Freak hail storm

Many of you already know about our freak storms this week. I just seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time many times. Don and the kids had left school for home(no one had practice that day) and I stayed to meet with our superintendent after her visit to Apollo that day. Then, I went to my classroom to gather some papers for grading. As I was sitting at my computer, the hail cloud seemed to hit out of no where. The rain water was actually pouring in like an ugly waterfall from the top INSIDE of my door and down to the carpet. I rushed over to my closet to pull out anything I had to stop the downpour; at the same time, water began to seep in under the door as well. This was quite a freaky sight. As I shoved my Cruella deVil costume, a basketball towel and a down blanket into the door, I realized the flowing water was about three inches from my computer and SMARTBoard wires! I grabbed the umbrella, threw all the cords in there and began plugging the door when there was a flash and all the lights went out. My cell phone had no signal and my phone in the room was dead, so I looked out the window to see what my chances were. Since I would need a raft to get out of my classroom, I went to the other side of the building and exited out of another teacher's classroom into a smaller flowing river. The water was flowing up to my calves as I watched Mr. Bee's detention students running and screaming toward the office. Inside, I found that the power was out in all buildings and administration was creating an emergency plan. Mr. Barnes helped me wade upstream out to the parking lot (lost a pair of shoes and a dress in the aftermath of the storm) to my car. In the heat of the moment, or shall I say the freezing cold of the moment, I did not notice that my windshield had been pierced by a hail ball. I got into my car and shut the door. Immediately, I got Don on the phone and of course, the only words were "Get home now!" I got out of the parking lot and began to traverse the rivers that were once roads to get home. Upon my arrival in my own neighborhood, the optimist in me noticed the beautiful double rainbow.




As I was trying to capture the beautiful natural phenomenon, an impatient jerk flew past me with his giant truck (on the side walk no less) and covered my car from top to bottom with a wave of muddy water and hail. Well, I took a picture, but by the time the streams of water calmed on my windshield, he had turned on another street.

This picture shows the flooded street near my house.

The next day, our yard still had a duck pond.

To my chagrin, I also discovered my car's injuries the next morning: cracked windshield (the crack looks like a smiley face of course) and over 100 golf ball sized dents on the hood, doors, roof, and quarter panel of the Yukon. Needless to say, it will be in the shop for at least two weeks. Estimated damage to the vehicle: 5500 dollars.

What an adventure. It was an experience to remember, but I hope it never repeats itself.