#Derecho and aftermath

I had planned to go out to Hawksbill Cabin for the weekend – there were some chores I wanted to knock out before the holiday weekend coming up – but the big storm that came through on Friday night changed all that.  

We had some pretty serious damage in Alexandria from it, and in fact, the power is still out at the house as I write this post.  (Update: the power was restored Sunday night at approximately 9pm.) I’ve heard from a number of friends in the valley that the storm packed a punch through there – everybody survived, but there were injuries, and lots of damage. 

The storm we had is a relatively rare type called a derecho.  An article in the Washington Post defines a derecho as a fast moving line of severe straight-line winds associated with a squall of violent thunderstorms.  This one was exacerbated by the 100-degree temps across the mid-Atlantic region and stretching back through the mid-West. 

The storm actually started in the Chicago area in the middle of the day, and traveled 700 miles in 10 hours.  There were sustained winds of up to 90 miles per hour throughout the storm-impacted region, which stretched from New Jersey to North Carolina along the coast. 

Here are some photos of the damage from around the Alexandria neighborhood.  Thanks to Mickey and Candy for the report that there is no damage at Hawksbill Cabin (although I do still have those chores to do!) 

We fared okay, but without A/C – last year we bought a generator to add some security to the sump pump and refrigerators.  No lost pork, and hot coffee in the a.m.  It could have been worse.