Sunday, October 30, 2011

October Nor'easter Slammed Us

New England is well known for its crazy weather but this particular storm caught most of us off guard. A big storm like this in October? Very rare. I'm not sure I've ever seen a storm like this. The snow was so wet and heavy that it took down trees, branches, and power lines throughout New England and over three million people are still without electricity. We were one of the lucky ones and our power was restored within 24 hours but most of our city is in the dark. It will be a week before some folks have electricity again. What's hard is that with temperatures in the twenties, no electricity means no heat for many people. I guess it's a little better than when the ice storm hit us a few years back, the temperature was in the single digits that time. We had to sleep with coats and hats on!

One of the power lines that leads to our building caught on fire during the storm. It was dropping sparks on the cars in our parking lot (we live in a condo) and was working its way to the building. The fire department came and looked at it but simply told us to call them if the line came down. I watched the fire worm its way down the wire and it made me quite nervous. "Lord," I prayed, "I'll never be able to get to sleep with that wire on fire so close to the building. Could you put it out, please?" Less than three minutes later a tree above the wire let go of a huge load of snow and the snow put out the fire. "Wow! Lord, you work quickly!"  Fire wouldn't be my first choice when it comes to dying. Not that we get a choice but it never hurts to give the Lord a heads up.

The roads were cleared of snow fairly quickly this morning so we attended Mass ( dirty, because there was no hot water and nobody takes a cold shower when there's no heat in the house) and then went to my parents' house for breakfast since they have a gas stove. As we drove and looked around we were shocked by the damage the storm left in its wake. There were tree limbs and downed trees everywhere! On cars, houses, in the road...it was crazy! No one seemed to escape this storm unscathed. Heavy snow and high winds can cause a lot of damage. The clean up around here will take weeks... if not months.

It seems that we are constantly breaking weather records these past few years. What next? Tornadoes in the Winter?

13 comments:

  1. I love it Mary! God had one of His angles shake that limb of snow to douse that potential dangerous fire starter. God is always in control. He will keep you safe. Blessings.

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  2. Wow! The weather has been exciting lately. It is neat to hear about a response to prayer. We had tornados on New Year's Eve so don't discount the possibility.

    Glad you are Okay!
    Peace!

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  3. JBR,
    I guess He will :) I was actually quite surprised when the tree dumped the snow on the wire right after the prayer. Made me laugh! And sleep easier too!

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  4. That's right! I forgot about that! I guess it could happen here too. It sure came as a shock to us when we had tornadoes nearby earlier this year. One just missed us. I guess I can't say that we never get tornadoes up here anymore. Things are crazy all over. I wonder how many records we'll break next year?

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  5. Pay it Forward @ A Life Size Catholic Blog is up and running on a new schedule. I will post the first week of the month from here on out. This will accommodate my new crazy school schedule and allow us to continue to celebrate the best of the best on the Internet and in the blogosphere. The Linky is open now and until the 7th of November. I hope you will continue to share your blog posts with us. You have been such blessing in my life and the lives of other bloggers in our community!

    God bless!

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  6. So glad you are okay and that your power is back! I love your prayer story...it's so wonderful when God answers our prayers that way...quickly... but then again I try to trust in God's timing for things. :)

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  7. Hi Holly! Glad to see you back! We missed you!

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  8. Thanks, Victor! I'm glad to hear that you are having nice weather over in the UK. Things are kind of crazy here. The kids don't even have school today because most of the city still doesn't have electricity. Michaela was thrilled about the schools being closed (more play time ;)

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  9. Hi Jade :) I guess we got hit harder than you did! I just saw the comment that you left on your site and your beautiful wedding pictures! Congratulations!!

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  10. Mary, when you mentioned snow to me the other day I had no idea what you all were in for. Glad you are okay. My family just got their power back on early this morning and they all live in different areas of the northeast..."Tornadoes in the winter?" Really Mary? Be careful what you ask for :-)

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  11. Esther,
    Things are really crazy up here. There are still 2 million people without power and with temperatures down into the twenties at night it's hard on the elderly and the very young. We have crews from Canada helping out around here but many people won't have electricity until the weekend here in the city, even later in the outlying areas. They have cleared the main roads of trees and wires but the side roads are terrible. I don't know when the schools will open back up. I'm glad your family has power again! We rely so much on it when it's cold up here.

    "Lord, I was just joking about tornadoes in the Winter." Lol!

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  12. Colleen,
    Lol! Is it that warm there?
    Did your Mom lose her electricity? I know that parts of Maine got hit too.

    Don't forget to send my ducks and geese back after the winter - I miss feeding them :)

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