Wednesday evening it started sprinkling on my way home from work. An impending "no name" Nor'easter was blowing in from the south. I think the news said the central pressure dropped something like 36 millibars in 20 hrs or something close to that. It was quick but strong.
About midnight the dogs woke us up. Winds whipping HARD with the "freight train" sound, limbs and trees snapping, crap bouncing off the house, etc. I called out and took Thursday off.
On the other side of the street from our driveway is a knee deep ditch that contains runoff during heavy rains and such. There WAS a huge 20" diameter hickory who's root ball was adjacent to the ditch. The hickory blew over at midnight, landed on the power lines, took out one of the 2 power cables plus the cable & internet. The landline phone was still working. The tree was still hanging on the other power wire, but lying caddy corner across the road at the end of our driveway with the crown of the tree in the strip of woods that separates our front yard from the road. The other power line was still hot with 4800 volts, giving off a nice arcing, sparking & pretty blue glow as it burnt its way into the bark of the tree and caught the tree on fire. We made the initial report to 911. I guess 911 got ahold of the power company because the power line finally went dead about 20 or 30 minutes later. About an hour later it had rained enough that the tree trunk was no longer smoldering and emitting embers. We were done playing "fire watch" and went back to bed.
Thursday 0630 - Dogs are doing their business in the front yard as some butt-hole comes flying up the road doing about 50 + despite the storm still raging, storm debris all over the place and totally ignoring the 25 mph speed limit. I could hear him accelerating up the hill hard and hear all of the sticks, limbs and road debris getting kicked up into his fenders. He slams on the brakes at the last minute, only stopping about one car length away from bouncing off the tree and skidding into our driveway. I had a nice batch of "super kind words" to say to that stupid motorist.
About midnight the dogs woke us up. Winds whipping HARD with the "freight train" sound, limbs and trees snapping, crap bouncing off the house, etc. I called out and took Thursday off.
On the other side of the street from our driveway is a knee deep ditch that contains runoff during heavy rains and such. There WAS a huge 20" diameter hickory who's root ball was adjacent to the ditch. The hickory blew over at midnight, landed on the power lines, took out one of the 2 power cables plus the cable & internet. The landline phone was still working. The tree was still hanging on the other power wire, but lying caddy corner across the road at the end of our driveway with the crown of the tree in the strip of woods that separates our front yard from the road. The other power line was still hot with 4800 volts, giving off a nice arcing, sparking & pretty blue glow as it burnt its way into the bark of the tree and caught the tree on fire. We made the initial report to 911. I guess 911 got ahold of the power company because the power line finally went dead about 20 or 30 minutes later. About an hour later it had rained enough that the tree trunk was no longer smoldering and emitting embers. We were done playing "fire watch" and went back to bed.
Thursday 0630 - Dogs are doing their business in the front yard as some butt-hole comes flying up the road doing about 50 + despite the storm still raging, storm debris all over the place and totally ignoring the 25 mph speed limit. I could hear him accelerating up the hill hard and hear all of the sticks, limbs and road debris getting kicked up into his fenders. He slams on the brakes at the last minute, only stopping about one car length away from bouncing off the tree and skidding into our driveway. I had a nice batch of "super kind words" to say to that stupid motorist.
Last edited by a moderator:
