A Mighty Wind

For all the dire forecasts we have received in the Dallas area in the past 6 years, it was the moderate forecast that finally brought us the worst damage. On Wednesday afternoon we were sitting in the living room (Leslie and Xavier and I...Ian was at Awana at a local church) when the breeze and drizzle suddenly turned to incredible gusts and driving rain in just a matter of a minute or so. As I watched out the window overlooking the backyard, I saw the covering over our back patio simply disappear into the air. I immediately began yelling for Leslie to get into the closet (an interior closet in our home). After a few minutes it seemed clear that there was no tornado bearing down on us, but the wind and rain persisted. I went to the front window in our dining room to see if the porch roof was on our cars in the drive way. It wasn't, but the tree in our front yard had split down the middle with half upright and half laying across the yard toward the street. In the midst of all this we lost power to our house. Within 10 minutes the weather had calmed enough for me to pick up Ian. Other than some fences and trees that were knocked down, I saw very little damage on this short drive. Just a lot of leaves and shingles all over the place. The covering over a nearby gas station's pumps was blown over. The uprights remained in the ground, but they are now bent at ground level. That was some wind!

As I write this on Friday, we are still without power and not sure when we will get it back. We're staying with my parents in the next town over. Everyone is fine and as soon as we get power back, things should get back to normal. In the meantime, here are the pics of our damage...(above and below this article).

Last minute edit: The power has just returned! Woohoo!