Mischief Monday - Florence

We are trying to imagine what kind of storm Florence was at her peak, because her tail end packed one heck of a punch to our region. Friday afternoon, 2 tornados hit our area (Ottawa-Gatineau Region), leaving a wake of destruction. The first was an EF-3 and the second an EF-2. As of now, there have been no reported deaths, 6 people are critically injured, and hundreds of homes are damaged and destroyed. 

I got to drive home, slightly east of the worst of the storm at the end of it. It was a wild drive home, with street lights out, downpours, flooding streets, amazing wind. It will probably be my favourite drive home ever, because I am a complete lover of this type of storm. In another life, I would have been a storm chaser. It is a funny thing because I spend most of my life being anxious and afraid of everything, everything except huge rain storms!

As the storm broke

Our place was minimally effected. We lost power for 25 hours. (Others will be days as a transformer blew away). Those who have followed us for a long time may remember when we first moved into this house 6 years ago, we went 72 hours in the winter followed by 95 hours in the summer without power. We then spent $3000 to have a generator panel installed and to purchase a generator. While it can't run the whole house, we have water (we live on a well), the fridge, freezer, and the heat, lights, internet etc. down stairs. We could live quite comfortably for some time.  My ancient iPad (which had been my Dad's) appears to be the only thing damaged during the storm. I had left it charging and I am guessing the power surged when it went out, and fried it. The new one will be here in 3-7 days. 

While the dogs were both a little nervous with the winds and no power, they did great. Hailey slept well once we closed the windows so she couldn't hear the wind as well.

That is how we started autumn at our place!

Hailey chil'axing the morning after the storm