But all I can do is show the after because the funnel cloud that swept through my neighbourhood last night showed up without so much as a by your leave please.
It had been a gorgeous day - 28 degrees and sunny for the most part and I spent the better part of the day in my yard cleaning it up from the winter. Raking, digging out some overgrown raspberry bushes. Chad helped me get the patio set out of the shed where it had been stored all winter, and I got that all set up on the patio.
Around 6:45 I left the house for the night and it was very muggy and still very warm. It started to rain shortly after that and a storm looked imminent but other than some hard rain and a bit of wind it didn't seem that bad at the south end of the city where I was.
Meanwhile my neighbours were watching craziness. They said around 7:30 the sky got black and they decided to pack up their patio dinner and head indoors. Literally a minute after they went inside, a crazy wind came through. It knocked over trees all over the place.
It appears now it was a funnel cloud. You'd never know anything happened until you turned onto my street where there are trees down everywhere. I'd say at least two dozen gorgeous huge cedars and pines and Elms came down.
It was like a domino effect and one started coming down and taking out the next so there are trees lying down across all our yards.
It destroyed my shed, sent my giant pine tree shooting into my neighbours fence destroying that, and yet it left the yard right to the south of me, which is about a 10 foot distance from my shed, completely untouched. Not even a single plastic plant pot is overturned.
Thankfully nobody was hurt. It is a bit wild to look outside and see the damage. There are phone and cable lines down all over the place. Some neighbours had trees fall on and destroy their cars. At least one had four trees fall on their house and they have been told not to stay there because there might be structural damage.
A few streets west, the roof got ripped off an apartment building.
Of course the ugly old swing set that I've been wanting to get rid of since I moved here is perfectly fine. I fear what that means about how hard it really is going to be to get it removed.
The damage is all very localized in pockets which is why everyone thinks it had to be a funnel cloud. So far one witness says he saw what looked like one.
All I know is I'm glad I wasn't home when it happened and I'm glad the damage isn't worse. Nobody got hurt. And except for the one family with the house damage, the trees for the most part took out sheds and garages and cars, and left the homes intact.
There is a lot of clean-up coming our way and my first call in the morning will be to my insurance agent.
I hope I'm not about to learn the hard way how difficult insurance claims can become.
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