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I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:47 pm
by Redetotry
I'm ok but our power has been off since last Friday when we had what they are calling an inland hurricane in Illinois! Three counties have been declared disaster areas. Our house is ok but we lost many old beautiful trees. A huge Hackberry in the back yard blew away from the house or we would have had major damage. Winds were 107 miles an hour but I heard nothing in our basement must have been while I was yelling at the dogs! I will write more later I'm not used to this keyboard. My favorite coffee house is open and I'm on my laptop. we are supposed to get our power on tonight I hope so as storms are predicted. The devastation is hard to comprehend. I'll post pictures of our street. It is so sad.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 3:53 pm
by Nasoosie
OMIGAWD! No wonder you have been absent! I am so happy to hear from you, but so sorry to hear about the devastation of those storms. Holy Cow! What on earth is going on with this Climate Change stuff....I certainly do NOT like it. Even VT had a tornado this past Saturday.....and they are almost unheard of up here. I hope you get your power restored tonight and that we can see some pics of your damage. Thank heavens for your basement where you and the poochies can hide out. Keep us posted when you can.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 4:11 pm
by mitch5252
OMG - BJ, I'm so glad you're okay!!! I've been wondering where you've been. You and I are not that far apart, and I heard nothing about this on the news! How scary. I'm really glad you and the DH and creatures are fine! Jeez - this weather is just plain weird!!!!

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 6:43 pm
by avalen
oh my goodness, how scarry, so glad your ok and thanks for checkin in

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 7:19 pm
by retiredhappy
So glad to hear you're OK. Stay safe.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 8:28 pm
by Cedar518
wow-eeee.... hadn't heard about that. did hear about the one in VT,.... must say that Mother Nature must be really pissed off! She's swinging her baseball bat all over the place.

So glad that YOU are ok,.... but sorry you lost your trees. Hang in there.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2009 9:11 pm
by Fernie
WOW I am headed to Illinois in a week and a half!! What counties were affected. Maybe I should stay in Illinois---NOT!!!! Glad you are ok!!

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2009 8:35 am
by Getupngo
I have never heard of an inland hurricane. I'm glad you and yours are
safe. Hope your cleanup goes quickly.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2009 3:22 pm
by Redetotry
Still no power, I have decided I am not a good pioneer. I want a HOT shower!!! I'm hoping today is the day as most of the town is on and they are in are back yard working on the lines. It is still hard to drive around town as so many huge trees down and people working. High winds today and possible storm on the way so need to dash home as sky looking darker.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Wed May 13, 2009 10:33 pm
by bluepinecones
I'm with you; hate being without power. Glad you are okay and safe, even if not cozy and comfy yet.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 1:07 pm
by Redetotry
I have POWER!! Our electricity came on last night. I had a glorious hot shower and life is good again. I still find myself looking for the lantern or heading for the coolers! We had aother terrible storm that hit finally last night after looking stormy all afternoon. It was bad but our power stayed on thankfully.
I uploaded some pictures to Photobucket but of course can't copy the img code, grrr what is with that place.
It will take a long time for life to be really normal as some of the highways are still one way as there are so many trees and poles still down. There are mountains of trash and trees that have been cut up and pulled to the curbs. The city is sending big trucks to pick it up with fork lifts and haul it away but as every house that had trees has huge piles it will take a long time. We still don't have cable so only news is online. I don't know if there has been much in the news about this but the number of people involved is huge. It was so hard to deal with, for the first few days no stores were open, there were boil orders but many have electric stoves, gas stations were closed for miles, nothing was open because no one had power until they were able to get generators and gas.
The whole landscape has changed, complete wooded areas are gone in many places, but DH says in a few weeks the new landscape will become our reality. We were lucky in that our home had no damage. It was just so sad to loose so many of our lovely trees and have many of our flower gardens & fruit trees ruined. So many lost homes and cars as this is an old town with ancient huge trees everywhere. But, time to pull up my big girl panties and soldier on getting this house cleaned and clothes washed.
Thanks for all the support I'll try PB again later.

Oh, in the middle of all this little Winnie started with throwing up and continued to get very sick, got her to the vet for an IV and meds but for two nights I was up every two hours cleaning up and wondering why I had decided to have an electric hot water heater!!! I think she was stressed from all the changes in her life and the constant roar of chain saws and strange people in the yard. She is fine now but it was really scary

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 1:40 pm
by Cedar518
I'm so glad you are doing better and have power. Reminds me of 1998 when we had the huge ice storm in northern NY, VT, NH, ME and PQ. We were without power for a week. .... In January!!!!!! So i do know how tough it can be. We come to rely on modern conveniences so much.

Stay well,... and i hope that Winnie is doing better now too!

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 1:43 pm
by mitch5252
So much to be thankful for, but so much destroyed or changed. I'm glad you and your husband, and Winnie, are all okay. Poor Winnie. It must have been awful for her. Don't you wish you could take away all of her fear and/or pain...

Really glad you're safe!


.

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 3:26 pm
by Bethers
Like the others, I've never heard of an inland hurricane - I always just called them big bad thunderstorms - but whatever it was - so glad you came out of it with just a landscape change. And, now, hearing about Winnie, so very glad that she is ok also. It's hard on the pups. So, get that laundry done, and if you want more, I have way more than I should have! LOL I guess one of my next tasks will be finding a laundramat (the generator came first).

Re: I'm OK we had a hurricane in Illinois

PostPosted: Thu May 14, 2009 3:40 pm
by Nasoosie
Good that you are now reconnected, Rede! As Cedar has mentioned, we had an ice storm up here in January of 1998 that left this place without power for 9 days...in frigid temperatures....so I know only too well what it's like to be without things that electricity makes possible---including water from the well pump.

Thank heavens you and your husband and winnie are all ok, in spite of your landscaping losses. Poor winnie! She had no idea what in heck was going on! These freak storms are really wreaking havoc all over this country this spring.

Keep in touch!