More Horrible Weather

I got off work early on Friday so I decided to make my way over to the mall. I had a few things to return and I wanted to check out a couple of the summer sales that I had seen advertised. It was a beautiful day outside. As I was driving, I remember thinking that it was the perfect day to take Misha to the park and I planned to do so as soon as I got home. After about an hour of shopping, I found myself in Express, rummaging through the clearance section when I noticed two people rush through the store entrance- they were sopping wet from head to toe! I eavesdropped enough to find out that it was pouring rain and hailing, the wind speed was up near 90 mph, and the tornado sirens were going off outside. Shortly after, there was an announcement that all the stores would be closing and everyone in the mall was to make their way to the basement. I was relatively calm after I found out that there were no tornado warnings in effect, but I began to revert back to panic mode when I wasn't able to reach Ryan. I tried to call him about a million times but my calls kept failing. Sweet, Verizon... way to go... Anyway, after only a couple of minutes there was another announcement that said the storm had eased up and we could all go back upstairs. I was finally able to reach Ryan a little while later and I recounted the traumatic series of events that I had just been through. Luckily Ryan was home safe and sound and experienced no hardship from the storm. As I drove home, I was amazed at the damage that mother nature had caused. There were huge uprooted trees, leaves and broken tree branches strewn all over the place, flooded streets, and numerous power outages. There were many houses that were damaged by the hail, wind, and fallen trees and there were even two teens in Council Bluffs who were killed by a tree that had fallen onto their car. I shudder to think that this season of nasty weather is only half over. Ugh... Here are some pictures of the aftermath that I found on a local news website.

The Omaha Summer Arts Festival was going on at the time the storm hit. It came so fast that no one had any time to prepare.

The storm tore off part of the roof at the Omaha Qwest Center where they are holding the US Olympic Swim Trials