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Between 9:30 and 11 p.m. Friday night, one of the most destructive complexes of thunderstorms in memory swept through the entire D.C. area. Packing wind gusts of 60-80 mph, the storm produced extensive damage, downing hundreds of trees, and leaving more than 1 million area-residents without power.
WaPost on the terrible storm that swept through Washington DC last weekend.
Actually, these are not that uncommon: true, they are more common in Oklahoma than in Virginia/Pennsylvania, but they do happen.... (I once had to leave a conference in Baltimore a day early because a similar storm swept through, and blew off the roof in our home in nearby Pennsylvania. My son called me to say "Mom it's raining in Alphono's room, and I can see the sky"...so I just told him to move Alphonso (our exchange student) into my bedroom until I could get home and call a roofer.
So what can be good about such storms?
from the Smithsonian Magazine: The Tornado that saved Washington.
...The day of the invasion had been hot, 100 degrees. With much of the city aflame the next day, British soldiers kept moving through, lighting more fires. They didn’t notice the darkening skies, the thunder and lightning. City residents knew a bad storm was on its way and quickly took shelter. The British, though, had no idea how bad a D.C. storm could get.
The clouds began to swirl and the winds kicked up. A tornado formed in the center of the city and headed straight for the British on Capitol Hill. The twister ripped buildings from their foundations and trees up by the roots. British cannons were tossed around by the winds. Several British troops were killed by falling structures and flying debris.
The rain continued for two hours, dousing the flames. The British decided it was time to leave.-------------------------
President Obama was reported safe at Camp David, and if my memory serves me correctly, that mountain area was in the path of the storm... but presumably they have storm shelters and back up generators there.
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Relatives near Philadelphia report a terrible storm but no damage and they still have power.
Maria wrote on Facebook:The storm in S Jersey last night was terrible. Scared us all out of our sleep. Strangely enough when we went outside this morning you would have never known it even rained outside last night. We expected some damage. ............. Suzanne said We escaped the outage! There are people out throughout our area until late in the week. Even a lot around us near the shop are out. Thankfully the shop power survived too!!
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