Wednesday, August 8, 2007

I Knew It Was Going To Be A Bad One...

...when I left my house at 0545 for work this morning, and by about 0630 it was a lot darker out than it had been when I left home. I had to pull off of the highway as I headed into a surveillance site in Brooklyn the wind was blowing so hard and the rain coming down in sheets so thick it looked as if someone had smeared about a 1/4 inch of petroleum jelly over my windshield. I will say this though, the lightning and thunder put on one heck of a show. I have not been that rattled by thunder in many a year, and I mean not rattled as in afraid, but rattled as in vibrated by the power of it, and I was inside my car when it did so. Lightning and thunder simultaneously coming from at least 4 different directions all around me within split seconds of each other. This went on for about an hour of my drive, a drive that normally would take about an hour and I had only gone about 1/3 the way in the time. Still some peckerwoods (no better description) were doing about 60 or 70 in the thick of it. I waited for it to slow down quite a bit, only about 10 or 15 minutes of waiting) before I drove on, and I still got there on time.

When I arrived on scene for our surveillance, we found a few different neighborhoods in Brooklyn had been smashed. Tree limbs and trees down all over the place, and big ones at that. Cars and trucks smashed by those trees, houses missing siding and roofs, windows smashed, business signs on the streets. Not a thing that usually happens in Brooklyn, and plenty of people were saying a tornado had touched down. Well this evening, when I was driving home at about 1900 (7PM, and yes it had been a long day), I heard on the news radio that a tornado did indeed touch down at several locations right in the area in which we later did our surveillance.

I guess that means my mother's prediction, of many years ago (probably back when I was not yet a teenager), came true. She said back then that we were having tornadoes in the USA in places where we had never had them before, and she predicted that it would get to the point where we would have them in New York. It has happened a few times now in New York State, and less in NYC - but it has come to pass. I don't think my mom gives Al Gore much credence on his stance on global warming, so maybe we are safe on that one; but as for tornadoes - watch out.

All the best,
Glenn B

3 comments:

MightyMom said...

gee, didn't know tornado alley had annexed NYC. Glad you're ok. A car is NOT a good place to be in a tornado....unless you've always wanted to visit Oz that is.

Pen of Jen said...

I used to live in Ohio and once in high school we had to go out and get in the ditch(which was filled with water) It was pretty scary!

For your mom's prediction...My mother in law is the same, she knew long before we shared with any that I was pregnant. In fact (although my sons are all dark haired she told us that I was pregnant even before I knew with my fourth and that it was a girl, and she was blond and curly like Shirley Temple...I was astounded as my little girl began to have shirley temple curls!!

Well be safe and listen to your mother if she tells you should not go somewhere:)

Oh and come over and see the winners in the caption contest!!

Rita Loca said...

YIKES! sounds awful! Glad you are ok!