The Memphis Storm of 2003

HUGE STORM

2003 Jul 22 Tuesday

"astonished at how little coverage this disaster has received in the national press. You would think, given the freakish nature of this storm and the devastation it brought, that there would be some coverage."

The power flickering on and off woke us. Then came the rain and then suddenly the wind. We all ran downstairs and watched as it shoved giant, sturdy oaks into power lines, cars, and homes, smashing windows and roofs from one end of Memphis to another.

Riding our bikes around midtown, you could see how much damage had been done to houses, trees, powerlines and telephone poles, and how much more could have been done.

As bad as it was, we were fortunate that it wasn't a tornado. That it didn't hit an hour later, when so many more people would have been on the roads, That it didn't kill more than two people.

As soon as the storm passed, people were out everywhere seeing what they could do to help.

Clearing driveways, sidewalks and streets. Cutting into fallen trees with chainsaws. Sharing batteries, cell phones and chain saws. Calling radio stations to report blocked roads, downed power lines, and where to find gas, food and lodging.

The wind sucked big oaks out of the ground, sawed off limbs, and hurled them into cars, carports and porches. It turned metal awnings into missiles and shingles into flying blades.

Just about everyone suffered a little property damage, some a lot. Luckily the worst thing that happened to us is that we lost our power for 3 days and had some limbs around the yard. None of our trees fell. None of the garden plants were crushed or annihilated. Somehow no one was hurt.

We did see many houses where a big limb or tree blocked streets, driveways, or smashed cars. Sometimes entire houses were obliterated. This was more common than you would think.

After the storm passed, everyone was out on the street, a bit shaken but safe. Every now and then we could hear sirens, but no one was that worried.

Tuesday 306,000 without power at the peak of the outage caused by the Tuesday storm.

Thursday 190,000 without power

Friday 176,000 without power

75% of intersections with traffic lights had no functioning traffic lights

There was no air-conditioning, no television and nothing to do at home. People were out sitting on porches, sitting in yards, walking in the streets, driving around, kinda at a loss as to what to do when you can't go to work and can't watch TV. Anybody who was selling food or beer could be guanteed of running out of both.

"an electricity-free Memphis at night - dodging trees, electrical wires and finally getting inside one's home using the Braille method of entry" The streets were absolutely dark, and you could see stars just like when you are camping out in the country somewhere.

"Motorists are using other kinds of signals where traffic lights are out...Some are audible...Some were a combination of sound and gesture...It took 52 minutes to travel south 4,000 feet" Most of the traffic lights had no power, so suddenly every intersection in town is a 4 way stop. Some people handled this concept better than others. Amazingly,

no accidents involving critical or fatal injuries had occurred by midafternoon Wednesday as a result of the crippled intersections and clogged roads... the number of accidents might have been fewer than normal, he said. "Most every intersection we got is out. People are having to go slow.

By the second day, "food in your fridge is spoiling. The temperature in your house is rising. The candles are losing their charm. You can't get a cold drink, a hot meal or a warm shower. You rue the day you traded a regular phone for a cordless."

Quote of the week: "if that was a thunderstorm, I don't ever want to be in a hurricane."

We got our power back finally on Friday.

I actually miss the simplicity of not having it. Of sitting in the dark reading harry potter with a flashlight. Of having dinner parties by candle light every day because you have to eat the food in your fridge before it goes bad. Of seeing everyone you know everywhere because suddenly no one has to work. Of having a couple days off from the rat race.