A Piece of Beryl

The spinoffs from tropical storm Beryl ripped through New England this afternoon with very little warning (well, to me at least. I have still not learned that just because it's sunny in the morning doesn't mean I should leave the umbrella at home).

While sitting in my windowless office at work today, I could hear a big storm thrashing around outside, but had no idea how bad it really was. It sure SOUNDED loud, but the sun was even shining by the time I left the building, so I put it out of my mind and headed home. For some reason, the rivers of water in the street didn't clue me in.

As we got closer to home, I sat on the bus reading my Newsweek and being pretty oblivious to my surroundings. The bus stopped at my stop, I rose to get off, and...so did the bus driver. Wait, what? The bus driver then addressed the riders and explained that the usual bus route was closed and the bus would have to detour. I thanked the powers that be that we were already at my stop, and hopped nimbly onto the curb.

Then I looked up the street where the bus SHOULD have gone, and saw some tree branches lying about in the street. "Interesting" I said to myself, "The storm must have knocked some old dead branches off."

Hardly. As I began my walk home, I suddenly started to realize the damage from the storm that was laying all around me. Huge, healthy branches ripped from their trunks. Debris everywhere. As I neared my house, I glanced down a side street, and stopped dead in my tracks.

I needn't worry about cars running me over while I stood gaping in the middle of the street...it'll be awhile before cars pass that way again. At some point during the fury of the storm, an enormous tree had been completely uprooted. As its roots were ripped from the ground, it took several immense tiles of sidewalk with it. Falling with what must have been a mighty crash, and amazing precision, it missed a parked car on the street by mere inches. The massive trunk effectively not only pinned in the single car, but blocked the entire street.

I attempted to take a photo with the camera on my cell phone, but it wasn't very successful. So I dashed home to grab my camera and return, only to be met by more chaos. It seems that we had left a window cracked this morning. During the storm, enormous gusts blew in and soaked our kitchen floor. They also blew a vase over with enough force to shatter it completely from one end of the kitchen on into the livingroom and entryway.

So instead of dashing back out to take photos, I started sweeping up the glass that was adorning our kitchen. That finished, I sped back up the street to take a few photos of the damage before it was too dark.

A Fallen Branch

And another

Many Fallen Branches

Tree roots upend sidewalk

Luckiest car ever.

All fenced in