Derecho

It started with a news report, where a well-dressed man did exhort that everyone should stay inside, big thunderstorms were on the fly. A curving arc across the map, and the danger that comes with that, not whirling clouds that rip and roar, but another threat is in store, The great tornados go from ground, to storm-cells high above the down, Derecho strikes laterally, a blunt-force trauma built of breeze. At first, I just remain upstairs, but not near windows, back from there, trees and shrubs in the neighborhood begin to wave, that is not good, because the blowing does not stop, more branches now begin to rock, leaves start stripping off, flying fast, every which way, wherever cast. I hear some creaking form the walls, the gushing of the wind’s loud call, branches start breaking, tumbling quick, smashing against siding and brick, strewn on the roads and driveways black, but then come a much louder snap, the main beam of a neighbor’s elm comes crashing down, and I can’t tell… Has it come down upon their car? The rain picks up, I can’t see far, drops horizontal from the gale, mixed in with icy slugs of hail. The wind keeps going, doesn’t stop, big branches fall across the lot, walls now vibrate against the blow, soon I will have to go below. Thirty minutes, it’s not ceasing, hurricane gusts send trees reeling, it’s trunks now breaking, smashing hard into the rooftops, and the yards. The fear now says it’s time to run, down to the basement with hard thumps echoing from the storm above, I think that I have seen enough. I’ll call the insurance company tomorrow…