What You Learn

When A Storm Hits

Photo Courtesy of Canva

I live in a small town in Pennsylvania. We are NOT known for our big storms. Yes, we have some snow in the winter, and a few years ago, we had an ice storm that knocked out our power and ability to leave our home for multiple days. At that point, I was a mom to two babies, and my husband worked sixteen-hour days as a truck driver trying to get supplies where they needed to be.

We bunkered down in the basement by the propane heat (our only source of heat), and I quickly learned how to turn the generator on and off, so we didn’t lose the food in our freezer. It was a rough couple of days as I tried to keep the babies entertained, fed, and warm in those cold, cold days.

This brings us to this week. Monday, we were away for the day (since we had to cancel our vacation). We went to the Flight 93 memorial and stopped to grab some lunch before heading home. The television was on, talking about possible tornados and bad storms all over the state. You never think that it is going to happen to you, so I just ate, and though I was worried, I never imagined what we were going to come home to.

We thought we would stop and see a relative out there and wait out some of the hard rain. We visited for a few hours and then got ready to come home. On our way home (a three-hour drive), we got a call from our neighbor who was just checking up on us. Our tree in the front yard fell on the electric lines.

I worried the whole way about my dog. She was petrified of normal storms, but this was no normal storm. My mom said that she tried to get to her, but she couldn’t make the five-mile drive! There was debris flying everywhere, and she had to turn around and go back home. She said that she felt like she was in The Wizard of Oz.

Our beautiful tree broke and fell on the power lines.

We had to make a few detours due to down trees, and I was never so glad to be home. Lucky for us, our only damage was our tree on the electric lines, but the next morning, we decided to take a drive around on the mule to see how others made out.

We made it up the road to my cousin’s house, where her entire family was walking around in complete disbelief. Neighbors were all out looking at all the damage.

Many trees were down. Trees were uprooted. Trees were on roofs.

Damage just down the road.

The one neighbor lost his entire roof! His camper was completely gone. It was nowhere to be found.

Sheds were down. Debris filled the cornfields, pieces off of roofs, sheds, and a good deal of miscellaneous stuff. A pillow hung on the electric line! Pole after pole was on the ground.

Poles were on the ground as everyone stood around talking.

As everyone walked around, nobody could believe what they were seeing. It had to have been a tornado. Then, reality set in. We would be without power for days!

We hunkered down and got down to business. Generators were brought out to protect our precious freezers filled with meat and other foods. We walked around talking to others, checking in to make sure that everyone had what they needed and were ok. We came together as a community, and it was nice seeing that.

Now that we have electricity, I can finally write about what I have learned over the last few days.

I am better at living without electricity than many others. Since we go to the mountains and stay at our place without electricity and running water, I am better equipped than many to do so. I can live without a few showers and running water.

In fact, when we went down the road to the spring to get water, we all washed our faces, arms, and hair. One man stopped and said that was a brilliant idea. But it’s no different than getting cleaned up at the spring at the mountains!

Communities will rally together when needed. There is so much fighting in the world right now, but when it comes down to it, we spent the last few days checking in with others and rallying together. Neighbors worked together with clean up. They borrowed generators. They sat together and talked as they worried about how long this was going to last.

Since we just visited the Flight 93 memorial, I told my boys that it was kind of like how everyone was after September 11th. I told him that everyone just stood there in disbelief and that everyone worked together. I told them that I hoped that this was all that they would experience in their lifetime. Nobody wants to see a nation get attacked like that!

We wouldn’t have power if it weren’t for all the hard work of others. Though many complained that they didn’t get power for days, after seeing the damage and all the work that the electric companies, townships, boroughs, and state did, it is amazing how much they accomplished in such a short amount of time.

In fact, right after they reactivated our power, Cody ran in and said that the electric pole was on fire. We ran out, and saw the electric line on the ground. Met-Ed was there in a few minutes to fixSo the problem.

Met-Ed to the rescue

So, even though we were inconvenienced for a few days, we all can say that we came out on the other side better for it!

PS — We finally got acknowledged that we did have a tornado touch down in Southern York County!

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