Stormy Weather and its aftermath

 

When I was awakened the other morning, it sounded like golf ball sized hail was hitting my roof.  Yet, it also sounder like something was trying to pull the roof off of our building.  It was a sound that I've never heard before, and one I hope not to hear again.

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The other day, the weather report said that there was an area of severe weather heading from Texas and about to hit New York sometime in the overnight hours.  Well, the weather came, but just as the sun would normally come up.  As illustrated in the photo above, the winds were strong enough to blow a tree down and into our fence.  After the storm, we had to contract for emergency work to keep this now dead tree from damaging our building, but we will need to perform repair work on the fence as well.  (Thankfully, we completed work n the retaining wall last year.  I'd hate to see what could have happened if the wall wasn't in good shape.)

I eventually went outside to pick RQS up at the station, there was a big puddle of water near our dumpsters.  There was never this much water there before.  Looking closer, it seemed like Mother Nature had blown all of the leaves off the trees and deposited them in our driveway/parking lot.  When I reached my car, I had to take a few minutes to scoop leaves off my car before it could be driven.  As I drove to the station, I found a traffic light lying in the middle of a busy intersection.  The winds must have been very strong, since I've never seen this happen in my area.

Given that this is a holiday weekend and that there was a home day game at the Stadium, RQS's train was packed.  People were standing in the aisle.  And, befitting the day, the train was late.  Too bad that I couldn't have shown RQS the downed traffic light.  But I was very thankful that my building was structurally intact, and relatively unscathed, although I can't say this for the building next door, as it had water damage due to the storm.  Yes, the dumpster puddle still remained, as the fallen leaves were blocking the drain.  But that can be cleared with minor effort.  I just wonder what surprises will come next....