Wild winds wreak havoc

[brex2001]

Well, I've been awake since about 12 AM....winds have done damage to the 10ft Orbitron, again. Last year the dish was blown over on the stand bending the outer ring & popping out panels . This morning I moved the dish to a vertical position to lessen the profile in the wind. Friggin' wind picked up a 6ft aluminum ladder & tossed it into the dish knocking out 3 panels. The ladder had been leaning up against the house - 20 ft away.

My 1.0M Andrew was picked up from lying on its back at ground level, flipped over 12ft away breaking the LNB clamp. Fortunately the feedhorn & LNB weren't in it. Never even got to put it up on a pole yet!

Won't be doing any more testing with the Orbitron.......

Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad - my neighbors have vehicle & house damage(s) from the city street trees losing limbs.

Any other FTAers in the southwest have their pride & joys assaulted by mother nature?

(Yeah, I know....the damages done here pale in comparison to what happens elsewhere.)

 

[sergei]

I live in the area of Vinton, Iowa and and we also got nailed by high winds this year and last night on the news they revised the winds from 130 to around 150. I ended up with 31,000 dollars in damage.

Mother nature is not happy!

 

[RT-Cat]

I live in the area of Vinton, Iowa and and we also got nailed by high winds this year and last night on the news they revised the winds from 130 to around 150. I ended up with 31,000 dollars in damage.

Oh, MY! If that is MPH that sounds more like a tornado. Too far inland for a hurricane. Must have been some of those straight line down bursts? That is crazy for wind!

 

[chapelrun]

WOW, sorry to hear that - - - hope you can get it all put back together!

 

[turbosat]

Reminds me how fortunate I've been! With the tornado attack earlier this year, and now other parts of the country suffering damage from high winds...

 

[sergei]

Oh, MY! If that is MPH that sounds more like a tornado. Too far inland for a hurricane. Must have been some of those straight line down bursts? That is crazy for wind!

It was all straight line winds that did the damage and the most power from it started at around the 20 foot mark as tree's were either pushed over or just snapped off. The storm started coming together in Marshall county with winds in the 60 mph range and gained strength until it got to Benton county where it was at it's maximum. I couldn't relate before about being in a really strong storm, but I sure can now. The storm that hit me came at 4:30 in the morning and couldn't see a lot, just heard it.

 

[brex2001]

Power was just restored at 1:12 AM here.

A row of 20 wooden high voltage poles south of my area were knocked down flat to the highway. That's just my area. These same poles were supposed to have been replaced by the contractor for Edison several years ago. What did they do with the money???
4 huge oak trees at City of Hope hospital sheared off at ground level. There was an 100+ year old oak in a nearby park the gets decorated for Christmas every year. Uprooted & gone now.

The wind speed data recorder at Mt. Baldy stops at 150MPH. There are gaps where they believe this was exceeded. Its being said that it was something on the order of 180 MPH!

New member ivanyakinoff's Orbitron got nailed hard with palm fronds. Oh joy. I get to go fix that too.

 

[sergei]

The winds we had only last 20 minutes and not days so just watching TV news it's really hard to believe what 's happening in your area. I bet all the insurance adjusters are already heading your way. I had called in the same morning to my insurance company and it was three weeks before someone showed up to inspect the damage, and he came from Texas.

 

[brex2001]

There are some neighbors that had vehicle damages from the city trees. I had asked that the tree in my front yard be trimmed because of dead branches - they found center of the limbs & trunk were dry rotted & so removed it 3 months ago. Glad of that. My neighbors - not so lucky. Doubtless the city is going to pay some heavy premiums for liability insurance next year.

 

[AcWxRadar]

Brex and Sergei,

WOW! That's frightening. I heard about the winds at LAX (I think it was LAX, might have been San Diego) and that must have been about the same time frame. I did not hear about the winds in IA, though. I am sorry for both of you as well as everyone else affected. Just a few years back, we had some straight-line winds that wreaked havoc here in my area of Nebraska. Not sure of the mph estimates now, but the swath that it took looked worse than a disaster had struck. There wasn't anything... No fallen trees, no downed power poles, no houses, no grass, no crops no weeds, no buildings, no fenceposts or fencewire.... It was just bare dirt, nothing left! Like nothing had ever existed there before, for miles! Looked like the surface of the moon in several patches anyway.

Fortunately, that wind didn't hit a highly populated area. It went through the country and farmland areas. I know the farmers out there saw it as a devistation, but it could have been worse, no one was killed or even hurt that I recall. Property can be replaced, a life cannot.

RADAR

 

[TRG]

Any other FTAers in the southwest have their pride & joys assaulted by mother nature?

We had 88 mph gusts here in New Mexico. Fortunately for me there was no damage to my house or dish farm. My dishes are next to a block wall so they get a little bit of protection.