Satruday morning Tom left for Milwaukee to spend the day with Bob Mitchell, and I went to work. The weather report said possible severe weather later in the day.
About 1:15, the boss called to say the weather radio reported a severe strom headed at us with golfball sized hail. I took off for home to get the car in the garage, turned on the weather channel and started filling pots and pans with water. I got some food and water, the weather radio and extra batteries, books and flashlights and headed for the basement just as the power went out. We stayed under a tornado warning until after 8:00, and I spent much of the afternoon and evening in the basement.
Tom drove back through torrential rain and got home safely about 9:30. Trees were down and the roads were beginning to flood in places. I had lit the oil lamps and was reading by flashlight. Of course, since we have a well, we had no water, but that was why I had filled pots and pans. At least we could flush toilets.
Power came back on about 5:00 a.m.
Sunday ... Well, here is an excerpt from the local paper:
We ran two trains Sunday, one for the staff to go look over the damage along the rails where Tom and the others had spent several hours clearing trees off the tracks. HUGE trees, some uprooted completely. It was beautiful to see all the waterfalls and the streams looking like rivers. Another wave of storms came through, so we shut down and I went home again.
Storms threatening tornados Saturday caused minor damage throughout Sauk County. Trees were down throughout the county, some taking out power lines.
The National Weather Service reported that the Baraboo area had received more than 12 inches of precipitation from Saturday through 7:15 p.m. Sunday.
Rock Springs firefighters who planned to be playing softball and grilling brats all weekend at their annual celebration were instead helping pump residents' basements after flooding that began Saturday evening and continued Sunday.
"We started playing volleyball (Saturday)," said Rock Springs Fire Chief Mark Weihing. "Pretty soon it turned to mud volleyball."
After the second tornado warning halted play, the party was over, Weihing said.
He said numerous basements in the Reedsburg area were flooded Sunday.
A 20-foot section of the Lake Redstone Dam in LaValle was damaged, and the Sauk County Sheriff's Department issued a no wake order on the lake to prevent further damage.
Jelinek said state dam experts were called in for consultation.
"It's an earthen dam and some of it is sloping in, but it's of no concern to the experts at this point," he said.
During Saturday storms, campers from the Baraboo Hills Campground and others were given shelter at the Baraboo Fire Department until the end of the second tornado warning Saturday.
The American Red Cross opened a shelter in Reedsburg at Pine View Elementary School Sunday evening.
Farmers already facing tough conditions this year are expected to be hurt by the heavy rain, as standing water covered sprouting crops in many fields.
"The planting time was already delayed this year on the crops," said Sauk County Farm Bureau President Rodney Seamens. "Most all of us have already got water holes you've got to go around."
Today's forecast calls for heavy rain and a chance of thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.
[The photo is of a scene in Baraboo, where more flooding is expected later this week.]
The pond near us had overflowed and washed out part of the road. Birchwood Road was under water in a few places, with the water flowing like a river over the top. The slogan is "Turn around; don't drown." Just a few inches of running water can wash a car into a flooded ditch. So alternate routes was the theme of the day.
John and Liz and the kids had arrived after braving terrible storms to get out of Chicago. The rain was pouring, the kids were restless and it made for a boisterous evening.
This morning the rain has stopped -- for now, at least -- and the Sjaastads have now headed north. Within seconds of the kids leaving, the cats reappeared to reconnoiter.
We are now trying to restore a semblance of order before Michelangelo arrives this afternoon.
PS -- I'm glad Tom got that picture of the irises when he did. They took quite a beating in the storms.
1 comment:
I hope the weather and your situation have improved at present.
Cris
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