No Escape from Mother Nature

When I lived in Florida, I experienced about a half dozen hurricanes. Not all at once, of course, but a few darkened our door within weeks of each other. None were direct hits, but when a giant storm is moving across a narrow peninsula, there really is no way to avoid the affects.

Now that I’m back in Chicago, I don’t have to worry about hurricanes anymore, but Mother Nature has a way of reminding us she’s still in charge.

Have you ever heard of a microburst? Apparently, that is what our suburban Chicago town experienced last Friday. I was home, writing, and watching it out the window of our office toward the front yard. Trees were bending, but I felt safe. When I could no longer even see out the window from the sheer thickness of rain blowing horizontal, I thought maybe I should head to the basement. Then I heard tap, tap, tap on the windows and decided instead to open the front door and see hail up front and close.

I think the entire thing lasted about forty minutes, and it ended right at rush hour. I heard lots of urgent sirens. Ambulances, police, fire trucks. They were loud and near my home, but I didn’t see them down our street.

I grabbed my laptop and scanned my local town’s facebook page. People were already posting pictures of fallen trees, fallen electrical wires, flooded roads…even videos of the storm itself. Roads were blocked. Stop lights were out. It seemed our small suburb was barricaded in by debris. My husband had to wait it out to drive home from work, but I was grateful we were both safe.

About an hour later, when I finally peeled my eyes away from the local facebook page, I got up and walked past our back sliding doors. Leaves covered the deck. Hmm. Maybe I should go out and take a look. I stepped out onto the deck and….gasp.

I was so lost in my computer screen, I didn’t even see what happened in my own back yard. It would seem I’m just as guilty of what I’ve accused other people of doing … not looking up.

The tree behind that back fence was also partially down.

This has not been the only rain we’ve experienced. We’ve been getting water logged day after day. I live 2.5 miles from a locally renowned river. On the 4th of July I posted a picture (below) of an island park in the middle of the river.

Below is what the island looked like on this past weekend, Saturday.

There was no way to take the picture from the same view, because the island is flooded.

Below is a photo of the bridge that goes to the river island before the recent rains.

The next picture below is a recent photo of the same bridge.

Below is a picture I took in February of a creek about a mile from our house.

Below is a picture taken on Saturday of the same creek from the same standpoint.

Just when I thought we were safe from hurricanes, I got reminded that there is no escaping Mother Nature.

I’m grateful that tree didn’t fall on our house, or that we didn’t receive any other damage. I have to say though, that white birch was our only tree and such a lovely source of shade for our back yard. I miss it already.

I know we can replace it, but it’s going to be a while. We need to get someone to remove the stump.

We have a two-day reprieve from the rain, and our sub-pump is still working diligently. More rains are forecast for the end of the week.

Have you ever realized your eyes were glued to the screen for too long? Do you seek shelter when warned about a storm, or do you open your door and take a video?

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