My Near Death Experience
This past Wednesday morning, a rushing cloud engulfed a mountain.
Suddenly, the sun went away, and a brutal wind began to blast everything.
The low pressure system raced to the east for the next eight hours, barreling over the plains at over sixty miles an hour, until it landed on top of…
…Ross.
I left the Cross House around 4:30, and headed west on Highway 50. At the western edge of town, I stopped at a traffic light. The sky was dark and I knew a storm was approaching but I gave this no mind. The light turned green and I drove on.
About 100 feet later, my reality upended when all hell broke loose.
In an instant, my windshield turned opaque from rain and hail so intense that I couldn’t see in front of me. I was going 40 miles an hour. And suddenly totally blind. Terror gripped me.
I could only think of one thing: get off the road, STAT.
Because I know this stretch of road well, I knew it was adjacent to parking lots.
Without slowing (as I had a car behind me, also blinded) I jerked the wheel over to the right. Would I find a parking lot? Or a light pole in my way? Or another car? There was no way to know, but I knew it was better to chance this than to have another car slam into my rear.
Sensing that I was off the road, I braked and turned the car off.
The car was being slammed with hail.
It. Was. Terrifying.
As the storm was coming from the west, I knew it would soon slam, too, into the Cross House. I called Cody to warn him.
Then, ten minutes later it stopped just as quickly as it had started. Visibility had returned.
I was, indeed, in a parking lot. 6-inches from another car. Yikes! And about 2-feet from a building. Yikes!
I called Cody back to let him know I was OK. He could see the storm barreling towards him.
As I knew the storm would pass quickly, I stayed in place. After ten minutes I called Cody back. He was breathless.
He had just enough time to move his car under the porte-cochère. The front of the car was facing east, so only the rear of the car got slammed by the storm. (Picture by Cody, as are the two following.)
One of the larger pieces of hail.
Hail on the porch. The wind blew open the door. I have no idea how.
Save two downspout being torn off, Cody reported that the house was otherwise undamaged. So, I felt OK driving home. How had my house fared?
And…were the kitties OK?
While driving, I received a text alert. My power was off.
Turning into the driveway, all looked OK. There were no toppled tress. My huge metal storage shed (for my lights) look intact. Then I went to the back yard. Fuck.
A large portion of the protective cat fence was flat on the ground.
Not a kitty was in sight. I found them all huddled inside the winter house in the basement. Smart kitties.
The power remained off for five hours. The whole town was out. Driving around, the blackness was eerie.
Later, I wondered if the adjacent town was also without power. It was not. So, I drove to the Dollar General for emergency rations: Ice cream.
The day was surreal. One moment I was safe and with zero sense of danger.
A moment later I could have been injured or killed.
The cats, luckily, are scared of the downed fence and are avoiding it! This won’t last, of course, and I plan to repair the fence this weekend.
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I’m glad you and the kitties and Cody – and the house – are all safe. Very scary.
I’m so glad you, Cody, and the kitties are safe, as are your houses. I have been worried about you since I learned parts of Emporia received hail and parts were without power following the storm.
Here in Nebraska, the storm ripped through, with a wind gust at 93 miles an hour not far from my house. Fortunately, it missed us completely. Things really got dicey when the storm crossed into Iowa, and 6 tornadoes have been confirmed in western Iowa so far.
I’m thankful once again that you and yours and your beautiful home were spared. Sending love and hugs your way. What a terrifying experience to be caught in the storm.
That storm was a beast. I live near Wichita and I think we just caught the edge of it. I too had downspout damage. I’m so glad there was no lasting damage to your person or property. We are both luckier than so many others.
Sounds scary but glad it wasn’t tornado time. And yay for ice cream!
That was a horrible storm and tornadoes in some states. Glad you, Cody and cats are fine. It’s nerve wracking waiting out a storm like that, not knowing if there will be damage to the house or worse yet injuries to you. We live at the north end of tornado alley, we have been lucky so far. No damage to our house, only large tree branches down. My prayers go out to the people who lost their lives and also the people who lost everything. Such a trajedy.
Thank goodness you, Cody, Cross House, Carriage House and your kitties ok. Kitty fence hopefully easily repaired as well as downspouts….
Sorry all of you had to experience that. Sound really terrifying. Glad you are all safe and well.
Holy damn. It sounds like you might have borrowed a life from one of the cats.
The title of this post really made me worry. I’m so glad you and Cody and the cats are safe! What a terrifying experience.
Awful. How lucky you parked the car safely. And warning Cody was genius.
Glad the damage is minimal. I experienced a tornado many years ago in Nebraska, and the sky color was like nothing I had ever seen. The wind was around 70 mph. And the rain impossible to drive. So yeah, it is scary as hell.
So glad you all are ok.
I think the cats may have lent you a few of their lives. You were quite lucky.
Smart kitties. Those that remembered their safe zone headed there and those that weren’t familiar just followed them. Glad all are well.
Thankfully the Cross House, the Carriage House and your house escaped without damage. A fence is a small price to pay and easily mended.
My friend in Minnesota said they had tornado warnings and thunder and lightening. And after a snowstorm.
I remember being in a storm like that when I was 12. We were vacationing in Germany and my Dad was driving us on the autobahn (where there was no speed limit) and suddenly it started to rain and it got worse, huge raindrops and lots of them and then it was so dense it was like someone was pouring buckets of water from the sky. You could not see out the windshield the rain was so heavy. Thankfully no hail and it did accelerate rapidly rather than happen suddenly. My Dad finally did slow down and pull over but I remember it being very scary as you couldn’t see anything out the windshield and I was in the front seat. Your narrative brought it all back to me.
It makes one wonder just what all types of weather events the Cross House has withstood over all of its lifespan. If only walls could talk, what a tale that could be!! Thankfully, it and its caregivers AND its resident kitties are all okay! Stay safe.
Ross, regarding the opened front door of the Cross House, perhaps the house guardian went outside to protect its zone. You, Cody and the kitties are well-protected by Lady Fortune.
So glad you guys are ok. I live in mid-western Iowa. Got the storm also, but don’t think hail (altho it sounded like it), lost power for 20 min, altho brother at farm was out til Thurs nite. It was intense and town’s tornado siren went off. Was a little anxious because my town had been hit with a tornado in 2011 so was listening for the silence and then roaring train sound. Glad that didn’t happen. This is DECEMBER!!!! :/
Exactly. I thought tornados were a warm weather thing. I asked my friend in Minnesota about it. She said because of climate change there was some warm air hitting cold air and thus, tornados in December. They usually miss her house but she has seen funnel clouds in the distance from it.
We live within 25 miles of where the tornado wiped out the Amazon facility and killed at least 6 workers here in Illinois. It was weird to hear thunder in December!!
Surprising terrible weather everywhere it seems.
Glad you and the kitties were o.k.
We are about 100 miles SE, Linda, and just NE of the Paducah/Mayfield area which was hit by a horrific tornado that night… Our niece lives in Mayfield and the tornado missed them by only 4 blocks; a young couple they know lost a child, an elderly couple from their church both died. The historic downtown area was heavily damaged… No one expects these things in December; it seemed surreal…our street all lit up with Christmas decorations and lights while sirens blare… we had no damage other than a couple of limbs down.
I’m glad you or the kitties didn’t die.
That indeed was a nasty storm. It took us until late this summer to get all the repairs done we needed! I am hopeful as i read forward that no west facing stain glass nor that lovely curved window were damaged. We had holes the size of limes in our siding.