12-1-11

Wednesday's News reported there was a wind storm coming in the following day. I don't think any of us were prepared for what was going to happen.
Thursday morning I woke up early to go to the gym. I looked outside and couldn't believe the wind. It made me not want to go. But my friend and I  braved the storm. When we were walking into the building, we thought we were going to be blown off our feet. Inside we could hear the wind. It made us wonder if the windows were going to blow out.

On our way home we saw a HUGE Pine tree had been blown over onto the power lines. As I was driving past it I watched sparks fly onto the street and catch the tree on fire. I had never seen anything like that in person. Crazy! The whole way home I couldn't help but hope that none of our trees had fallen onto our house. Thankfully when I got there they were still standing.

Our garbage cans were half way across our yard, along with everything inside. I saw that our fence was starting to blow apart, neighbors wooden fences were blown over and the power had gone out.

Without power I wondered how that would affect my work day. Sure enough as the morning went on and the wind didn't show signs of slowing down, my clients starting calling and rescheduling for the next week. A few of them still came in for haircuts and left with wet heads.

Heidi had driven out here to watch the boys while I worked. She had been there all of 20 minutes and decided to take the boys back to her place in Cottonwood Heights. There wasn't a single breeze at her house which meant she had power. The boys and her could stay warm.

On my way to work I saw several trees on their sides. Below are pictures of 2 of them that I saw.

 After work I decided it would be best if we all spent the night at Jesse's Parents. Without power in our house it would have been a really cold night. Bless their hearts for letting us stay there.

Before going to Mike and Heidi's, I went home to get clothes and food for the next day. I also gathered all the food from the fridge, put it in a cooler and placed the cooler in the garage so everything would stay cold. I then went to Smith's Market Place to buy dry ice for the freezer. There they had their generators going so everyone was able to purchase supplies they might need for the night.

Driving from my house to the freeway was frightening. With power being out all over the city, every intersection was scary. I witnessed a car accident. People don't know or realize that when there is no power the intersection must be treated like a 4 way stop. This person T-boned this other car which spun her around. I saw a bummer go flying and tires flatten. Ah I just wanted to get out of Bountiful. Everywhere I looked it was pure chaos. I thought to myself several times 'What if this is it?'

My cell phone too wasn't working very well. A tower must have been down. I was trying to get a hold of Jesse but the call kept being dropped. It felt like one of the scary dreams I have had where I'm separated from my family and I can't find or get a hold of them.

I saw this car in a Dealership parking lot all smashed from the light post falling down onto it.

I was so relieved to get on the freeway. Thankfully it was open South of Bountiful. It was closed going North from Bountiful till about Farmington. I read that there were more than 10 Semi trucks blown over on I-15.

 Here are pictures and a Deseret News Article I pulled from the Web....

“— Hurricane-force winds wreaked havoc in northern Utah on Thursday, blowing over semitrailers, toppling trees, downing power lines, forcing the closures of more than a dozen schools and creating extensive property damage across Davis and Weber counties.

The strongest winds were reported near Centerville, where gusts of 102 mph, 100 mph and 86 mph were recorded by the National Weather Service. A 100 mph wind gust is the same as a Category 2 hurricane.

Officials say early estimates put damage in Centerville alone at $8 million.

Davis County declared a local emergency Thursday evening, requesting assistance from the state. County officials estimated infrastructure damage at more than $3.5 million.

At one point, an estimated 50,000 customers were without power in Utah, and Rocky Mountain Power officials warned that some residents should be prepared to be without power for up to 48 hours. As of 9 p.m., 24,000 Rocky Mountain Power customers still were without power.

In Bountiful, which has its own power company, 40 percent of homes still were without power at 9 p.m.

All Davis County schools will be closed Friday as a result of the storm. Thursday began with all schools in the district open. By the end of the day, 28 were closed because of storm-related issues. In addition, windows in 30 buses were shattered.

District officials will use Friday to assess damages and begin making repairs so schools and the full bus fleet can be operational Monday.

Extensive damage was reported throughout Davis County. South Davis Metro Fire Chief Jim Rampton said at least three house fires were caused by downed power lines. One of the homes, near 200 East and 1500 South in Bountiful, was a complete loss, he said. No one was in the house at the time of the fire.

Rampton said his crews responded to at least 10 semis that were blown over, numerous fuel spills due to the overturned vehicles and a number of natural gas line breaks caused by uprooted trees."

The winds died down around noon. From there everyone sat and waited for their power to come back on. Ours was out for about 24 hours. While I was working yesterday (Saturday) I had several clients tell me they were without power STILL! So over 48 hours for them.

Count our many blessings that we are all safe and our home is safe. It was a HUGE eye opener to the thought that we need to be better prepared. Thankfully we had a warm place to stay, but I can't imagine if the whole state was like this and we were all in the same situation.

Today church has been canceled. Every one who can is out helping clean up trees. Jesse and Ryker are out helping. I'm staying in with Cy while he naps.

It's so great the community/church can pull together and help each other out.