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Now THAT was a storm!

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Steve_S

Steve_S

Yoda
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This afternoon was quite pleasant in Chicago. Decent temperature, perhaps a bit humid but not as bad as yesterday. No wind to speak of. The clouds started building up a little and then a "warning blast" of wind, which went away immediately. 30 minutes later it happened.

There was literally a brief sprinkle of water, perhaps 15 seconds, before the skies opened up and the wind was released from the gates of hades itself. I've been all over the globe and I've never seen a storm come on like that, so suddenly and with such vengeance. The rain was completely sideways in 70MPH winds, and at times was blowing both directions at once! Huge trees were falling and snapping like toothpicks all around us (we were out of downtown, near the zoo). Lightening was striking buildings and multiple funnel clouds were reported, some of them turning to tornadoes. At least one touched down.

20 minutes later it was gone and only a sprinkle remained. Power was out to 108,000 people and deaths have been reported in flood waters and collapsed structures. The locals I spoke with had never seen one quite this bad before and had some interesting stories to tell from different viewpoints around the city. Apparently there was a massive lightening strike on the Sear's tower lasting a few seconds, and a wall of ferociously turbulent water could be seen traveling across the lake as the sharp edge of the storm moved across it at 25-50MPH.

I'll be happy to be 40,000-feet above this stuff tomorrow!

I hope everyone in the area is ok!
 
We're gonna pass in the air, Steve! I'm heading into Atlanta & then on home.
 
Glad that you're okay, sounds like a very scary rainstorm... I know I've been hearing on the news here about all the rain and flooding happening all over the midwest...
 
Steve...here in Nebraska we have been getting hammered everyday for the last week by daily mutiple thunderstorms, torrential rains, high winds and some tornado activity...I'm sure everyone is hearing about the flooding problems not only here but everything south of us...I'm personally fortunate in that we live on higher ground but just 2 miles north of our place all is under water..the crop and property damage is going to add up quickly and most of the people around here do not carrry flood insurance....these weather patterns have been crazy.....
 
Glad you're OK. My brother lives in Chicago, it must have been his fault.
 
Steve, did the sirens go off in the city?
I was on a confrence call with my boss yesterday afternoon, I heard an awful commotion as the storm blew through. I haven't heard back from them, so maybe I got promoted and don't know it yet? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/angel.gif
 
If the sirens went off, there's no way we would have heard it over the wind and thunder. It was a constant roar. I've been told this was a 100-year record rainfall.
 
The same storm hit us in Milwaukee, and it was really nasty, but maybe not quite as bad as you had it.

A lightning strike hit and brought down a power line in Madison, which electrocuted a woman and her two year old daughter waiting to get on a bus. Her seven-year old son was already on the bus, and turned to get off and was thrown backwards by the shock, he is in ICU, the bus driver tried to help and he was blasted as well, he is recovering, but a good samaritan on the bus got off to help and he too was killed. Tragic!

So Steve, are you working with Brangelina then? Just putting two and two together.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Oh Great. I'm in Michigan. I guess I'd better head for the root cellar [/QUOTE]
and now better be sure it's above the water table....
 
Well, major storm here right now, the sky just turned green, and the tornado sirens are going off. Maybe time to duck and cover!
Jeff
 
No joy, Barry. The NWS said it went about 10 miles north of me. Just a light sprinkle now, and a little wind.
And with my luck, the video would turn out to be one of those "The last picture they ever took" deals. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif You know, the ones like this:
Log1.jpg


Jeff
 
Steve said:
So Steve, are you working with Brangelina then? Just putting two and two together.
Click to expand...
Man I hate those "combined names for couples" things. Regardless, no I'm not working with them nor do I know anything about what those two individuals are up to. But I was on a TV production there for the past couple days. I'll be back in March or April for a couple weeks, too. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
I was just fixing to leave work when the storm hit out here. Watched the dark clouds roll in from the west, then the power went down. Was just a bad thunderstorm after that. The power never came on, so I boogied after the first wave and went to check on my parents house (didn't know if Mum was at work and figured the dog could use the company). Power out there, but came back up in an hour. Mum, dog, house, and Dad (stuck in traffic) were all fine. Dad calls a coupla minutes after power is restored:
Dad "Are you all right?"
Me "Yeh. Fine. Why?"
"I've been trying to call you for an hour! The phone just rings and rings! Why the heck didnt you answer!"
"Power's been out."
Silence.
"Right. Power's out. Power out at work too?"
"Yep."
"Right. Okay. See you in an hour."
Started to rain some more, so Mum made me stay for dinner.

Dark clouds + Heavy Rain x Dad stuck in traffic = Free Dinner!
 
We got a much needed sunny day. Some photos of the Fox River near home. Note that it has gone down some.

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The bridge at Illinois Street in St. Charles. It was being washed over this morning.

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Back side of the same bridge.

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Island Park in Geneva. I walk my dog down here sometimes. Look closely at the kid's jungle gym in the background that's now submerged.

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A shot from the opposite bank, of the Union Pacific rail bridge (and pedestrian/bicycle bridge underneath). Note how high the water is to the top of the concrete supports...

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....and compare it to this one.

-William
 
Steve said:
The same storm hit us in Milwaukee, and it was really nasty, but maybe not quite as bad as you had it.

A lightning strike hit and brought down a power line in Madison, which electrocuted a woman and her two year old daughter waiting to get on a bus. Her seven-year old son was already on the bus, and turned to get off and was thrown backwards by the shock, he is in ICU, the bus driver tried to help and he was blasted as well, he is recovering, but a good samaritan on the bus got off to help and he too was killed. Tragic!

So Steve, are you working with Brangelina then? Just putting two and two together.
Click to expand...

That happened right in front of a bank. My wife was going to stop and make a deposit just as the storm moved in and decided to drive on and stop later. It happened only a couple of minutes later.
 
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