What's this mean? Well, for the last day or so the news has been endlessly throwing warnings at us. This time it hasn’t been about terrorist threats, nor which government official is doing what, not even the ‘be careful of what you say, you’re being watched’. Instead these hyper-excited rather dramatic sounding weather forecasters have been predicting the end of the world. May be not precisely that but the way they make it seem, it may as well be. Is it a tornado that comes our way? Another big hurricane? Possibly floods or such? Nope, none of those things. What we are all running to the stores and grabbing water, milk, bread, toilet paper and assorted snacks in preparation for is the looming Derecho.
Never heard of it? Let me help you out (because that’s just how nice I am). Here's the wikki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derecho. Now if you're too darn lazy to click and read, then let me sum it up in layman's terms. Basically it's a sideways twister. You’re going, “um…what?” Yea, had I never come across one before I would say the same thing but indeed it is precisely that, a drunken funnel (not the yummy amusement park type either). Frankly to me all twisters seem a lil off-balance but this particular specimen is downright bizarre. Seriously, take a look, it’s fascinating stuff and proves again to one and all, don’t underestimate what Mother Nature has up her sleeves.
So back to my close encounter with the Derecho kind…you’re probably wondering when was it that I actually had the opportunity to say a friendly ‘hi there’ to one? Well…
It was last year, just before the 4th of July I believe but may be earlier. We, mom and I, were supposed to attend a friend’s Mehndi party (you know, the celebration where henna is applied upon the hands and feet of the bride-to-be, usually a day or two before the actual wedding). Typically this ceremony is reserved for women alone but for several years now the fashion has been to also invite the groom and his party as well. P isn’t a big fan of these shindigs; I mean he loves himself some weddings (mostly for the food) but everything else he rejects as unnecessary. No offense to the bride or groom in particular, he just gets bored (which I think most men do to be honest unless you’re a part of the bridal party or apart of the immediate families). But I digress…
This particular Mehndi celebration P had declined to attend mainly because a few members of his own family were visiting and he wanted a bit of QT. I thought this was fair enough so I drove north to Baltimore bedecked in a lime green/dark red/gold cotton sari, in order to scoop my mother up and head into the city where the party was to be held. BTW, in case you were wondering, driving and sari’s just don’t go well together.
I had noted how humid the air was but ignored it as we joined the others in kicking off the wedding festivities. We had a great time catching up with old friends, gossiping, eating and generally smiling at the coyly smiling bride and the grinning-like-a-Cheshire-cat groom. By the time we were leaving it was about 10:30 pm or closing in on 11 and although it was still too early (in my book) to be leaving any sort of party, I had to drive Ammu home then head back to VA. As we walked out into the even more so humid night (if that was at all possible), Mom commented upon how it seemed like a storm was coming and I couldn’t have agreed with her less. The very air about us felt heavy with moisture making it difficult to even breathe. I looked around at the still streets; felt the eerie calm in the air and the little hairs on the back of my arms rose. Something was amiss certainly, whatever it was about that night just made me antsy as I hurried her along to the car.
The second we slammed our doors shut, the heavens opened up and before we were even a block away from the venue I could barely see the road. The rain was coming in sideways, the light posts started to sway dangerously and the first signs of how bad this storm showed in the form of a metal news stand blowing over. As we drove, the wind picked up, my car started to be shoved sideways…yes sideways, not straight as it was supposed to go…and my mother had reached out to grasp my hand tightly.
“What is going on??” she gasped in fear as I turned on the radio quickly. They were saying something about Derecho. What was that? Stay indoors, stay off the streets (I was thinking, um…too late) and if you’re out, take cover (again…too late damn it!). Where had these warnings been all day? Could a sister not have gotten a heads up? What the hell??? And here I was with my mom traveling down the city roads as flying debris narrowly missed my car over and over again. This was hell. I even wondered, albeit fleetingly, how folks in tornado alley lived knowing that such weather could crop up at any moment.
We had to travel approximately 30 miles and whereas it would take me about 25 minutes to go that far, we were crawling along as I dodged objects that rolled onto the street and weaving around already fallen trees and power lines. My mother became more and more hysterical while I felt the muscles in my arms become more and more taught. I was fighting the wind and a total meltdown (my mother, not me). Knowing that I had no interest in adding my own bubbling trepidation (frankly more like outright terror) to the situation, I started to talk to her in a bright voice. You know the kind that’s so forced and obvious but you utilize it to try sooth someone else? She wasn’t falling for it however I implored her to just work with me. I needed to focus.
Eventually we made it home but I was stunning at the remnants of what had happened.
By the end of that storm, which lasted approximately 10 minutes, there was a lot of (and seriously I mean a lot) damage to not only Baltimore City, but the surrounding counties, DC and into VA. People lost power everywhere and not for a day but rather days in which they had to suffer through 100F+ sweltering days and unbearably hot nights. From what I remember, the after effects had not been pretty.
So folks, this is what we’re facing presently. The looming threat of all this plus more and I sincerely hope that Derecho decides to take it easy on us this time. Frankly, I don’t totally trust our weather-gits anymore. I feel as if most of the time they’re taking a shot in the dark when spouting off predictions and as I’ve seen in the past, most of the time they’re wrong. So let’s hope this one is just being hyped up and will culminate into a bit of rain, nothing more.
And…let me give my usual caveats here: I realize that there are a lot more devastating things happening in the world that is far worse than what’s happening here and I have full respect for these things/events but since I do not live in all these other locations nor am experiencing them first hand, I do not feel that I can aptly describe/write about them.
*phew*
Anyhoo y’all, I’m going to head out of the office. Wherever you are, take care of yourselves and if you see a flying cow, duck. Heck, if you see a flying duck, then moo.
Tata!
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