How are we doing after the storm, Virginians? [View all]

[sofa king]

On Friday night, a good chunk of Virginia was hit by a violent storm front preceded by sustained 60-80 mph winds. For nearly an hour, the winds tore through the trees and probed at roofs and siding.

It happened to hit my beloved Valley just as the walnuts are reaching full size, which in turn ripped down branches everywhere, which blasted the ugly hanging power lines everywhere, which knocked out power to thousands here and hundreds of thousands across the state.

Not atypically for my particular area, the actual rain behind the storm broke on the Allegheny range and did not fall here, which combined with high temperatures and steady breezes is quickly pushing the Valley toward drought. In the meantime, the industrious people of the valley have already largely cleaned up the mess--without electricity, in most cases; yesterday my neighborhood thrummed with the sounds of generators, chippers, and chainsaws.

Now literally thousands of tons of green biomass is being collected into little piles, where they are quickly reacting in the sun and creating thousands of potential fire hazards. And the Fourth approaches.

Please make wise choices in the coming days, my friends. Familiarize yourselves with combating and preventing mulch fires:

http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/print/volume-161/issue-3/features/combating-and-preventing-mulch-fires.html

And good luck to us all!