On 4 May 99, at 16:24, Karen Cravens wrote:
> We're in the core area, just across the river from downtown, so it's
> geographically unlikely that a critter will ever touch down here. We got
> some hail (3/4-1" diameter) but that was the extent of it in our part of
> town.
Well, I've done gone and seen it. (Inadvertently; rubbernecking is
discouraged and there's a dusk-to-dawn curfew down south to
prevent looting.) Kellogg, a/k/a US54, a/k/a the only effective way
to get from west to east in Wichita, was at a standstill in all three
(and sometimes four) eastbound lanes, so we ducked off to some
secondary streets while driving across town to the game shop
(which, incidentally, didn't have anything worthwhile).
I hadn't realized the destruction extended that far north*. It's
something to be seen... Kansas is not big on trees, but there are
plenty that have been planted in the older sections of town (we
have some around the house that are probably fifty to seventy
years old). There are healthy trees two foot in diameter that are in
pieces. There are sections of roofs all over the neighborhoods
down there (and when you see one, it's usually not within sight of
the house it came off of), power lines down (a lot of places aren't
expected to have power for a week)... poles snapped in half,
delivery trucks flipped on their backs, that kind of thing.
I can't imagine what Haysville looks like... I've seen a few pictures,
but that's nothing compared to seeing the real thing, and I just saw
the fringes. And Oklahoma City is worse... what I'm hearing from
people down there (it's only about an hour and a half south of here,
so I even know some people who commute, oddly enough) is that
they're not showing the worst part on the news, because showing
roofless houses and stacked cars gives a point of reference, but
showing a field of absolutely nothing but mud and concrete slabs
doesn't have any impact... unless you were one of the thousands of
people that used to have a house there and it's now *completely*
gone.
So, when it comes time for Carl and I to buy or build our next
house, I'm thinking "underground" is a good style.
(*For those of you without handy Wichita maps, we're located just
off Second Street (N), about two miles east of Main Street.
Downtown Haysville is nine miles due south (okay, and one block
over) of downtown Wichita. The street we were on was only a mile
or two south of downtown, and a couple miles east.)
--
Karen J. Cravens silver@phoenyx.net
The Dog Ate My Sketchbook: http://silver.phoenyx.net/
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