About 10:20pm Monday night Ava had just woken up for her first feeding of the night. Since we were still on vacation for one more day Graham graciously offered to get up and feed her. So I snuggled back into my covers and went to sleep.
I was awoken again 5 minutes later or so by a 'Ping' on the window. Before we went to bed the weather was calm, warm and quiet. Hm, weird. I thought and closed my eyes again.
PING!
I sat up and all of a sudden it sounded like the house was under attack! Hail pounded the windows, coming in sideways! I jumped up and looked outside. When the lightning flashed you still couldn't see anything because it was hailing so hard it was literally a white out! The wind was blowing so hard I was sure a tornado was coming. My second thought, was oh shit my car! I have a new highlander that I love dearly. it is normally garaged but we've been redoing our bathroom and painting in the garage so it was parked in the driveway. Graham ran outside risking life and limb and pulled it into the garage.
The noise of the hail was deafening. The wind was pulling trees sideways. It was crazy, I had never seen anything like it. Then, just as suddenly it was gone.
Graham and I turned off our T.V for the summer so I had no idea what was going on. The News websites were not yet updated. But we seemed to escape with our house and trees unharmed, minus the hail shredding the leaves off.
At 11:30 our phone rang. Apparently my oldest sister was out at an amusement park when the storm hit. She just got a little rain where she was but they decided to head home. On the way she saw a tree that was blown down. She decided to stop by my Mom's house to be sure it was okay. My Mom was at work and Angie called her on the way to tell her of the storm and how some trees in the neighborhood were knocked down, along with several power lines. As she drove down my Mother's road she couldn't see anything but flashlights waving around in the dark. The storm knocked out the power. As she got closer she saw it... the huge pine tree in my mom's front yard was down, completely blocking the road. Thankfully it didn't hit anything. But as Angie inspected the house and went into the back yard a huge branch off the massive tree in my moms backyard had fallen. Right on to the roof of her house leaving a car size hole. The whole house was flooded. My Mom left work and called her husband, who in turn called us. Mark was in Texas. So the next morning we went over to help clean up.
The hail near our house the next morning.Keep in mind this picture was taken about 10 am the next day. The temp was in the 80's and there was still this much hail piled up! 
Here is the front yard tree. Most of it has already been cleaned up at this point.
Thank goodness for the city workers. They came to help clear the part of the tree that was blocking the street. This was their third visit of cutting and loading tree to be taken away. They were a huge help!
The tree was pulled out of the ground with the roots still attached. That's some strong wind!
This is the neighbors house across the street. See that mound under the tree? Before this storm that ground was flat. 
It bubbled up from the wind trying to rip the tree out by its roots. This tree is over 100 feet tall. The fire department told the home owner that his home is no longer safe to stay in because its only a matter of time before the tree falls now. He is hoping he can get it removed before it comes down on it's own.
Thank goodness for the city workers. They came to help clear the part of the tree that was blocking the street. This was their third visit of cutting and loading tree to be taken away. They were a huge help!The tree was pulled out of the ground with the roots still attached. That's some strong wind!This is the neighbors house across the street. See that mound under the tree? Before this storm that ground was flat. It bubbled up from the wind trying to rip the tree out by its roots. This tree is over 100 feet tall. The fire department told the home owner that his home is no longer safe to stay in because its only a matter of time before the tree falls now. He is hoping he can get it removed before it comes down on it's own.What was left of the front yard tree when we left. I'm amazed we got so much of it cleaned up!
This is the backyard tree. Here is where a very large branch fell off and onto the roof.
Most of this was cleaned up too by the time we arrived. Thankfully my Mom has a lot of friends willing to pitch in.
But we helped cut the branch into smaller pieces so we could get it out of the yard.
The roof, with the hole covered by a tarp until the insurance people can get it assessed and repaired.
And the debris pile when we left. This picture doesn't do it justice! This pile is HUGE! Each of those logs down there are several feet long. It's a massive pile!
This is the backyard tree. Here is where a very large branch fell off and onto the roof.Most of this was cleaned up too by the time we arrived. Thankfully my Mom has a lot of friends willing to pitch in.But we helped cut the branch into smaller pieces so we could get it out of the yard.The roof, with the hole covered by a tarp until the insurance people can get it assessed and repaired.And the debris pile when we left. This picture doesn't do it justice! This pile is HUGE! Each of those logs down there are several feet long. It's a massive pile!Thank God no one was hurt!
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