Sudden Darkness

We were in the path of that crazy storm that swept through Houston Thursday evening, May 16^th. We had been walking the dog, and had stopped to talk with a neighbor for a while, taking more time than we’d planned. So I suggested we cut the walk short, head back through the park, and on home, instead of our full couple of miles.

Downed tree limbs were everywhere. We escaped even that damage.
Our big oak tree had been trimmed with air flow in mind, and it stayed intact.

We were on the home stretch when our phones both got the emergency notice: tornado warning. Take shelter. It was overcast but not scary looking around us. Sometimes when there are tornado conditions, the sky and air around us starts to look green. This didn’t seem that unusual. We stopped at the mailbox and got home, but we didn’t hurry.

After we got home, Mr. Spherical Model wanted to show me the system he’d just set up that morning for the tomato vines, in the back yard. About a minute after we got inside, the storm hit. Strong winds, sudden darkness. It was crazy.

We took a minute, right there at the back door, to pray for protection.

The lights went out.

Plastic business signs did not fare well. This Sonic got hit twice; right in front,
and then, around the corner theirs was the only one take out.

I wasn’t feeling any panic. Usually when there’s a warning, I feel like sheltering in the tiny half bath, the windowless room you’re supposed to seek. I didn’t really feel the need, maybe because we’ve been through so many warnings over the years and really never saw anything. Well, we did see plenty in hurricanes Rita, Ike, and Harvey. But that was wind and water, not swirling wind. And there was a tornado warning up at Political Sphere’s house a few years ago, while we were visiting, so we ended up with the kids in their center bathroom. I was kind of worried that day, maybe because I didn’t feel the security of my own home.

Anyway, this latest storm didn’t appear swirling either; winds appeared horizontal straight, mostly, with some hard gusts along with a lot of strong steady wind, more like a hurricane. In the back yard, the wind was going north. It pushed our grill off the deck. It wasn’t a rolling grill; it was on a wooden frame (we inherited this as is from a neighbor when they were moving). The whole thing was picked up and dumped. We may recover it fully useful eventually, but we haven’t worked on that yet.

In the front yard later, we found branches from our neighbor to the north. So the wind must have been spinning—to be heading south in front of the house while heading north in the back. Probably there was swirling right over us that we couldn’t perceive.

Fallen power polls contributed to the power outages.

We have a large shed in back, and it was fine. As were the tomatoes, probably because of the new system to string them up, which gave them support. There was another small shed at the corner of the house, for a few standing tools and such. It got lifted up and moved a couple of feet, still upright.

Later, talking with neighbors, we learned that the house across the street from us had a metal shed in back that was lifted up over the back fence and landed two houses down, completely crushed.

A tree went down a half block away. And at first I thought, luckily it didn’t land on their roof. But then I saw it had landed on their car. Ouch! Later I learned that it landed on their three cars. Super ouch!

Mostly that’s the kind of damage we saw. Limbs and branches down in yards. Some fences down. A neighbor on the corner lost quite a few roof shingles, and another one in the neighborhood had blue tarps on their roof when we drove past after a couple of days.

The aftermath felt similar to after Hurricane Ike, but without the water damage. There was rain with this storm, but it was so brief, it wasn’t the multiple inches of rain we can get in a tropical storm or just a bad rainy day. This storm probably lasted only ten minutes. Maybe it was longer, but it seemed to pass surprisingly quickly. Like a tornado. Which, it turns out it was.

They’re calling it a derecho, which is an inland hurricane. We had winds up to 100 miles per hour here, with some gusts up to 110. And there were a couple of tornados that touched down, further northwest from here. Whatever whirled past us was more strong horizontal wind, with some hooking.

It’s unclear to me what hit downtown Houston. But it blew out skyscraper windows, raining debris all over the streets. I’ve only seen news photos; we haven’t ventured downtown.

Two views of Wells Fargo Plaza, downtown Houston,
screenshots from Instagram reel, found on Facebook 

The real challenge has been the loss of power. The power went out about 6:00 PM Thursday.

I had been about make dinner. We have a gas stove, so fortunately I’ve been able to cook. (Yet another reason not to let the Biden administration outlaw gas stoves.)

We’ve had a generator since Ike, when we were without power for eight days. My husband set it up Friday morning, to maintain our fridge and freezer mostly. We can also recharge phones and other devices. My phone is old, so it loses a charge pretty quick.

Fences were frequent casualties.

It’s very inconvenient to get email on my phone (because of the setup to categorize and save emails on my computer). And we have no internet. So I didn’t see emails until Saturday afternoon, when Mr. Spherical Model set up a temporary hot spot, giving me just enough time to download. I wasn’t able to send any.

Our internet company estimated we would get service back Thursday or so; I wonder if they’ll refund us a quarter of our monthly bill.

CenterPoint Energy, who is doing all the repairs, was cautious about giving estimates. Original counts were about half a million customers without power in downtown Houston, and another 300,000 or so in the Hwy 290 corridor, which includes us. There are some other areas as well: Katy (directly west of Houston, southwest from here), Fairfield and Tomball (both further north and west from here), and some south and south east areas. All told, over a million customers lost power.

We cheered whenever we saw these trucks.
That meant restored power is on the way.

Friday I was planning on grocery shopping, so we were inconveniently low on a lot of things. We tried Kroger first, the one a mile down the road. We were surprised to find it open. But it was nonperishables only. We were able to get a few fruits and vegetables, but not my normal supply.

Hurray for more utility workers!

This was a week for larger shopping at Sam’s Club. I didn’t think we’d find much. But from a little below Hwy 290 the traffic lights were working, and a Starbucks was open. They had power. Crossing 290, it was like nothing had happened. So we got our shopping done there almost as usual.

More fences down.

Saturday afternoon we ventured out further, to get an idea of what had happened where. Power was a bit further south, toward us then. We drove up toward Willowbrook Mall; after our zone of power outage, the world was going on as if nothing had happened. No plant debris in the roads. No demolished business signs. We went into the mall and walked around to get air conditioned for a bit.

Then we went further toward town on 290, exiting before the 610 loop. (Houston is laid out with circles and spokes. The inner circle is the 610 loop; Beltway 8 is the circle outside of that. 290 is one of the spokes, passing through the circles toward downtown.) I got the impression that there was this path—west to east, probably from Waller and Cypress, straight over us, and on into downtown. That main path was maybe five miles wide from north to south. The debris told you where that was. And the power outages also told the story—although pockets are getting their power back. The extensive area without power related to the transmission towers that got toppled.

Some areas seemed t get all the types of damage.

On Sunday church was canceled. Our building actually got power Saturday night, but so many people in the congregation didn’t have power, getting to church was going to be a challenge. I understand they turned our church parking lot into a station to give out water and ice.

Our church parking lot became a water and ice center.
Photo from Facebook

We did a little church meeting with a friend. Then we took our dog for a drive further out 290 and back through neighborhoods. We saw the transmission towers that were knocked over. I heard there was a demolished house in Towne Lake or Bridgeland area, but we didn’t see that. Mostly it was the debris like we saw near us. Unlike a hurricane, where an entire area is affected, this was oddly limited to that swath that we happened to be in the middle of.

I left town for the Republican Party of Texas Convention on Monday (temporary committees are underway). So I’m in air conditioning now. Mr. Spherical Model stayed home and maintained the generator, and took care of the dog.

Entrance to the exhibit hall for the RPT Convention, which
gets fully underway on Thursday. Monday through Wednesday
are the temporary committee hearings.

Our power was restored Tuesday evening between 7:00 and 8:00. That was five full days, plus an hour or two.

One of the things I thought, during the ordeal, was how instantaneously everything can change. This was a long time without power—but we were 8 days without power after Ike. It was rough sleeping when we couldn’t get the house under 84 degrees. It’s hard to plan, and cook, and clean. Everything takes thought, nothing automatic.

And then there’s work. When much of what you produce is digital—and you can’t even see it, let alone make progress on it, that’s a reminder of how different our lives are than when pioneers settled here.

I also was thinking about that scripture in Revelation that says Babylon will fall in a day. It would take more than a 5-10-mile swath. But the destructive power of nature can be very sudden and swift.

A podcaster talking on last days mentioned our storm, noting that it was at Pentecost, when the Spirit came as a mighty wind. Significant for our day? I don’t know. Maybe we ought to take just about everything as a sign or reminder that we need to depend on the Lord in all things, and not wait to turn to Him sometime later, when we get around to it. Because, you never know when the lights might go out on the world as we know it. And we will want to know where to turn for Light.