A Fit of Nature

I awoke at my usual pre 6:00 am time to find my clock blinking. Must be the power went out sometime in the night. I reset the clock and went about the usual business of starting the day. It wasn't until I put Drew on the carpool van and headed towards work that I realized something wasn't right. The traffic light was out at the corner of Union and Buffalo Road. (Interesting that the lines of traffic were shorter than with the light working!). I wondered if power were out on campus.

Sure enough, the road to the library parking lot was blocked off, so I went around the other way, barely managing to get into the lot from Westside Drive. There was a huge tree limb lying astride sagging power lines, and wires dancing everywhere. It must have snapped off in the gale force wind that was whipping my car so strongly I was afraid I might tip over.

Did you know that card swipes don't work if the power is out? Me neither. I called security to let me in the library, then called the emergency line. 2 hour delay for the campus to open. Well, that gave me plenty of time to watch them work on correcting the problem while reshelving books.

Lots of trucks came and went. At one point, they disconnected more wires, then they sawed the limb into pieces (I say limb, but it was as big around as a small elephant and could have passed for a whole ancient tree all on its own). Then more connecting of wires. It the limb had fallen the other direction, it would have wiped out an entire house.

Meanwhile, reports began to filter in from other parts of the area. A number of schools were closed due to power outages. Several people told me they didn't have power even at the end of the day. Classes normally held in buildings at the other end of campus ended up in the library because not only did they have no power in their building, but there was no heat either. Traffic lights all over the place were out, causing jams and snarls in navigation.

Wow - no snow, no ice, no rain, no tornado. Just lots of downed trees, loss of power, travel issues. Talk about a grumpy Mother Nature! Sure hope she's in a better frame of mind soon.