NOTHING LIKE I’VE EVER SEEN – THE COLORS AND THE CLOUD FORMING OVER DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND AND HOVERING. HUGE CLOUD.
I CAN’T SEE MY KEYBOARD – SO I SLANTED THE MONITOR DOWN TO ILLUMINATE IT. Thunder in the background. Saw lightning in the pink clouds downtown. The wind was big through the windows – now it’s small. Closed them first thing. The trees blowing ferociously. Now they’re relatively calm.
The rain is starting – starts and stops. Look to the right outside the window to see Cleveland skyline. It’s gone.
Lights are out east to west to north – I don’t know about south. Can’t see south from here.
The rain falls gently actually. It’s getting darker and darker outside. It’s 8:38 PM my computer time. It should be light and bright outside now.
Terminal Tower coming a little more into focus. They must have generators downtown.
Every now and then I see lightning – nothing big. Oops. There’s a big thunder.
A couple of weeks ago, I bought a 2 dollar lantern with batteries for emergency lighting. Who would know I would use it so soon? That’s in the main living space. I also bought 2 other type emergency lighting candle type things – that we can’t figure out how to use. They have fuel, but require a dime, a screw driver or something to take off the cap, that we tried, but gave up on, since it didn’t open easily – and we were both afraid that we’d push too hard and break it – and the fuel would go all over the place. Lesson – learn how to use it in the light.
Just heard some neighborhood car making a loud statement with the gunning of his car engine – down some street close by.
It’s 8:48 PM and now it’s black outside. Rain still not hard. Lightening flickering in the distance. Thunder a ways away – hearing police sirens now.
Cleveland downtown is gone again – can’t see anything.
Usually when the lights go out, it’s our building and a few streets – this is different. The entire Gold Coast is out too – that’s where all the high-end condos are.
I saw a few cars moving really slow, like you see in a blizzard, then a saw a couple of cars speeding is what I would call it.
Whoa, big rolling thunder coming in.
Never saw anything like this. It’s so black outside my window, that it’s blacker than midnight and it’s 9:03 PM 19 August 2014.
The rain sounds miniscule now – almost like a light summer rain that has finished its major raining for the day.
I don’t particularly mind when the lights go out – other than an inconvenience – but when the sun and moon are eclipsed by this gigantic cloud, well, I’m somewhat concerned.
Thunder seems to be coming in a little closer.
Looked again – cars now – only the occasional cars – are driving at a snail’s pace. The only lights in the distance are the crime street lights down on Clifton Blvd. They must be on some sort of generator system too. Oops, heard another car doing that racing through the streets thing.
Actually, when I first felt the wind blowing through the window near where I sit at the computer, I thought I heard a tornado warning – one of those sirens that go off. I only heard it once though.
It’s not like we can turn on the television set to see the local news people tracking this storm and telling people what to do.
Oops on me now. I’m on the computer. I thought maybe I can just type, not get on the internet. Let’s see.
Went to cleveland.com – took a while to actually see anything related to weather – in the footer I found it – still when I clicked on – nothing about what’s going on in Cleveland now.
Now where do I go if I can’t go to Cleveland? Googled it – cleveland weather now storm – blackout. Eureka, I thought > stormtrack weather blackout. chanel 19 news. I clicked on, and it’s an article from 10 July 2014 on how to protect yourself.
Is anybody awake in Cleveland? It’s 9:27 PM. Where are all the sites one is supposed to go to when there’s a blackout?
I googled ‘blackout in cleveland’. I came up with 2003. It’s 2014 folks – I want now information.
How and where do I get current information?
Finally I google channel 3 news – it’s not like I pay attention to the news show number – but I tried and at least they’re tracking it – the storm.
“As storms and high winds cut across Northeast Ohio, we have reports of power outages.
FirstEnergy is reporting thousands of customers in the dark Tuesday evening.
Over 20,000 FirstEnergy are without power in Cuyahoga County. The following is the number of customers without power as of 8:45 p.m.:
Lakewood: 11,352
Cleveland: 8,502
Rocky River: 999
North Royalton: 268″
That doesn’t add up to 20,000. The Illuminating Co./First Energy map was useless.
This lantern that’s supposed to last 24 hours is dimming. Almost gone.
Steve is in bed – he has to get up at 4 AM to go to work. Right now we have no water pressure – which may mean no shower in the morning for him.
I don’t know who got hit by the storm – if anyone. Maybe it’s just a blackout. Guess I’ll hear more about it in the morning.
What surprised me was that the internet news isn’t nearly as comprehensive as the television news. In a blackout no one can watch their T.V. They really do need to upgrade that part of disseminating the news in times like this – via the internet.
The thunder still roars at a distance, no sound of rain now. A distance flash of lightning every now and then. The Cleveland skyline has come back somewhat in focus. Their generators are working just fine.
I don’t know how long this battery on my computer will work – never had to test it before.
Looks like the worst of whatever could have happened is over – except for the blackout.
So I might as well go to bed too. Listen to the silence – except for the weather – and catch some z’s – and hope we have electricity in the morning.
Oh, my little soy candle is still burning strong. Wow, a dollar I paid. Glad for that.
nite nite – 10:05 PM 19 August 2014.
UPDATE: THE LIGHTS IN Cleveland just came back on 10:10 PM
Just as I finished listing this article on Word Warrior article Index – bam – the lights when on, the air conditioner started – Steve gets his shower in the morning after all!
WORD WARRIOR DAVIES-TIGHT™ 