Texas Had a BAD Week

Corner of our house at bottom left.

Like much of the country, Texas has had a bad few weeks.

First there was torrential rains that flooded much of East Texas and sent rivers and creeks out of their banks.

Then came the smoke from fires in Mexico and Central America. At first, I thought we'd suddenly developed a Los Angeles case of smog.

The air quality hit the red zone everywhere from the Valley at the southern tip of the state to the Dallas area. Anyone with respiratory problems was advised to stay inside.

Strike 3 was last Thursday when a storm ripped through the state from west of Austin all the way across the Gulf Coast area and on into Louisiana, wreaking havoc everywhere it touched.

ELECTRICITY DIED

 Our power went off before the torrential rains and 60 mile per hour winds plowed through the Houston area around dinner time. It was an incredibly fast storm front. Looking out the back windows in my house, it was black as midnight. Walking to the front of the house and looking out, it was still daylight. Then the wind slammed against the back of our house. I literally jumped. 

When the storm passed and daylight returned, we went outside to check our generator. The picture above shows our house—with a giant pine tree leaning over our yard, threatening our house. The tree was not in our yard, but in our neighbor's yard.

Image by Peter H from Pixabay

PINES CAN BE DANGEROUS

Darling Hubby immediately walked around to our neighbor's house. Fortunately they were home. 

Even better, they'd noticed the tree and had gone outside to check it. The pine had begun to uproot. I think the tree in front of it was holding it in place.

Our wonderful neighbors had already contacted a tree service that promised to be out the next morning to remove the tree. We slept in the media room near the front of the house that night—not in the bedroom in the direct path of the tree.

True to their word, the tree cutters showed up and removed the tree. 

Watching a guy with a chain saw hanging from his belt climb all the way to the top of a 50+ feet tall pine that's partially uprooted was nerve-racking. They got it down, section by section. It took all morning.

We were lucky. Not so lucky are the more than 100,000 homes still without power. Not so lucky is the area just north of the Houston downtown business district that was struck by a  tornado spawned from the storm. The aftermath there looked like a war zone.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

So many towns in our country have suffered greatly from tornadoes and floods this year. My thoughts and prayers go out to you all.