Much earlier today I was peering out the window at the teeming rain and willing it to stop so I could go for a walk. The torrential stream finally abated, but the spigot continued to trickle so I made a second cup of coffee and sat down to write this post. It’s probably better for my allergies anyway. Last night I shut off the lights at 9:00 p.m. since I figured the neighbors with their incessant fireworks would be taking the night off due to the weather, so why not treat myself to an earlier bedtime? I woke up early this morning and put on my radio headphones then curled up in bed to catch up on what happened with the devechon that was expected to wreak havoc through the Midwest, including parts of southeast Michigan. Luckily, it appears it subsided in strength and velocity and ended up being a “flooding event” instead – well, flooding is no picnic either. I checked my basement and it was bone dry as it usually is since the sewer basins were repaired in the early 90s. Before that, however, our house had massive flood damage in the late 60s. Unfortunately, in August of 1969, my father had taken me to Germany to visit his relatives and my mom and grandmother were left here alone for three weeks. It stormed the first night and the sewer water flooded the basement up to the bottom step. The neighbor across the street came over to help pump out the mess and my mom and grandmother spent the next three weeks getting rid of the soiled and saturated rugs, pulling up tiles and when the water was completely gone, they had to wash the basement wall with straight bleach and then repaint it.

I read up on the term “devechon” yesterday; the definition seemed similar to an event we had here in the early 80s where we had straight-line, high-velocity winds that did a lot of damage Downriver. We were without power during a scorching mid-July. Many small and spindly trees in the Fort Street median sustained wind damage and were forevermore bent over, their thin stakes having been useless to support them in the high wind. Many, if not most of them, were eventually cut down. I remember our lawn needed cutting and you could see how the winds had blown through and just flattened the grass as if hair pomade had been combed down and slicked through it. I was working at a law firm downtown and our offices were on the 11th floor. The high-velocity winds caught the corner office and blew out most of the windows. As the wind raged, it was scattering the senior partner’s files, paperwork and mementoes around the office as well as whipping most of those items right out the window as we watched in horror. The soaking rain poured into the office doing significant damage to the carpet and curtains. At home we had no power for over a week. The power was out during the week of the Wyandotte Street Fair and thousands flocked to that street festival to find the stores were devoid of cool air and many shops never even opened. No one had a generator in place. There were very few street vendors as well. I Googled to see if there was anything on file about this horrid weather event. I was surprised to find a huge write-up and it was indeed categorized as a derecho. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/stories/1980derecho.php.

So this morning, I’m feeling very grateful that we sustained no damage and dodged this weather bullet. Devastating natural disasters always fill me with dread and sadness upon hearing the aftermath – I will keep these people in my prayers after their whole world has been rocked.