Wild Night

Last night it got a little intense here.

I was at a meeting in town....

4-H Leaders if that makes any difference :)

A bit of a storm blew up. 

We could hear the rain, (hail or really big drops?)

Phones started ringing.  Spouses saying "stay there, don't go out in this" etc

We took a look outside.

Wowzers.

Just a little bit of rotation in those clouds!  Or maybe I should clarify, LOTS of rotation!

About that time, I went to look out the other side of the building.

Saw lots of rain, wind that was swaying the trees and then...

The trees laid down.

And I, a 46 year old storm lover who had never taken cover unless I was at an event where the organizers of said event required it...

Headed for the womens bathroom ( the storm shelter in the community room)

About then the sirens started blowing.

And then they stopped, and all the lights went out. 

And there we sat.

I got a text from my sister who lives 60 miles away - watching all the weather alerts on tv.

The others were getting calls from home.

We hung out there a good 45 minutes waiting for the rain and wind to let up.

I, and a couple other girls who live close by, decided to head out to check in at home.

The other women stayed because their homes were in the direction the storm was going.

Here are a few pics I lifted from some facebook friends from in town.

These are pics from today during cleanup. The whole town looks like this!

On the way home I drove thru, and yes, I know you're not supposed to drive thru water~  But I was kinda committed before I even realized I was in water!

In town there was generalized flooding, and on the way home there was water running over the road in two places on the way home.  My little car did not like it!

It was still raining when I got home, but I got busy sopping up water in my entry ~ the wind was from that direction and pushed the rain right in around the door.  Also had a little leakage around a window on that side of the house.  

Guess ya gotta expect that when the wind was reported at 80 to 90 mph!  

Reports of 3-5 inches, but not sure how in the heck you can get an accurate measure, when the rain is coming horizontally :)

When the rain let up, I went outside to check things out.  It was still dark and menacing ~ sheet lightning and a brisk breeze.  It was not quite all the way dark, but I couldn't see the horses.  Called them numerous times, but nobody came.  I wanted so bad to walk out and look for them!

But it was dark, it was WET, and it was still electrical. Since there was nothing I could do at home, I got in my truck and went to the neighbors, I could hear them calling for their animals.  They had sheds, fences and equipment tossed about and the animals were scattered.  Unfortunately they lost some infant piglets, and they still were missing a few 4 leggeds when I left for home to continue calling. 

I finally gave up and went to bed.

I didn't sleep very well.

At 3 am, I got up and looked out yet again, and I caught a shadow of a large animal where the horses usually loaf.  So I felt better that at least there was someone out there.  I'd envisioned fried horses (lightening)

I had work to get to this morning, and was able to count all 5 heads before I left for work with directions to the son to do a quick once over for injuries when the sun came up.  After work I came home to see what the damage was.

I don't have trees yet, so my place doesn't look that hard hit.

The horses are all ok.  Sigh of relief.

My fence panel catch pen was all askew.  Easy fix.

A pile of wood was scattered about.  Easy fix.

But my NEW solar fencer...

May be a casualty of the storm. 

The direct lightening strike to my fence may be the reason the horses were afraid to come back home!  Neighbor stopped to tell me he'd had to get cows outa my pasture.  He had cows and calves everywhere.  His herd appeared to have stampeded and scattered.  He thinks the lightening may have had something to do with that, too. 

So, yeah.

It was a wild night....

ps.  One of my friends from the meeting drove by their hay field on the way home.  She couldn't believe it when she saw a large round bale burning in the field. In the rain.  Yup. Lightening.