Devastation in Carbondale
Back from Carbondale -- thought I had more pix than I did -- most of them repetitive of branches strewn everywhere or hard to figure out since I suck at this kind of photo stuff. Here are a few, however:

This was part of the SIU farm complex, once:



We spent hours clearing enough limbs and brush to get this close to the shed:



One of the reasons why there's no power (or water or phone lines) out where my sister lives. All of them were down and in the road.



Sheet metal was everywhere. I've tried to crop out the reflections from my car.



I spent hours washing dishes at the outdoor sink. Day one we used pond water and bleach. Next day a neighbor (who has a tree speared down through his house making it like a popsicle) brought 5 big tanks of city water for us to use. Thank you, neighbor!



The storm hit on Friday while everyone in the family was trying to get to my niece's graduation from nursing school at Edwardsville. Her mom made it, and her dad, and I did too. Coming down from Chicago was nonstop rain and weird sky to the south.

The odd thing was that there was little on the news about any of this, possibly because all the power to all the TV stations was knocked out. The Southern Illinoisan newspaper kept publishing -- a 2 page spread rushed in from Paducah, I think. One of the radio stations managed to get 6 phone lines set up and enough power to broadcast disaster related news only. As of this morning, my sister still doesn't have running water or power, though it's obvious that repair crews from nearly everywhere -- hundreds of crews -- are out there working on it. The cleanup is going to take a long time, but that doesn't mean my sister can get off work to do it. Her boss lives outside the area and doesn't seem to get it.

We used candles and flashlights indoors, but after it got dark there just didn't seem much point in staying awake. Odd to go to sleep at 9 pm, then get up again when the rooster crowed at abou 4. I am completely turned around.

You have no idea how dark it is in the country during a power blackout on a moonless night. Am very glad I didn't hear the coyotes howling, as they often do in summer. Just a lot of crickets and frogs, who sounded incredibly happy, tho a bit disturbed.

UPDATE: Here's a link to a mess of other links.

Just saw that they're under a tornado watch until 10pm right now. My sister can't get cell phone coverage (and the land lines and power are still down) in the country, so will try to get her at work. My mother lives with her, and has difficulty getting around. I just hope it all goes away soon.

UPDATE2: Here's an amazing collection of pix. Mesmerizing.
- posted by Cynthia @ 2:36 PM | | | Link |