Hurricane Ike Sends Winds to Columbus, Ohio

Columbus, Ohio -- Watching the local news reporters talk about Hurricane Ike and the affect it has had on Texas, it never crossed my mind that it would have any affect on my family and friends here in Columbus, Ohio.

I woke up on Sunday ready to watch the NFL Network hoping that my Jacksonville Jaguars would win against the Buffalo Bills. Well, when they lost, I should of known it could only get worse.

I live in a small apartment complex that only consist of 3 buildings, 16 units per building. There is one street that leads you there, which means, one way in and one way out. Surrounded by tree's, my friends always joke, "You live in the woods!" I always say its quiet and peaceful back there, but this day proved me different.

After hearing a lot of voices outside and a lot of noise, I decided to get dressed and head outside to see what was going on. Yeah, the news mentioned that the wind was blowing from 25-35 mph, but they didn't have us prepared for what was to come next. Now, I step outside and the tree's are blowing, the leaves are coming off of the branches so easily.

I go outside with my camera to take some photographs of the small bush with no leaves remaining and I hear a loud "BANG!" I look to my left and a tree has fallen. I realized it was a dangerous so I went back inside.

A few moments later a even louder noise along with a vibration through the living room. Thats right, a tree fell aiming my apartment building. I looked out the window and a tree was blocking the only road leading into the complex. People were trying to come and go as they please but for a short moment in time, everything seemed to stop.

The power had surged a couple times after that tree fell, eventually leading the power to be off with in minutes. My cell phone was dying, I had no way to find out what was going on. The neighbors came together to get the tree out of the road. A man from the second building used his truck and a rope to tie around the tree to pull it out of the middle of the road.

The tree was still rooted in the ground, because the tree was pulling the truck backwards, his tires were peeling into the ground and he had only moved it just enough for cars to get by. Soon after another man came out with a hand saw, 6 other men kept the tree still while he cut through it. Eventually they had it in enough pieces that they moved the tree to the side of the parking lot so people would now have enough room to come and go as they please.

Still with out power, sitting in the dark, a boy comes from next door with his camera phone showing pictures of the house at the top of our hill. I thought the tree that fell in front of my building was big, but No! This tree cracked right down the middle landing in the corner of a old business that was just recently sold as a home. I haven't seen anything like this since I lived in Florida during Hurricane Andrew. All these events took place with in a couple of hours. We still were with out power and word of mouth was traveling fast that we may not have any for 5-7 days.

As I listen to people complain about how the AEP Electric Company should not take that long, I wonder about everyone in Texas, and how they have way more to worry about then a fallen tree. I also wonder about how people felt during Hurricane Katrina. This one experience is no where close to how people in Texas must feel. My prayers go out to all the families that have been affected by Hurricane Ike. The thing about that is, not only Texas was affected, it opened up my eyes, so I can't imagine what it has done for others.