swanie
08-08-2008, 10:23 AM
So, we have a little secret here in Arizona. Summers bring our monsoon season. Sometimes we have dust storms, sometimes light rain, sometimes it is a bigger thunderstorm. It isn't uncommon to have hail and 60 mph winds in some of the bigger storms.
Last night we had one hell of a storm. As far as we can figure, a microburst hit our neighborhood...
About 8:00 last night the whole family was hanging out watching TV before bed. All of a sudden, the air pressure dropped. I grabbed my ears and turned to mr. swanie who was doing the same. I asked him if he could feel it and he said the pressure dropped and it was giving him a headache.
About 30 seconds later...KABLAMMMM! We could hear rumbling getting closer and then it sounded (and felt) like a freight train hitting our house. We jumped up and closed all of our shutters and had the kids move into the middle of the living room. The house and windows were shaking like it was an earthquake. Then we could hear debris hitting the house and horrible cracking noises (which we assume were the neighborhood trees snapping). At one point Mr. Swanie looked toward the front door and we had water coming in under it. The crazy thing is, our front door is sheltered but the wind was driving the rain with such force it managed to still get in.
About 10:30 when things finally settled down, we were able to survey the damage. All of our patio furniture as well as a large resin pool box was thrown into the pool and the storm knocked down our new willow tree. Luckily it didn't snap so we were able to tie it up to a stake. Some of our other neighbors weren't as lucky. There are trees up and down the street that have simply snapped in half. Some have taken down block walls, others couldn't get out of their driveways this morning.
One of my neighbors across the street said he was watching his backyard and was relieved that he didn't have any damage. Imagine his surprise when he discovered his iron gate ripped off its hinges and this downed tree this morning...
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17/swan0805/Monsoon%20Season%202008/IMG_7769.jpg
Here are a few more...
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17/swan0805/Monsoon%20Season%202008/IMG_7768.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17/swan0805/Monsoon%20Season%202008/IMG_7766.jpg
Another one of my neighbors said it blew apart his resin pool boxes. He's an Arizona native and said he's never experienced anything like it before. One of his boxes is a huge slider box that is filled with bikes and equipment. It managed to pick it up and move it down the side of the house.
Also, in a funny side story...as we are all congregating outside trading war stories, we see this landscaper truck zipping around the street. Every so many houses he was screeching to a halt and a guy was jumping out and running to the door. We started talking to him and he said there is virtually no damage north of us, but in our little community every 3rd house or so has damage. He said he was sorry...but it was good for business. They were leaving business cards on the damaged homes doors. :)
We're just thankful that there was only property damage around here. Even as late as 10:30 last night all you could hear were sirens. This morning we have the lovely hum of chainsaws from every direction. From the looks of it, every one of the husbands on our street is home trying to clean up their mess.
Ms. L. just woke up so we're going to go for a little drive to see what else we can find.
swanie
Last night we had one hell of a storm. As far as we can figure, a microburst hit our neighborhood...
About 8:00 last night the whole family was hanging out watching TV before bed. All of a sudden, the air pressure dropped. I grabbed my ears and turned to mr. swanie who was doing the same. I asked him if he could feel it and he said the pressure dropped and it was giving him a headache.
About 30 seconds later...KABLAMMMM! We could hear rumbling getting closer and then it sounded (and felt) like a freight train hitting our house. We jumped up and closed all of our shutters and had the kids move into the middle of the living room. The house and windows were shaking like it was an earthquake. Then we could hear debris hitting the house and horrible cracking noises (which we assume were the neighborhood trees snapping). At one point Mr. Swanie looked toward the front door and we had water coming in under it. The crazy thing is, our front door is sheltered but the wind was driving the rain with such force it managed to still get in.
About 10:30 when things finally settled down, we were able to survey the damage. All of our patio furniture as well as a large resin pool box was thrown into the pool and the storm knocked down our new willow tree. Luckily it didn't snap so we were able to tie it up to a stake. Some of our other neighbors weren't as lucky. There are trees up and down the street that have simply snapped in half. Some have taken down block walls, others couldn't get out of their driveways this morning.
One of my neighbors across the street said he was watching his backyard and was relieved that he didn't have any damage. Imagine his surprise when he discovered his iron gate ripped off its hinges and this downed tree this morning...
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17/swan0805/Monsoon%20Season%202008/IMG_7769.jpg
Here are a few more...
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17/swan0805/Monsoon%20Season%202008/IMG_7768.jpg
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff17/swan0805/Monsoon%20Season%202008/IMG_7766.jpg
Another one of my neighbors said it blew apart his resin pool boxes. He's an Arizona native and said he's never experienced anything like it before. One of his boxes is a huge slider box that is filled with bikes and equipment. It managed to pick it up and move it down the side of the house.
Also, in a funny side story...as we are all congregating outside trading war stories, we see this landscaper truck zipping around the street. Every so many houses he was screeching to a halt and a guy was jumping out and running to the door. We started talking to him and he said there is virtually no damage north of us, but in our little community every 3rd house or so has damage. He said he was sorry...but it was good for business. They were leaving business cards on the damaged homes doors. :)
We're just thankful that there was only property damage around here. Even as late as 10:30 last night all you could hear were sirens. This morning we have the lovely hum of chainsaws from every direction. From the looks of it, every one of the husbands on our street is home trying to clean up their mess.
Ms. L. just woke up so we're going to go for a little drive to see what else we can find.
swanie