Monsoon in Northwest Ohio

It was like any other rainy day. I donned my hat and jacket and went along my merry way. I stopped by the mall to see a friend, got Starbucks and then started for church.

---then suddenly the THUNDERSTORM OF 2006 struck Toledo! Buckets of water came streaming down and I was forced to creep along slowly down the back roads. It was scary! During church I kept getting phone calls. As soon as church was over I got my messages from Jenn (the friend at the mall) - right after the storm started there was a report of tornadoes and the mall was shut down and all of the shoppers and storeowners were forced into the hallways.

There was a downed powerline a few doors from the church, so a portion of the road was blocked. The entire way home I'm listening to the news of people sighting possible "funnel clouds" all around our area while I'm watching huge streaks of lighting all over the sky. Cars were stuck at various flooded intersections and people were being told to keep off the roads.

I finally came to my development. Sighed a huge sigh of relief. I was home. I pulled in..
only to find myself staring at a river down the middle of our lane. Every road in our park was flooded and two cars were already stuck in the middle of the street. Missy and I parked on somewhat dry ground at the front of the park, removed our shoes and started heading down the lane to our house.

I happened to have my digital camera in the car and grabbed it. Missy and I snapped pictures while we walked. We were in water up to our thighs!! It is the craziest thing I have ever seen. (kind of exciting acutally) Thank God the rain had stopped for the moment. Lots of neighbors had the same problems we did and we saw several cars stuck. - even helped push a van to higher ground. The houses are fine and we got safely to our trailer - when it started raining again! If I didn't have pictures to prove it, I never would have believed it was possible! I spend years in Florida and evacuate for hurricanes - yet a thunderstorm in Ohio forces me to be stranded in my house.Who woulda thought?!



So today I am sitting home watching the water out my front door. Not complaining for a day off.. but I'm wondering how they are going to take care of all of this water! We are going to be dealing with this for days and tomorrow I just may have to walk barefoot to my car and bring shoes to wear for work. CRAZY!!!