I said in a previous post that thankfully we had no uprooted trees in our area.
In fact, we did and I just didn't know about it, as two trees in a park surrendered to the gale force winds.
Not only that, as a school was also hit with severe damages. The story goes that the principal was worried about the safety of the children in the classrooms, and so he gave the order for all of the children to be ushered into the school's hall. We were told that a few minutes later all hell broke loose, as the school's windows were blown out, and the classrooms lost their roofs. Metal carports in the school's parking area were blown apart, and the roof sheets were folded up like pieces of paper. Thankfully no children were hurt.
Come and look at those trees.
We saw this mountain from a road in the town, but I couldn't get a clear shot of it because of the buildings in the way. I know this spot on the outskirts of the town and that was why we came to this area, so that I can get fairly clear shots of the clouds and the mountain.
But then a short distance away this photo below drew my attention.
I could hear nature laughing at me, as this very much looked like two uprooted Stone Pine trees.
Very big trees but they were no match for the force of the storm winds.
The one tree even smashed a part of the playground equipment. It is a public park, where the residents take relaxing walks, some even with their dogs, and playground equipment were installed below the trees.
Here is a closer look at the blue and yellow metal frame that was once a swing or something like that.
A look at the rear of the trees.
The storm was done, but the wind was still very choppy as you can see in the clouds.
Further to the story of the damages at the school, some trees also fell on to the prefab classrooms where some of the children were in before the principal summoned them to the gathering in the school hall. The prefab classrooms were totally destroyed, so the principal's timing was excellent, as one could only imagine what would have happened if there were children in those classrooms. We think that the principal deserves a hero status. The media here is filled with reports about the storm damages, and it is going to cost millions to repair.
Emergency teams are active all over the province as overflowed dam walls broke and sent tons of water into the rivers below the dams, that causes the rivers to go into flood, and it is a chain reaction because everything that is close to the widening of the river's path is washed away. The water is so strong that it can even lift farm tractors. Warnings are out not to cross low level bridges in the flooding rivers, but sadly it has already cost some lives and cars that are simply swept off the bridges by the force of the water.
Such is life.
I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the story.
Photos by Zac Smith. All-Rights-Reserved.
Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.
Until next time, cheers!