I really need to get into the gym and work out, but I'm feeling so drained from our weather madness yesterday.
I logged out of work early because my younger one needed to be picked up from school...her bike has been in the shop. I was supposed to get an oil change right after that, but I could see we were in for some really severe weather right around dismissal time for the older one. She also normally bikes and I didn't want her out in anything like that, so I canceled my oil change and planned to get into the pick up line around 4. The weather started coming in just before that ... lost power a couple of times ...but took the younger one and made the short drive in what at that point was just looking like an average t-storm. The pick up line was snaked all the way onto the main road outside of the school, so I put it in park and we just sat. And this is what it turned into...
In a nutshell, 60-70mph wind gust, torrential rain, tornado warnings, hail, tons of lightning and what I hadn't heard until I was in line...a flash flood warning. So, we're sitting there and texting my daughter that we'd get there as soon as we could get to the front of the line, but that things weren't moving. At some point, she texts to let us know they are moving all students farther into the school because the front was starting to flood. That's when I realized that the streets all around the school must also be under water. A few cars pulled out of the line and I got close enough to the turn off to confirm that the road in front of the school was badly flooded as was the portion of the road ahead. Some vehicles were already stalled out from driving into the high water. So I looped around hoping to make it home to wait it out or try and walk up, but I too drove into high water. I realized trying to make it the block and a half to get home meant possibly losing my vehicle. I opened my door and while I have an SUV that sits up on a truck frame...the water was just above my running boards and nearly at my doors. My younger one started to get scared and cry...but I was able to pull into the lot of an adjacent church (right across from the other side of the school) that sits on higher ground. We sat it out there for a bit and took some video now that the rain was tapering off...
This is a better shot of the limb down on that house you can see in one of the vids. I saw them removing it later. Looked like shingle damage, but no actual roof punctures, which is good.
The reality...I probably could have gotten through, but I didn't want to risk it. In the end, it's good that I stayed at the church, because they started letting the kids go. I found the mom of one of my daughter's friends on the other side of the lot and we were texting instructions on how to find us and to stick together. The road was still really badly flooded (although receded a bit at this point on the main road), but there were some parents in the floodwaters guiding the kids through the street.
That's mine in the red shirt.
We moved to the back of the parking lot to regroup and figure things out, only to find the family of my younger one's best friend in a bad situation. His mom's car wasn't so lucky. They were all trying to scoop the tons of water that had gotten inside. The bright spot here...my older one's friend's dad was on the way. He has a huge super duty truck that's lifted waaaaay off the ground. He did rescues during Hurricane Harvey. This is where all of my working out has paid off, because I needed all of that leg/arm strength and flexibility to get up into his truck (no steps or boards). He made several trips to get us all back to our homes since the neighborhood roads were still really bad. We saw a few people on canoes!
We got home and our street was a river. I checked the house first...no signs of water inside, no signs of big limbs or trees down, and we had power, so we were doing very well. So, the kids took the pups out and I started taking pics out front.
The little crowd you see is because my neighbor's car was parked on the street and it flooded. Feel bad for them...she told me they just had gotten it from the shop and put in $750 on repairs.
My mailbox is a good gauge for how high the water was...
There's actually another number below the 1, and this sits on a well elevated cement curb. Someone told us that the water had been closer to the 1 that's visible in this pic at some point. I believe them based on the debris field I was able to see in the lawn when we got home showing just how close it got to the house.
I was really scared this smaller truck was going to flood out...
This is my hubby finally making it home. Water had gone down a bit by this point...
But still made some decent waves up into the driveway...
Most people were going slow, but the faster people drove, the higher the wake and the more likely to push water into homes. Thankfully, ,most people weren't speeding through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwOLEs1Axr4
I also met some kids checking the storm drains to make sure they were all clear so that the water could properly drain off. One was our waiter the other night LOL. We eventually became a cross through for people trying to avoid the traffic on the main roads, so I talked to the people waiting for a bit just to hear about other spots. Some people had water in homes, downed trees, etc. We'd later hear of a woman who drove into a downed tree and died and another hospitalized because a tree came down on her vehicle. Several of the schools and businesses that flooded in Harvey (and some that didn't flood in Harvey) took on water. Our friends had water in their bedroom. So sad!
Eventually, the water fully receded and I went up to the church to get my vehicle. Lucky nothing happened to it because I guess I left it engaged with the radio on in battery mode. It's keyless, so not sure if it shut off when got out of range or was on the whole time. At least it was OK. A little later, my older one and I walked to the school to get her bike. It was a mess getting it, but it's a nice bike and I didn't want to leave it there all weekend.
We had more storms go through overnight and we slept downstairs because I have fears of our big trees coming down on the house. Thankfully, they were more run of the mill t-storms and nothing too severe.
Sorry for the long post...but just needed to vent.
Edit- just got out to the bike shop and got to survey some of the damage. Geesh- tons of trees with huge limbs down or just snapped in half. The guy at the shop who helped me lives about 1/4 of a mile away an they had much larger hail than us...so I guess we were really lucky.
