A Rather Blustery Day

Things were pretty windy around our parts at the end of last week. Wednesday (Nov. 30), Kyle came home from work and said we were supposed to be getting some hurricane force winds that evening and early Thursday morning, winds of about 75 mph. Growing up in the Tri-Cities, Washington, where I swear it’s windy practically everyday, strong and fast winds are no big deal. So, I naturally didn’t think a whole lot of it. Apparently I should have been more concerned.

At 8 am on Thursday (Dec. 1) our power went out. Just after Kyle left for work. Hailey and I spent our day with no electricity, which during the day really wasn’t a huge deal. For the beginning part of the morning I was wondering if I should call the power company to be sure they knew our power was out. Totally clueless me. No electricity meant no computer, which meant no internet, which meant no clue to what really happened overnight. Hailey had a friend come over that morning. From her friend’s mom, I began to slowly piece together what really happened. I learned that there were streets blocked off in both Bountiful and Centerville due to downed trees and power lines, and both cities were without power.

Later Kyle texted and said there had actually been gusts in Centerville up to 102 mph! Way faster and stronger than I was expecting. Seriously, no wonder we didn’t have power.

That afternoon Hailey and I ventured outside to take out the garbage. Our neighbor was outside and motioned toward the front of our complex and mentioned that there was a free Christmas tree over there if we wanted it. This is what he was referring to: 

This huge pine tree had been totally uprooted from the wind! I couldn’t believe it. So, naturally Hailey and I went and checked it out and took pictures.

And then we went in our yard and played in the leaves.

That night we were left without power. Kyle came home from work and found Hailey and I sitting in the dark in the kitchen. I had totally forgotten that our stove is gas, and I didn’t know how to light the pilot light on our gas fireplace. Once Kyle got things turned on our apartment quickly heated back up. The three of us camped out in the living room until the power came on Friday morning at 2:30. It was a total of 18.5 hours without power. Which I felt fortunate that was all it was. Our bishop’s house was without power until Saturday evening.

I was still totally clueless to the destruction that took place in our area. In the next few days after being able to drive around and run errands I saw many trees just like ours that had been uprooted, power lines knocked down, shingles and mailboxes scattered, large store signs missing their fronts…

Go to this KSL.com article and scroll about half way down and click on the photo gallery to see many more pictures of the destruction.

On Sunday Kyle and I received a few phone calls alerting us of another wind making it’s way towards us that evening. We were told that all meetings, except for sacrament meeting, were cancelled so we could all work to clean up any remaining debris before the new winds hit. There was a fear that anything left out may become airborne and cause more damage. Sacrament meeting was a little more scarce than normal and some people showed up in work clothes. Driving to sacrament meeting, it was amazing to see all of the people out working hard to clean up all of the trees. There was a constant hum of chainsaws going and plenty of traffic up and down the street from big trucks hauling away tree stumps and branches. After sacrament meeting Kyle put on his work clothes and head out to help out. He said it got to the point that there were so many people helping that it was hard to get in and get things done. There were almost too many people. It’s just awesome to me that so many people could come together so quickly to help each other out.

We were definitely reminded of who is really in charge and were humbled by the strength winds really do carry. The windstorm that was due to hit Sunday evening subsided and wasn’t as strong as it was thought to be. And we’re all thankful for that.

This weekend I continually thought of how much worse things could have been. I thought of all of the victims of the terrible tornados that tore through our country this summer. Mother Nature’s power is outstanding. We’re glad everyone around us was ok, and no seriously major damage was done.