The first hint was about 3 am Friday morning. As a storm went through the power went out for a couple of minutes then blinked for a couple more minutes but then was fine all day.
So when we went off for the evening everything was fine. However, coming back home, when we turned onto Rockford Road we found this:
What color is our traffic light?
No color at all, right? Even less last night because the street lights were out, too. So you couldn’t even see there was a traffic light at that corner. Only the people who already knew it was there stopped to check for other traffic. Not a good sign.
We passed several of these wondering what the situation would be when we reached home. Again, not good.
No power in our entire neighborhood. Everything beyond our headlights dark.
But, our apartment management was on the ball. They propped open just a titch every door into the complex. Because, of course, none of our electronic keys worked.
So I dug into my carryall for my flashlight. And Dave set his iPhone to flashlight mode. And we climbed the two flights of steps up to our apartment where I lit our two huge emergency candles.
The stove clock said the power went out about 8:45 pm. It was now about midnight. I ate my midnight meal by candlelight but it didn’t feel particularly romantic.
When I went to bed I plugged in my electronics hoping the power would be back on before I got up and things would be recharging.
No such luck. So I plugged my iPad into my laptop and used the laptop’s power to recharge the iPad. With no power our DSL modem didn’t work so my iPad was the best way to get online while I waited for Dave to get up.
Yes, I was up and he was sleeping. Turns out he’d been up during the night so was back in bed making up for lost time.
Once he got up we started talking about what to do about no power. An article in the Star Tribune said the power company hoped to have power restored to everyone by noon Monday. MONDAY?!!!
So we went out for breakfast then started moving into the RV where we could, at least, use my solar power to recharge our electronics. While sitting here doing this, our power came back on. Saturday about 5:45 pm. Guess we can go back home now.
In the meantime here’s some pictures I took of damage we saw while out driving. These are mostly the results of high winds. One gust was measured at 69 mph.
Our street covered by debris:
Uprooted tree across the street from us:
Tree down across the sidewalk on our street:
Tree broken off part way up its trunk:
One of many vehicles hauling away some of the mess:
But, we have power again. And we were so glad to have my RV to retreat to in the meantime. LIfe is still good.
TTYL,
Linda
such beautiful big green trees lost to the storm.
just glad that’s ALL that was lost! I’ve been watching how the thunderstorms marched northeast.
glad to know you’re okay.
nice to have that cozy little rv around for emergencies now!
Looks like a big storm for sure. Glad no one was hurt with all those lights out.
Wow! You really did have a storm. Glad it’s behind you and there was no damage to you and yours.
The refuge lost power for about eight hours from that same storm. My generator got a good workout. 😉
I was wondering how you guys were faring in the storms. Glad to hear no damage other than no power. We’ve had lots of wind but haven’t lost any power so far. But Jim has the generator ready, just in case.
Glad it wasn’t any worse for ya’ll. Sounds like it was one hell of a storm! RVs are great aren’t they!
The street lights being out at night do sound pretty dangerous!
Glad you’re safe.