Around 8:00 PM yesterday evening, we became one of 127,000 households in Knoxville who lost power during the latest series of storms that ripped through the city. The storms started with what has become a familiar sight, rapidly moving gray clouds.
Angry clouds on the move
Following the clouds, we heard the familiar roar of wind blowing in from the west. As with the April 27th storm we were storm watchers from the safety of our side porch. Unlike the April storm, the wind lingered and we became anxious as a great, old oak tree at the corner of our driveway violently shook and swayed. Finally the wind moved out and the rain began. Hard rain, lots of thunder and lightening but no hail. The lights flickered off and the rain moved out. We could see storm carnage from the porch… a neighbor’s tree had split in two and many small branches littered the street and lawns.
As dusk faded into darkness, so did our house. The candles and headlamps came out as we prepared for bed. Without ceiling fans and air conditioning, the air in the house was so very, very still. We tossed and turned until the power finally came on, around 3:30 AM. Along with fans and air conditioner, the lights and TV that had been on before the power failure, also came on. What an early morning wake up!!
With that said, we are lucky. Tonight 50,000 Knoxville households are still without power including our friends Mac and Sonya (they were without power for 4 day after the April storm). Hope our luck holds out. Gray clouds have rolled in again and we are waiting for another night of severe weather!! And another on Thursday…
