Against the Wind

As I was leaving town to drive to Michigan yesterday morning, Mother of Ken called to tell me that strong straight line winds hit southeast Kansas that morning, causing a lot of damage. As Mother and Father of Ken were getting ready for work, the wind picked up and the power went out and then all kinds of terrible things started happening. Thankfully, Mother and Father of Ken's house and yard were not damaged and Grandmother and Uncle of Ken's house and yard were also unharmed. I think they were the only two households in the whole town that didn't experience any damage.

Father of Ken sent these pictures of what their neighborhood looks like.

Yes, that's a car under there.

One of several uprooted trees:





The house across the street from my parents, known to us as "Uncle Jack and Aunt Therese's house" even though they were not our relatives and no longer live there. There is a beautiful old oak tree in their front yard that isn't completely destroyed, but has lost several large limbs:









Another house around the corner from ours:




The house across the street from ours:

As far as we know, no one was injured in all of this. Father of Ken was out on the porch when the winds picked up because he was in the process of pulling the hanging baskets to safety. He didn't think the wind was strong enough to do all of this damage--remember, we Kansans are used to high winds sweeping across the plains. This wasn't a tornado, for those of you who are wondering, just some strong straight line winds (80 to 90 mph), which can do quite a bit of damage on their own. Mother and Father of Ken's house, which is about 130 years old or so, withstood all of this wind without any trouble, just like it did during the tornado that hit in 2000. That is a testament to good, old fashioned construction.

Mother and Father of Ken have not had electricity since this morning and have heard that it might take a few days for it to be restored. Grandmother and Uncle of Ken have electricity, thankfully, but my Grambi and Papaw and other relatives who live about an hour away are without power as well. Hopefully, power will be restored soon, because it is miserably humid and stuffy there.