Saturday, June 20, 2009

The "Power" of Storms

It has been a rough couple of days for me. Thursday morning, I was awoken early by a severe thunderstorm. It was going on 6:30 am when lightning struck very near by house. My bedroom was lit up so bright and I probably cleared the bed a few feet. Within 5 minutes of that lightning strike, my electricity went out. OH GREAT! And I have to get ready for work in the dark. I decided to turn the a/c off in case the electricity started going on and off while I was at work. I was thinking of one saving grace and that with the garage door opener I got 6 months before with battery back up was going to operate so I wouldn't have any problem leaving for work. WRONG!! So I had to take it off track to open manually.

My electricity came back on in the afternoon while I was at work, something between 1 and 2. My dad was there at the time and got the garage door opener back on track but it still wouldn't work. When I got home, I grabbed the manual to start working on it. I turned the a/c back on, but the thermostat display didn't come on. I left it turned on but the a/c never started. I went out and worked on the opener and couldn't get it to work. I called my dad for him to come over and help. We couldn't get either to work. The thermostat quitting was coincidental. When I turned it on a few days before, the display didn't show anything and I had to turn it off and back on a few times and then it worked fine. I went to Menards and bought a new one and my dad came over and installed for me. It felt so good when it started.

Friday another severe storm started around 4:30 pm and hit really hard right before 5 o'clock when I was to leave work. The rain was coming down horizontally. I waited it out for a while and got a ride to the parking lot from a coworker that had his vehicle nearby. There was a lot of tree damage from the storm. One intersection the stop lights were not working except flashing red. I knew that when I got home, my electricity would be out also. And I was right.

Earlier in the day, I had called Lowe's regarding the garage door opener failing. It had been purchased there and installed by them. They said that I would have to call the manufacturer. I tried in the afternoon from work, but was on hold for about 10 minutes and decided to hang up and try later.

Mother and I were planning to have dinner that evening so I called to let her know that I would be over soon. I decided to call the garage door opener company first and was on hold for about 15 minutes before I got to speak with anyone. While I was on hold, I decided to head to my parents', yes, I know that I shouldn't be on the cell phone while driving, but I didn't have to hold it while driving since I had the speaker as loud as it could go and I was able to hear it quite well. And they didn't come on until I got to my parents. It turns out that the sensors were blown from the lightning on Thursday and so was the wall control panel. And since it was from lightning, it's not covered under warranty. OH GREAT!

Mother and I decided to have dinner at Monical's Pizza. On the way there, another thunderstorm hit. When we got to the parking lot, we waited inside the vehicle for about 10 minutes until the rain slacked off. Listening to the radio, a tornado warning for the county was announced. Never did hear any warning sirens. The rain slacked off enough for us to make a run for the restaurant. I was wearing my leather thong sandals and the parking lot was flooded with about 1-1/2 inches of rain. Oh well, it's just water. We had a good dinner. When we left, the stoplight at the intersection outside the restaurant was out and a cop was there. We decided to drive a little to see some of the storm damage. A club/bar had lost part of it's roof and there were lots of trees broken over even one large tree that was broken at ground level.

I called my house and the answering machine never picked up so that meant that I didn't have any electricity yet. I went home and opened some windows to get some air in there. I read by lantern and headed for bed. I had trouble sleeping since it was kinda warm and humid. I probably didn't sleep for more than 1 hour at a time. I awoke around 7 am and still had no electricity and then awoke a little after 8 am and it was FINALLY back on. When I was setting the clock on the answering machine, it was saying that it was 2:28 am and at the time when I was setting it, the actual time was 10:26 am which means that my electricity came back on at 7:58 am.

I am so happy today that it is on since it was hot and humid. I went to Lowe's to buy the sensors and the wall panel, but they discontinued the wall panel last year. I then went to Menards to see if they had it and they did and they also had the sensors $15 cheaper. I bought them there and returned the ones to Lowe's. Now I just need to install them. Dad said he would help me.

2 comments:

Alice said...

Good heavens what an ordeal!! We rely heavily on electricity there is no doubt. Hope all is back to normal. If I was you, I would buy a second set of sensors in case the lightning knocks it out again. The thing is, they don't make those wall panels anymore so better have a backup set as you just never know whether you can find it again.
Alice

Tracey said...

What a few days you have had!Glad all is getting better. :) Oh and not sure if you own, rent, or what but remember lightning striking is covered under a homeowners policy, and renters policy if you rent(for your contents anyway).. sorry it's the insurance agent in me! lol

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