Storm Clean up

Sunday morning we got a call at 8:00 a.m. asking us to come help clean up the neighborhoods.  If we had any equipment, (chain saws, trucks, or trailers) then we should bring them to help with the clean up effort.

We were scheduled to have Stake Conference.  Misty was going to be doing a musical number for the Priesthood leadership session at 10:00 a.m., so she wasn't sure if she should be getting ready for that or not.  I went outside at 8:30 a.m. and there were people from all over our Stake helping clean the debris from the streets that we had piled there yesterday.  Trucks and trailers were lined up and it didn't take long for everybody to load them and send them over to the Stake Center to have them unloaded.  I had my chain saw and was helping cut down trees that had partially blown down (or blown down completely).  At about 9:30 a.m. (I was not really sure of the time) we heard that the priesthood session had been cancelled and that we should keep helping.  I had slowly made my way up the street and across Main street helping and cleaning as we went.  Misty called me and asked where I was at...  a few minutes later I see Misty driving our van with signs on the side and the back that said, "Snacks, Drinks, Rides."  Misty pulled up and opened the back of the van.  She had water, Gatorade, granola bars, fruit snacks, and other items for everybody.  She had gone to Costco a few days before and so she had plenty of items for everybody.  I wish I would have had a camera to take a picture.  It was pretty good.  She was like the modern day Clara Barton.

We kept working throughout the day and got the word that Stake Conference was going to be cancelled.  Our ward seemed to have everything taken care of, so I headed over to the Stake Center and helped with unloading trucks and trailers.  At about 2:00 p.m. they had soups, chili, hot chocolate, and cookies in the church for everybody.  About 4:00 p.m. I headed home to finally sit down and relax.

I realized that I did not have any video of the clean up, so I grabbed my video camera and headed back over to the Stake Center to document everything.

Video of Cleanup

Centerville Wind Storm

Wednesday night and Thursday morning we had a massive wind storm hit Davis County.  It was gusting pretty hard and made it difficult to sleep, however our kids slept all night.  When Brinley woke up in the morning (at 8:30) she started crying because her night light wasn't on and started demanding that her night light be turned on.  Our power was out from about 7:00 am on Thursday until about 12:30 Friday morning.  Brandon (our "techy") had withdrawals from not being able to use any hi-tech items.  (We were also conserving the batteries in my iPod).  Brandon would try to turn the T.V. on every time he went by and would repeat "Troubles, troubles" over and over.  Brinley was annoyed that we wouldn't just turn on the lights.  (50,000 homes lost power.)  Bryce was thrilled to have school cancelled two days in a row! 

We were prepared and had our wood burning stove to keep us warm.  We all slept downstairs and the kids thought that part was great fun!  We had our grill and camp stove to prepare food.  We kept the fridge and deep freezer closed.  It was predicted we wouldn't receive power for 48-72 hours in our area.  Brandon kept asking for milk.  We mixed up some powdered milk for him to try but he about gagged and pushed it away in a hurry!  He quickly learned to be content with water.  The crank radio and flashlights were great.  Misty's brother Justin lent us his generator which we hooked up to the fridge and freezer long enough to keep them cool.  He and his wife Avry let us come hang out at their place for a visit.

Our street was hit pretty hard.  Most of our neighbors lost large trees and lots of shingles.  Several had trees hit their houses.  The wind took out both our side fences (which we planned to replace soon anyway) and some shingles.  We feel very blessed.  Our neighbor around the corner on main street had three big pine trees knocked down onto his house.  They were 100 year old trees.  Good Morning America showed his house when talking about the storm.  Some people in our ward couldn't find their trampoline.  It had traveled 2 blocks (including across Main Street).  Apparently Centerville was the epicenter of the storm.  This is where many of the semis rolled.  (I know of at least 10).  One golf course in the area lost 400 trees, another 200...  Here are a few pics from our place...

Here is a video that I took from just around our house.  I now wish that I had gone around the neighborhood and documented a little more of the damage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e15_wQjid90
(paste this link in your browser and it will work)

More to come on the amazing cleanup ....