So if you haven't been watching the news for the last week, major natural events have impacted the East Coast. First, we had an unexpected 5.8 magnitude earthquake last Tuesday August 23 around 1:51pm, with the epicenter in Mineral, VA (about 100 miles away). I've never experienced an earthquake before, and let me say, it was scary. I was at work, in one of the biggest buildings on base, talking to someone at their desk. All of a sudden, we felt a rumbling. That's not unheard of here, we get a lot of noise and vibration from aircraft flying low, especially the Joint Strike Fighter. So I looked out the window when the building started rumbling, didn't see anything, and then felt the building move from side to side, similar to a sliding motion. That's when everyone started for the stairs to get out of the building because they realized it was an earthquake. We were evacuated and told to go home after 40 minutes of waiting so engineers to could check out the building. It was a bit frightening for most of us. Thankfully no one was hurt, and most buildings in our area were not damaged. The last earthquake on the East Coast was in 1897. I hope it's another 113 years till the next one. I have no desire to experience earthquakes on a regular basis.
Then Thursday night, a sudden summer storm started to develop around 6pm. I was in the car, driving to a friend's house in the rain, when I got a Code Red Weather Alert call on my phone from the county's Code Red Weather System. It said a tornado warning had just been issued for our area, and to take cover immediately. I decided to just keep driving, as it was just downpouring around me and I didn't see anything but rain (probably not the smartest idea). The next day I checked online, and what do you know, there were definitely tornadoes forming in the area I'd been in. See this video taken on base around 6pm.
Maybe I will take heed and pay attention to a tornado warning the next time we get one.. scary sight to see. But no reports of damage, other than a few fallen tree limbs.
Saturday morning brought the lovely uninvited guest, Hurricane Irene. We moved my sister into her new apartment in the rain that morning, and returned home to wait out the storm and power outages that were inevitable. Surprisingly enough, we only lost power from 8:00-9:30pm. Our apartment complex/neighborhood is heavily wooded, so our main worry was that we'd wake up to a tree through our apartment roof (since we're on the third floor) or a tree on our cars in the morning. Sunday morning I woke up, walked outside, and found that our building and cars made it through the storm unscathed. At least 6-8 trees are down in our parking lot, but no cars were smashed thankfully. It will be sometime before all the trees and debris are cleaned up, but we're thankful no one was hurt. Many of our family and friends fared worse - trees fallen on homes, major damage to their property, and still no power. Some people are being told it could be days until they have power again.
One local historical site, Sotterley Plantation, has suffered major damage. Many weddings and local events, like the Riverside Wine Fest, are hosted here. It will take a lot of time and volunteer effort before Sotterley can be cleaned up.
I don't know about you, but I'm ready for good weather. This next week is supposed to be just that - sunny, mid-80's, and nice. Going to enjoy it while I can!
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