[Previous entry: "Sweet Summer Rain"] [Next entry: "Sports Wrap"]

07/24/2006: "Careful What You Ask For"

All I wanted to do was experience a little genuine Midwest weather ... feel the gentle rain ... smell the wet air ... look for horseys in the clouds ...

I did not ask for the Storm of the Century, but apparently I got it. That little storm that blew through in my last entry turned out to be a real monster. It blew out windows at Busch Stadium, knocked down dozens of trees, and left hundreds of thousands without power. And, as you might have guessed by now, took away my Internet connection.

The first sign that things might not be normal was when all the local TV channels were off the air on Thursday morning. Watching the Weather Channel in my hotel room, I could see that things were worse than I had thought, and SportsCenter was replaying the tape from the Cardinals game of the wind shredding the field tarp. Even so, I think we knew less of the magnitude of the crisis than those outside the greater St. Louis area.

I was in meetings all day Thursday, and early in the morning there was an announcement that a "boil water order" was in effect, and had closed the cafeteria. Shortly thereafter, the coffee provided for the meeting was confiscated, since the water quality was in question. That afternoon, the point was driven home when the notice at left was found in my room - with a complementary bottle of water ...

One of our team members landed in St. Louis just after the storm had hit the airport, and told stories of being led through a pitch-black terminal by the light of a cell phone. I was happy to have missed that as I listened to the weather report Friday morning in preparation for a 1 PM flight. The forecast - another severe storm. By 10:30, we were on our way to drop off the rental car, and it was clear that the storm was going to hit before we were airborne. As I fueled the car at a nearby gas station (which, I later learned, was one of the few in town with electricity - hence the large lines I saw), I could see the storm bearing down from the north. We pulled into the drop-off line at Alamo and pulled our bags out of the car to wait for the lot attendant. Just then, the first drops of rain fell, and I sensed they weren't the last. In the time it took me to open the trunk, restow the bags and jump back in the car, I was soaked - it was like standing in front of a fire hose.

For the next 45 minutes, we were treated to an amazing show. Absolute torrential rain - at least several inches - accompanied by wicked bolts of lightning. About 10 minutes into the storm, a stray bolt hit a transformer about 100 yards away, causing it to explode and power to go out all around us. At this point, I'm thinking the chances of getting out of town on time are pretty slim, but what the hell - it's Friday. Clearly, though, others didn't see it that way, as several folks abandoned their cars and sprinted for the shuttle bus without bothering to go through the check-in process. I was considering the same, but I knew that the flights would have to be delayed, and besides - I needed the receipt! Fortunately, after about half an hour the rain slowed and the lot attendants reappeared. We checked the car in and were directed to a small hut that housed the tram stop. At least it was dry, but there was 2 inches of water sheeting across the lot - and through the hut. Oh, and it was solid aluminum - just what you want in a lightning storm. But we made it to the airport and, after an hour and a half delay to straighten out all the flights re-routed by the storm, got our flight home.

I just love business travel.

As a post-script, the Governor of Missouri declared a State of Emergency, and President Bush a Federal Disaster Declaration for St. Louis. This morning I heard that there are still 450,000 residents without power, and the temperature is still hovering around 100.

Makes our little heat wave seem pretty tame ...

UPDATE: Here's the report from a fellow blogger who was at the game - and had the crap scared out of him ...