Holiday Ice Storm in Tulsa, Oklahoma

First you hear cracking and loud snapping, then a whoosh, then thud. That is what it sounds like when tree limbs are breaking and dropping around your home in the early morning hours as they did yesterday in Tulsa. Of course, when they hit the roof as mine did that is the same sound with the added crashing sound they make as they make contact with it. It is a terrifying experience. I had two huge maple trees in back of my home and one very large one in front. The ones in the back were doing the most damage with limbs the size of what would be a medium size tree dropping on the roof. Your heart starts to beat really hard as you search for where to go in your home to avoid being under a collapsing roof. And, to add to it you have nowhere to go because limbs are falling on the street and it is dangerous to go out of your home.

When I drove home from work Saturday it was raining large ice pellets but I was able to slowly drive back to my warm, cozy home where I snuggled my little dog and felt thankful to have made it there through the storm. That was before the trees decided to attack, well not really, but that is how it felt. About 1:30 a.m. after many hours of icy rain falling and attaching itself to the trees, I woke up hearing a whoosh and a thud and I knew it was a large limb falling in the yard. Then I started pacing. Soon the cracking was both in the front and the back of the house and branches were falling everywhere and my heart started racing. By 6:30 a.m. one fell on the living room just a foot and a half from the skylight and poked through the roof into the living room. In all I ended up with four holes in the roof that my friendly contractor patched up today and covered with a tarp.

Here in Oklahoma we are used to the worry of a tornado but I personally never worried about an ice storm, other than not wanting to drive in it. The experience of trying to find a place in the house to stand while limbs some of which are a foot or more in circumference fall on the roof is very similar to wondering where to go when the sirens go off. Today I was told which was the load-bearing wall and where I should stand when something like this happens. This experience seemed to be reminiscent of the war experience of people who are dodging bullets or explosions. I know that because a veteran who was interviewed said that was how he felt. After daylight the electricity went off and people were starting to brave the roads. A gigantic limb that fell all the way across it, however, covered my driveway. When friends called and said they were coming to get me I was worried about them coming near here because limbs were still falling and it was so dangerous. But they wouldn't take no for an answer and didn't want me to stay home with no electricity and the possibility of more damage. If one of the trees were to fall instead of just large limbs, it would have done major damage to my home. As I drove around today, I saw homes where that happened.

While I waited for my friend I stood at my front door and I saw a limb fall from the neighbor's tree across their car that was parked in front of their house and fall across the street blocking it from traffic. Soon a car pulled up with two men in orange hard hats. They got out and told the neighbor they were going to cut up the tree and get it off their car but first they would get the tree off my driveway. I said to them "do you want me to pay you?" They said "no." I said "why are you being so nice." They said, "Jesus put us here to serve and that is what we are doing." That simple witness was more of a witness to me than any sermon.

Add to that, my friend was not staying at her home but was staying with another friend of hers who I had never met. So, last night my dog and I both spent a restful, peaceful night with many children, adults, and pets who were sheltering in the one house who still had heat and power. I heard on the news that 187,000 people in Tulsa were without electricity and when I got home today, mine was on. So, now I am in a cozy, peaceful place that I have offered as shelter to friends who are still without power. It is a cozy peaceful place with patched holes and a large tarp over the back of the house, but we take what we can get.

The morale of this story is: know where your load bearing walls are, even if you don't live in Oklahoma and maybe trim your trees if you can so they won't be able to fall on your home in a severe ice event, and last but foremost have good friends who care.