Be Careful What You Wish For

I had been hoping for rain all July. We hadn't gotten more than 1/4" all month. Our Average for July is 3.5". With the heat things were so dry. So today our lack of rain ended. I was jumping up and down after the rain went over half an inch. Then all hell broke loose.

The previous rain was just fine. Not much wind. It was pretty much going straight down. Then a microburst hit. Ouch. I looked out the window and could see the bean trellis bend. I was wondering if it would come down all together. I'll have to reprop it up, but it held. The soil underneath had given. That is why it is leaning. that side is pressed into the soil.

The corn didn't fare quite as well. It is flattened. The taller corn got hit too. I'll have to go out tomorrow morning when things dry out a bit and stake them all with bamboo.

You can even see the wind patterns in the sweet potatoes. The wind was so weird. In one part of the garden it is flattened in one direction. In another it is in another direction. Not just a little either. One patch of corn is flattened one way and one bed of sweet potatoes is flattened in exactly the opposite direction. The rain which had been falling hard even broke up into mist in the wind. This is the second microburst I've experienced in this house. I don't remember one in the last house.

We cooled off about 20 degrees from before and we did get our rain. About 1 3/4" of it. So the plants that didn't get hurt are happy. There are lots of branches down. Mostly small. I saw one huge branch missing (about a foot in diameter) from the pine trees that line one side of the house. I figured our roof would have taken the impact as it is right under that. But the branch isn't even in my yard. I'm guessing it is in my neighbor's.

I'm going to have to be more specific in my wishes from now on. Rain yes. Microbursts no.

Update: Wow. Fire trucks and police all over the place. The end of our street is blocked by a tree that is down. Since we are at the end of a dead end, no one can get their cars in or out anymore. My neighbor said he saw seven down trees on his way home (half a mile away from the house). And the branch that I couldn't find in my yard, well we couldn't find it in the neighbor's yard either. It must have blown pretty far.

Second Update: One street over a tree came down and took out a door and some power lines. Supposedly there are a lot of power lines down. Streets are taped up so people won't go down them. And one tree fell on a bus. Ah the neighborhood gossip mill. Everyone is out talking about it over their fences.

Third Update: Though I said we had a microburst, it wasn't official until the weather service said so, and they did. Our town issued a warning last evening to avoid our area of town because of the downed lines and trees. They wanted the roads clear so they could clean up as fast as possible. Though we didn't get hail, some places in Massachusetts got golf ball sized hail, which might have been more damage to my garden if that had hit. BTW the bean trellis in the first photo really doesn't do the wind justice. When I looked outside during the wind it was bent over at a 45 degree angle. I'm shocked it stayed in the ground especially with all the trees that got flattened. And the helicopters are out this morning. I'm guessing the local news. I was hoping when I opened the window this morning to hear the birds, but nope.