Community Chat

[Spurt]

We got through the storm okay here in San Antonio ----lots of lightning and rain (and we needed rain badly).....But sadly reports of a tornado, high winds, hail and roofs being torn off buildings in the Castroville area....my thoughts and prayers go out to those people impacted....

@MamaWick 

Glad you and your hubby and Cricket and your son are safe! 

[Spurt]

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@BlueFinch wrote:

@MamaWick  I was thinking of you (and the deer) up north from me, hoping you wouldn't have large hail. Glad you were okay.

Several years ago we had a bad storm. I was just looking out the front window, right at the moment, when ball lightening struck in middle of my driveway. I think both my feet left the floor at once. I didn't even know what it was at the time. It was amazing to see. 

It was an electrical impact that made my hair stand on end, even in the house. My smoke detectors began screeching and then there was the smell of smoke.  

We called the fire dept to check things out, but before they arrived I noted that the battery charger on my departed DH's motorcycle was the source of smoke. It completely ruined the charger. Crazy, huh? 

The firemen checked all my walls with a devise to see any hot spots, but gave us an all clear. Needless to say, being alone now, I'm more than a little nervous when facing storms.

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@BlueFinch 

😮

[corita]

       Very Southwest Texas here and would love some of your rain!!  Last rain here was in February and it was only .02 inches!!  We are so dry!!  Clouds and dark sky today...but no rain drops!!  Still hoping....

[BlueFinch]

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@Icegoddess wrote:

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@BlueFinch wrote:

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@LonestarBabs wrote:

I'm in Dallas/Ft. Worth. Parts of the region were hammered by large hail as you described but thankfully none fell in my area. Rained during the night with more to come today, so our biggest risk now is flooding. I have a french drain around my property and it is doing its job!

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@LonestarBabs  Every time it floods here, I tell myself to investigate french drains. Then it dries out and we're in drought again and I get complacent, like it will never flood again. You know, denial. Now is the time. I have to do something. 

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I wouldn't expect a French drain to work if the streets are also flooded.  We have one, but it's not to eliminate the possibility of flooding.  We live on a hill so we don't want water flowing down and stopping against the house.  Ours empties into the front yard.  They had to cut the holding tank because they couldn't get through the rock even with a jackhammer, but I'm still surprised when I find the little cover popped up.

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@Icegoddess My street doesn't flood, it's just that my house is lower than the street and the water accumulates in my driveway and against the front of my home. Not good for a foundation.

I have quality gutters and other means to try to redirect it, but it's the shape of my roof that can't handle downpours. Two areas are a track to a V.  It's a funnel for the rain. It'll shoot right over my gutters. I'm not sure french drains will work either, but I'll check it out.  

[mspatmac]

@BlueFinch   Nice of you to check in.  I'm near DFW airport and had lots of heavy rain, only had some dime size hail, it had lessened in size before it got to my area.  We were very lucky. Denton County was hit much harder with baseball size hail and damage. 

[SharkE]

Don't want that **** hail, but, in amarillo we sure could use a good soaker.

It 'misted' around here. Big whoop !