"A powerful series of storms blew through several eastern states late Friday and early Saturday morning, killing at least nine people and throwing at least 3 million people into the dark. " NPR News


Our prayers go out to the family and friends of those killed in the storm. 

Last Friday I was down on the boat painting the hull. After a particularly long hot day I hit the sack early. The skies were clear and bright all afternoon. NOAA weather radio called for severe thunderstorms to the North around Baltimore. Just after midnight I was awakened by the sound of the wind generator humming loudly. The winds were strong out of the Northwest. As I made my way outside to pull down the bimini top and put some tools away there was a gust of at least 50mph. It nearly sent me right over the side of the boat. I pulled down the bimini. As I turned to look at the horizon to the West I saw my 8' ladder begin to go airborn. It snagged on the lifelines. Then one of the cowlings for the dorades came off and was trapped in the rigging. The wind was so severe I had to move about the deck on my hands and knees to keep from being blow over the side. With the ladder and the dorade now secured I went below to get the keys to the car. My  thinking was that I did not want to be aboard if lightning were to strike. It was all around the boatyard. With the full moon the clouds had an ugly green hue to them. Like a week old bruise.  The wind lashed the tree behind the boat bending it double.  I starting to descend the ladder. I could see below that the gravel and the sand of the boatyard was flying  like ocean spray.  About that time the tree behind the boat snapped and half. A good sized part of it came down across the dock onto the boat behind us. The ladder shifted under me with a strong gust. I decided to take my chances aboard rather than get hit with debris. The gusts had the wind generator auto stopping. It was letting me know the winds were in excess of 35 knots. The whole mast was shaking violently. The rigging was singing with harmonics.  I stood in the shelter of the companionway behind the protection of the dodger watching and praying. The Derecho lasted well over two hours. Once past, I fell asleep immediately after my head hit the pillow. 

 In the morning I discovered that all my sandpaper had been taken by the storm. The water cooler had fallen on its side and leaked all the ice water out. But the biggest problem was we had a missing dinghy. A passing yachtswomen mentioned walking along the dock the night before and seeing two dinghies tied up. This morning there was only one. Where the other had been there was now just  a line tied to the dock that ominously descended below the surface. Our beloved "Silver Shadow" had sunk and was pinned under the floating dock.  It would be evening before the tide let me pull the dinghy back to the surface. It was filled with mud and very heavy.  We were very luck indeed. Had the storm been a slow moving front there could have been tornadoes and massive damage. Instead the Derecho passed us at 65mph and headed out over the ocean.

I was to learn later that Ben and Steve , camping an hour away with the boy scouts had been awakened by the leaders of the troop and moved into a shelter. They were proud of being so responsive in the emergency. Steve told me it took just a few minutes to gather the 35 scouts and reach the shelter of the mess hall. We heard that another summer camp was so damaged , it was  closed for at least a week in order to put it right again. 

Jean and Julianna did not escape the storm either. Here in Germantown the power was out for 2 1/2 days. A good friend Bree stopped by.  She took them and our spoiling refrigerator contents home until I returned from the boat on Monday Morning. Keep in mind that what caused the Derecho was record high temperatures. Our house without power quickly rose to 105 degrees. Fortunately the AC was running when I got to Germantown  on Monday so we were able to all return home that afternoon. Jean mentioned that there were numerous trees down in the area and that power crews were cutting them down as fast as they could. I later read that crews from as far away as Texas were brought in to help restore power. 

 In the end; Jean, the boys and Julianna had a great time visiting with our friends Bree, her husband Tony and their daughter Fiona. The house and boat survived undamaged and in general damage was confined mostly to selected areas.  If ever there was a silver lining to a derecho this would be the one.