Weekly Photo Challenge: Waiting

Whirlwind – Haiga, a photomanipulation by Fergiemoto on Flickr.  (click on image to enlarge)

I posted this image a few months ago on another blog, but it also represents what happened yesterday in our area, “waiting out the wicked winds.”  We experienced the equivalent of level 2 hurricane force winds and our city alone had 92 mile-per-hour gusts. Three miles down the road, the next city, which was hit the hardest in our state, had 102 MPH winds and declared a state of emergency.  The local news reported our cities looked like a warzone with large debris flying and landing everywhere, hundreds of large trees uprooted, power lines down, semi-trucks overturned on the interstate, damage to buildings, property and vehicles, etc., etc.

The winds started shortly after 1:00 a.m. Thursday and lasted until about 4:00 pm.  During the storm, I could feel the house shaking, windows rattling and could hear the wind howling VERY loudly.  Looking out our windows, I saw roof shingles being ripped off houses and flying all around us.  I saw sheets of metal roofing literally peeled off a house as if they were paper and carried away in the storm.  I saw trees bent over from the force of the winds.  We have many trees surrounding us.  We lost power and heat for the day, so I was bundled in several layers of clothing and blankets to keep warm.  There were reports of injuries, but no one who I know of was injured.

The last time we had winds this forceful was in 1999.  Thousands are still left without power right now, and cleanup efforts are well underway.

As far as the photo, I added a swirl effect to the background and kept the bee clear to give it a whirlwind look.