermon. A pack of wolves was also sighted chasing a buck across the city golf course a couple of days ago. With all the wolves we are still over run with deer.
Hope the spring suns shine on you all- The Colonel
-------------------- Silver Creek Signworks Dick Bohrer Two Harbors, MN Posts: 236 | From: Two Harbors, MN USA | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I was in Duluth Thursday night when the storm hit. We were down on the waterfront watching the lake. Awesome sight. We made it back to the trailer before the snow came.
Friday morning was a bugger getting into downtown Duluth. Trucks stuck out on the Interstate and all. Power in downtown was out. The DECC had generators so the Grand Lodge stuff still went on.
Duluth sure is a neat city to visit!
-------------------- Bruce Bowers
DrCAS Custom Lettering and Design Saint Cloud, Minnesota
"Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things work out." - Art Linkletter Posts: 6454 | From: Saint Cloud, Minnesota | Registered: Jun 1999
| IP: Logged |
I'm kinda leaning toward the straight line winds--I guess I have to or I'll get blown away. They said five tornados were in the area but I haven't seen anything that says what path any took. The damage is extensive but not the obliteration I've seen from tornados. There were 250,000 people without power immediately after the storm. Two days later it was down to a tenth of that.
The power company has crews here from all over the country cutting all limbs at least 10' back from the lines. They've taken out more than the storm did. My daughter's family went out to eat last night at a major restaurant and counted 220+ Asplundh employees eating there.
Bruce, ditto on Duluth. I've hiked quite a bit at Jay Cooke State Park near there... and most of the folks here just use his primer.
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5095 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic