Doreen, please share your safety report

[judih]

I know there were huge storms. I know you're still breathing. so, can you share what happened? what's happening?

[Doreen Peri]

My family and I are safe and sound here, thank you, judih.

BIG huge crack in the sky, Friday night. Lights went out, came back on, another huge BOOM... all electricity went out. The winds sounded like they were going to blow the house down. Quite intense! I went out on the front porch to watch (probably a stupid thing to do). One of my housemates kept telling me to come back in but I'd never seen anything like it before and boy, we weren't in Kansas any more! I'd go in and out and watch from inside and out and trees were blowing, the lightning was getting closer and I could hear not only thunder but trees cracking. Was sorta scared the very big oak in my backyard would fall on my house. Another part of me wanted lightning to hit the house and kill me so I wouldn't have to worry about paying for it any more. Haha. (joke)

It seemed to last a couple of hours and then it was calm and I was able to sleep. When I woke up, I went outside and saw trees had fallen on top of two of my neighbor's cars. I was luckier. Only one big branch fell off the oak and landed on my fence without even damaging the fence.

Over a million people lost electricity. I just got mine back today but I think still a half of a million people still don't have any in the DC/Northern VA/Maryland area. Many businesses have been closed. Many street lights out, etc.

I missed all the reports on the news since I had no power. It was hot... over 100 degrees F. ... so I was on a search for ice to try to save my food from the fridge. I lost a lot of it. I could only find ice one day out of the 3 we had electricity.

I heard on the news that 13 people in the DC/VA/MD area lost their lives from either trees falling, electrical lines, or heat exhaustion. I don't know all the stories yet. I've never seen a storm come in that quickly and strongly before. Many people lost their cars and homes. My heart goes out to all the people who lost so much!

I feel very lucky! I drank a lot of water for 3 days and was reading a book called "You are what you think". I was thinking I was lucky!

Thanks for asking.

[Doreen Peri]

They called it a Derecho storm. I'd never heard that term before.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/derecho-storm- ... d=16696593

[judih]

unbelievable. how lucky you were - thankfully
i'm off to check out your link.