When new shoe runs go bad...

More Storm Disaster Photos

As many of you know, last Friday Omaha was hit by a storm that was equipped with straight line winds that tore a good section of Omaha a new one. Wind speeds were clipped anywhere from 90-120 mph accompanied by a ridiculous amount of rain in a very short time period. It was amazing.

I was chatting online  with the Jer and procrastinating a run that evening when I decided to get it over with. As I put on my new running kicks and a my new multi-panel running hat, that keeps my head from frying like an egg, I looked at the radar online. There was a storm approaching but it was still way outside of town. I thought,"I've got time to put in a 6 miler before it hits" and told Jer that I "am gonna go get my run in before the storm hits." I stepped out the door, hit the START button on my watch and pounded down the hill. I was about a block an a half away and felt a small drizzle of rain and started to think this maybe was not the best idea. 

My mind was made up only a few feet later when a gust of wind that nearly took off my new hat and sand blasted my bare chest (and nippies!) with more sand than I cared for. If that wasn't enough, two trees in the park I was beside snapped and toppled to the ground. I spun on my heals and double timed it back to the front porch. 

My crazy neighbors were on it checkin' things out and no sooner to my arrival, the air began to fill with small debris and the wind blew the furniture off the porch. Eric and his room mates emerged from across the street on to their porch and we waved at each other like a couple of school girls returning from summer vacation. I, still in my cute running outfit, pranced across the dampening street and was topping out on their stairs when the wind went all crazy banshee on us. A limp fell onto a fan I just pranced by and as we all stared as my house across the street literally became to disappear with  the sheer density of debris and rain.

There was a loud crack from behind Eric's house as the tree in his back yard snapped and attempted to hurdle the house. Unfortunately, it didn't and smashed the side of his roof and house and landed literally right beside us at the front of his house. Acting again like little school girls, we scampered into the house and into the basement for safety. 

Waiting only moments, Eric and I returned upstairs and found that someone had built a makeshift shower in his kitchen in the form of a huge hole in his roof. We grabbed pots and pans and coolers to collect the water that was rapidly accumulating on his hard wood floor.

I went back outside and watched as the storm began to calm down. 

I borrowed some flip flops, which I have yet to return, and fjord-ed across the street to my place to change, grab a rain coat and my F-stop bag filled with all my camera gear. It worked wonders walking around the neighbor hood as well as biking. The rest is in the photos. 

I was lucky enough to only be without power for about 20 hours. Out of the said 130,000 + that had their power knocked out I think only a few thousand are still without this evening.