Tornado

Folks,

Well, the drama just continues here in Santa Teresa. I had planned to write something entirely different this week, but we were hit by a tornado last night and that's got all my attention today.

There are two pics of the week. Both taken this morning (I'm writing on Friday). The first shows the large tree that landed on the red casita, and the second shows the smaller trees that landed on mine.

The start of the storm
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After a lovely day yesterday, the wind whipped up around 4.30 or 5. Wind is unusual here. There was a windy day before. Well, windy for here, it would be classed as a strong breeze in Ireland. The next day there were branches strewn everywhere, and I remember thinking that they'd know all about it if they got a real wind. How right I was.

At about 5.45 I decided to go in, because things were blowing off the desk. It got worse, and I had to close the windows about 7. There was thunder and lightning, but very light compared to normal. The lights kept flickering on and off as the power supply was interrupted a few times. There is an emergency light powered by battery that is in the casita, so I took it out in case we lost power altogether. That happened just before 8.30.

At this stage the wind was very strong. Even in Ireland this would be really strong. I was imagining the damage it would be causing, but feeling comfortable and safe, lying on top of my bed, reading my emails on the laptop using it's battery.

The first tree
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At around twenty to nine, I heard this incredibly loud cracking sound, followed by an almighty bang. The whole casita shook, and I jumped off the bed and cowered by the bathroom door. Knowing that you should head for a door frame in an earthquake I decided that's where I'd head for almighty bangs also.

It was without doubt the loudest noise I've ever heard while I was inside a house. I was quite sure the casita had been hit by lightning. Then I realised that there had been no lightning. It was just like really loud, up close thunder.

I just stood there in shock, my heart going nineteen to the dozen. After about 5 minutes, the wind died down a little, and I opened the door to see if I could see anything outside. I just got this overwhelming smell of sap and leaves. I came out with my torch, and shone it at the end of the porch, and over the surf board box there was lots of bushy trees and branches blowing about, which had never been there before. I turned the torch to the side, to the roof of the red house, and saw this huge tree lying across the roof. It had cracked along its trunk on impact. You can see the tree in the first picture. But when I saw it first it was still dark and in the wind and rain.

The second tree
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I went back inside. I was frightened, but not petrified. Although the tree had been huge, the casita looked to be still standing. I wasn't sure if branches had gone through the roof. I decided to stay on the couch, which was on the opposite side to where the trees are. All the trees are behind the casitas.

So I'm trying to remain calm, realising that anything else isn't going to help. I did, however, pack my bag. I thought that it was possible that Ronald, Charlie's business partner, might arrive to evacuate me to the big house. Or I thought that the casita might also be clobbered by a tree and I'd have to leave. Either way, I thought be prepared.

The battery had gone on the laptop, so I brought the emergency light over, grabbed a beer, and read my book. My heart went every time the wind got stronger. I was waiting for a tree to come through the roof at any minute. The wind was changing in intensity every few minutes, and you'd hear distant cracking.

At 9.15 a louder cracking sound came, and I knew another tree was falling. There was a clatter on the roof, and I was fairly sure it had hit, but it was nothing like as loud as when the tree hit the red casita. A few minutes later there was another crash on the roof. Whether this was another tree, a branch, or the original tree settling I couldn't be sure.

Aftermath
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The wind eased off about 15 minutes later, and I went out with the emergency light, and I could see that there were branches and leaves on top of the casita. I went back in feeling a little easier, because I thought if anything else fell the branches on the roof would have a cushioning effect.

At about 10, the wind died away completely. It was almost eerily silent. I went out again, it was difficult to see the full damage, but I could see that several of the trees had simply snapped completely, the trunk was there, but snapped about three quarters way up, and there was no sign of the top of tree. I had noticed before when I watched the gardener trimming some branches before that the trees are very brittle. There is none of the suppleness most trees have in Ireland where they will bend a lot before they break.

One tree was just a snapped off trunk, and there was a big green iguana clutching the broken top looking up at the rain wondering where the rest of it had gone.

Today
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I woke at 6, and headed out straight away, to see in the daylight what had happened. The whole place looked like a disaster. There were branches and leaves everywhere. The plants had been blown over. The full size of the enormous tree on the red casita was clear. The front of the casita and its porch was completely hidden in foliage of the top of tree.

I walked up the steps, and saw that some smaller trees had fallen onto my casita, and also that there was a tree on the blue casita too. They'd all been hit. Mine was the only one occupied, and probably also the lightest hit. Above the car park there was a tree that had been hit by lightning. It looked like it had been blown apart.

Ronald arrived to survey the damage. He told me that it had been a tornado, although how close to us it was I don't know. He said it had hit Jacó too, and that's quite a distance away. I haven't seen a paper yet. I went out to the village this morning and there were no papers in the shops. The road was impassable in several places apparently, but it was cleared later on.

They had to unblock the little road down from here which was blocked in two places by fallen trees. The sound of chainsaws is everywhere.
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So, that's it for this week. Today, Friday as I write, is a beautiful day, the clean up has been thorough and swift. They're putting the electricity poles back up behind me as I write.

Things are progressing on the writing front, but I'll hold that over until next week.

So until next week,

Chau,

Éamon

Today's Headline in La Nación: Public prosecutor investigates named Education Ministry politicians