Hurricane Ike in the Ohio Valley

Today, electricity was restored to my condominium. It had been out since Sunday around noon. Hurricane Ike, which made landfall in the Galveston, Texas vicinity, made a track up through the Ohio Valley with hurricane force winds widespread in the Louisville area. The official peak wind gust was 81 mph. But, strong tropical storm force winds were sustained throughout the afternoon on Sunday, creating much damage and causing a 75 - 80% power outage for the local utility company, LG&E. In my parents' neighborhood, I saw many trees down, several falling onto housetops, others knocking down power lines. For a while, even telephone service was down. Now, it is four days later, and some businesses are just now getting power restored and opening up once again. LG&E officials have said that some areas might not get power for up to two weeks, 10 to 14 days after the onslought of the powerful windstorm. Usually, the remnants of hurricanes that reach this part of the country only bring torrential rains. But, this one made history! It was a windstorm, and not a rainstorm at all. In fact, little if any rainfall occurred. Unfortunately, Kentucky needs rain desperately. This is traditionally the driest time of year, but lawns are mostly brown and foliage is shriveling. It looks like this autumn season will bring a dry, far from spectacular change in fall color. Dull would probably be a good word to describe it. Well, I will report more about the storm later. There is much to be accomplished after four days without electricity.