The Santa Ana winds
kept me indoors all-day yesterday.
Safely tucked
indoors, it sounded like the end of the world was happening outside as the wind
raced through the quad, sounding like a freight train, prompting me to
periodically check to make sure patio Christmas decorations hadn’t gone with
the wind.
Everything was still
on the porch when I checked again this morning, only not in the neat configuration
I’d positioned them.
Seems the Santa Ana’s get stronger each and every year, but looking at the
wildfire devastation (Thomas Fire, Creek Fire), if all we have to worry about are decorations being upended, we’re very
fortunate, I thought to myself.
My heart went out to
one woman interviewed on the news who said, “It’s ironic. Four hours ago,
I was sitting in my house, doing what I normally do. Now I don’t have that
house anymore”.
A reminder how it is
that life can change in an instant.
As I went on with my
day, I noted what little damage the wind had done in this area.
The tree underneath
my window is history.
 |
| Tree Before |
 |
| Tree After |
The maintenance men
corralled a door flying down the street.
Head Maintenance Man,
back from his bout with illness, saw it flying down the street, ran, managed to
grab it before injury was done to person or property, and the wind was so hard that
he had had to call Assistant Maintenance Man over to assist.
First time I’ve ever
seen Head Maintenance Man rush/hurry/run and showing initiative.
The leasing sign at
the multi-complex next door is destroyed.
We figure next door
is also where that flying door came from.
Certain the heavy
winds had brought down the side of the H Building, previously damaged by the
U-Haul, I walked over and found, lo and behold, repair work has begun.
It’s a Christmas
Miracle!
I also observed an
unusual number of fire trucks travelling up and down the street.
Why? thought I. We’re nowhere near Ventura.
Then I saw on the
news the trucks were for the fire practically at my back door – Little Mountain
by the golf course, three miles away.
Did I say life can
change in an instant?
Evacuations are
in play, but not us, not yet. We’re told to “be ready”.
Sending prayers your way!
ReplyDeleteThank you! We've once again been fortunate -- firefighters managed to gain control before wind blew flames over the mountain towards us. But with what we see happening in other areas, we're crossing our fingers, holding out breath, praying for ourselves and others.
DeleteIt is indeed a scary time. None of us can say this will never happen here. It can happen anywhere, anytime. I heard that the Santa Ana winds became hurricane strength.
ReplyDeleteAt one point, it did give me an idea of what a hurricane must feel like. We were lucky the fire was under control before the wind blew it over the mountain, towards us. But, just to be sure, some residents voluntarily left. I stayed prepared by sleeping with my make-up on. LOL.
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