There are a few eloquent moments that prove a lot about us Midwestern types. I’m not sure if it proves our uniqueness or stupidity, but considering what I did during the Wind Storm of 2008, I think it could prove either.

Random thought …. if they jokingly call snowstorms around here the “White Death”, what do you call THIS?!

At approximately 5:15 or so on last Sunday, I left to drive out to go get a bite to dinner, knowing that it was really windy but completely oblivious to the fact that it was hurricane force winds. The power had flickered off and on a couple of times, but I was oblivious to the fact that when it was over, most of the city (and almost all of Cincinnati) would be in the dark. As we watched the news while we were out, this became more certain!

In the course of three hours, we’d gone from just a really really windy day to something that looked like a severe storm. Everything was dark, and there are few things more surreal than driving through an area where the lights are just part of how it is, and then it’s pitch black. We probably drove around for 40 minutes due to needing to run a couple of errands (ones we had to even in that weather), and it was something crazy!
As it turned out, we were lucky. We only lost power for about 24 hours, it came back on Monday night. Most of Hilliard didn’t get their power on until 2 days ago, and all of the grocery stores and shops were pitch black until Wednesday (and closed until Thursday in some cases). We lost only a little bit of food, some people lost all of it.

Oh yes, there was one major negative. They didn’t close Danielle’s clinic even though they were on emergency backup power, and the lab was running at a toasty 82 degrees. Nice of ‘em, huh? That’ll be done with in five days anyways!

How was your experience with the wind storm?