Wow.
It is midnight, and as I sit here writing this, I cannot even begin to express how amazingly lucky I feel. I have been looking at pictures of the devastation that occurred throughout Cabbagetown and some of the other areas near us in Atlanta, and I feel fucking blessed. I also want to make sure and say a huge and amazing thank you, for every text message, email, and phone call I got. It was really truly amazing to know so many people cared. Thank you so much.
Well, here’s how it went down for us. Last night, we were over at Joey’s for a Smash Bros party, and around midnight, we got word that there were some pretty nasty storms going on downtown. The word tornado was even used. Coming from a place in NC where we have had MAJOR destruction from tornadoes in my life, I instantly got scared. I never thought it would happen here; why? I don’t know, but I just didn’t. Instantly, James and I felt the need to get home, and make sure everything and everyone (i.e., Sydney) were okay. Riding down the freeway was almost surreal; they had whole exits blocked off due to tornado damage… right at the heart of the city.
Finally, we got home, and a couple of our neighbors had called us to let us know that our house was okay, but that the fence behind our house didn’t fare so well. Basically, the storm took out two major trees in the back of our property, splitting them right at the ground, and sending them toppling over our fence, shed, and into our neighbor’s yard. The entire fence wasn’t taken out, but major chunks are going to need to be replaced. We had a little tin shed in the back yard that was full to the brim with our power tools and home improvement equipment, and as of right now, it looks like a crumpled up tin can. It was completely smashed. The funny thing, is that the new table saw that we bought to do the hardwoods took the brunt of the tree, and managed to save every thing shorter than it, including the much more expensive lawnmower, leaf blower, and weed eater. It might not be salvageable, but it definitely did its duty to protect its fellow shed-mates.
Early in the morning, we had a guy come out to remove the trees, and they chainsawed the hell out of that wood all day, managing to remove almost all of it. It is unreal how big that tree was, and even more unreal was how close it got to our house. It was literally within about 4 feet from the back of our house; which is where our bedroom is. There were also two shattered javelin-like off shoots from the tree that were hurled into the ground so deep that they couldn’t even pull one of them out. Those were much closer to the house, but still managed to miss us by a couple of feet.
For those wondering about the waverunner, for whatever reason, James decided yesterday that the place it was at (the right side of the shed) was getting poor grass growth because of the waverunner being there, and as such, he moved it to the left side, between the shed and the fence. Whatever made him do that completely saved the boat. It wasn’t even touched, with the tree landing totally on the shed and the spot where it had been sitting all of this time. That was some intense luck on his part!!
Other than the damage to our fence and shed, and the damage to our neighbor’s fences and their car (which was just the windsheild and hood), I have to say, that we got out of this thing amazingly lucky. A few houses down the street have trees right through the middle of their houses, and as I mentioned before, the devastation in Cabbagetown is just awful. My heart goes out to everyone that received damage in this storm. It was unexpected, and I just feel blessed that we got out with only a little damage. My car has a few dings in it from the golf ball sized hail from earlier today as well, but luckily I got some blankets on it before it really started coming down.
All in all, I have to say, thank God for our house being missed, and I am truly thankful that we are with power, and okay after these storms. It could have been a lot worse, and I am thankful that it wasn’t for us. Now… the process of rebuilding begins… we have an insurance person coming out this week; wish us luck!
Check out the photos on flickr.