obryn
05-11-2009, 09:03 AM
So, this year, my wife and I decided to head to Carbondale, IL for Mother's Day. We were looking forward to eating out at a few nice places, a somewhat relaxing weekend, and a wonderful Sunday brunch.
That's not exactly what we got, though. :)
Friday, before we headed down, Southern IL (including Carbondale) was struck by what meteorologists are calling an "Inland Hurricane." We had no idea - it was hardly discussed at all in the news, much to our surprise. On our way down, we heard from my mother-in-law who vacillated between, "This is insane," and "Oh, it's not THAT bad" depending on whether or not we were considering turning around and heading home.
Well, it was that bad. I mean, it's not a full hurricane with a surge, and it lasted only about 90 minutes, but that's enough time to do some intense damage. What's more, there had been rain pretty much all week, so the ground was nice & soft. There were sustained winds of 90+ MPH, with gusts of 106. That's strong enough for a Category 1 hurricane, and it kinda hit without warning.
Here's a huge animated .gif of the event...
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/090508_g12_ir_anim.gif
The amount of damage was incredible. Hundred-year old trees were uprooted everywhere. Like, torn up from the ground, and laying down, often taking sidewalk and driveway with them. Or broken in half - lots of that too. Roofs were missing. Power lines were down everywhere, either because the pole blew over or broke; or because a giant tree took it out. Shattered windows, debris... Every single outdoor sign is either broken or completely down - including a gigantic car lot sign that turned into a lump of twisted metal. Just devastation. The whole area was without power, and Carbondale won't have it back until Thursday at the earliest.
And did I mention it was SIU's graduation weekend? Yeah, that too.
Fortunately, my in-laws' house was pretty undamaged. Wind took out their biggest tree earlier this year. My mother-in-law, who's wheelchair-bound, was home alone during the storm and still pretty shaken, but she recovered just fine. They had a big piece of roofing (like wood, not just shingles) in their yard, which narrowly missed their house, but they were fine. (The folks across the street lost some gigantic trees, which took out their cars on the way down...) Seriously, I know that the regular sort of hurricanes have done worse ... but yeah.
Here's a decent photo gallery along with some weird political rants...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5630623
...and a good news story with animations...
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/2-Dead-as-Tornado-Hits-Southern-Illinois-Missouri.html
...another photo gallery...
http://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/Carbondale_Storm_Damage.html
...and my favorite link, a meteorologist dissecting the whole event and talking about how bizarre it all was, complete with a lot of radar images.
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_19404.html?from=blog_permalink_mainindex&ref=/blog/weather/
So yeah. It was a weird kinda weekend. I was glad we were there for her parents, but also glad to be home... We basically cooked out all weekend, on their gas grill, working through their food at an incredible rate because otherwise it would spoil.
And now, hilariously, I'm at work - right next to the people taking all the Country Insurance claims for the area.
Heck of a weekend.
-O
That's not exactly what we got, though. :)
Friday, before we headed down, Southern IL (including Carbondale) was struck by what meteorologists are calling an "Inland Hurricane." We had no idea - it was hardly discussed at all in the news, much to our surprise. On our way down, we heard from my mother-in-law who vacillated between, "This is insane," and "Oh, it's not THAT bad" depending on whether or not we were considering turning around and heading home.
Well, it was that bad. I mean, it's not a full hurricane with a surge, and it lasted only about 90 minutes, but that's enough time to do some intense damage. What's more, there had been rain pretty much all week, so the ground was nice & soft. There were sustained winds of 90+ MPH, with gusts of 106. That's strong enough for a Category 1 hurricane, and it kinda hit without warning.
Here's a huge animated .gif of the event...
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/goes/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/090508_g12_ir_anim.gif
The amount of damage was incredible. Hundred-year old trees were uprooted everywhere. Like, torn up from the ground, and laying down, often taking sidewalk and driveway with them. Or broken in half - lots of that too. Roofs were missing. Power lines were down everywhere, either because the pole blew over or broke; or because a giant tree took it out. Shattered windows, debris... Every single outdoor sign is either broken or completely down - including a gigantic car lot sign that turned into a lump of twisted metal. Just devastation. The whole area was without power, and Carbondale won't have it back until Thursday at the earliest.
And did I mention it was SIU's graduation weekend? Yeah, that too.
Fortunately, my in-laws' house was pretty undamaged. Wind took out their biggest tree earlier this year. My mother-in-law, who's wheelchair-bound, was home alone during the storm and still pretty shaken, but she recovered just fine. They had a big piece of roofing (like wood, not just shingles) in their yard, which narrowly missed their house, but they were fine. (The folks across the street lost some gigantic trees, which took out their cars on the way down...) Seriously, I know that the regular sort of hurricanes have done worse ... but yeah.
Here's a decent photo gallery along with some weird political rants...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5630623
...and a good news story with animations...
http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/2-Dead-as-Tornado-Hits-Southern-Illinois-Missouri.html
...another photo gallery...
http://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/Carbondale_Storm_Damage.html
...and my favorite link, a meteorologist dissecting the whole event and talking about how bizarre it all was, complete with a lot of radar images.
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_19404.html?from=blog_permalink_mainindex&ref=/blog/weather/
So yeah. It was a weird kinda weekend. I was glad we were there for her parents, but also glad to be home... We basically cooked out all weekend, on their gas grill, working through their food at an incredible rate because otherwise it would spoil.
And now, hilariously, I'm at work - right next to the people taking all the Country Insurance claims for the area.
Heck of a weekend.
-O