We don't like IKE - PICTURES

MommyToAshley wrote: This is what happened while we were at Ashley's birthday party. No one in this area predicted these kinds of winds... we had winds up to 85 MPH for 5 to 6 hours. Cheryl, I think we were wrong when we told our girls that we don't have to worry about hurricanes here in Ohio. Our power went out Sunday around 3ish and it just came back on this evening (Monday evening). Our favorite restaurant burnt down from a fire caused by a live electric wire. There are still 225,000 in this area that don't have power, including Di (Kaitlin'sMOM)-- although they are safe and ok.

These two trees are right by our house. If the tree that hit the shed had fallen either left or right, it would have crushed either our house our our neighbors (these are those really tall trees)

MommyToAshley replied: same tree

MommyToAshley replied: another tree by us (that's our gutter you see in the right of the picture)

HuskerMom replied: How scary! Glad you all are ok! It's amazing how far north hurricanes can affect!

Calimama replied: Scary. I'm glad it wasn't worse for you guys.

luvmykids replied: WOW, that is just miraculous that those trees were so close and missed you. I'm glad to know you're all ok

punkeemunkee'smom replied: Oh Holy cow! I just PMed you before I saw this...I am so glad ya'll are safe! Poor Ashley-who would be able to explain how odd it is that a hurricane hit up there! Taylor was a nervous wreck all week with the coverage down here-I imagine that Ashley must be scared now too

gr33n3y3z replied: Wow way to close

mckayleesmom replied: Thats scary. We have huge trees all over our neighborhood and when I heard about Hanna..that was my biggest fear.

mom21kid2dogs replied:
You're right Dee Dee! I was wrong! I started a thread on Monday morning to freely admit it!! So glad all my Ohio buddies survived intact.

Damage here is very widespread. Our side of the street has power and the other side doesn't. There are tons of extension cords running accross from our houses to theirs to try to save their food. They were told Friday at the earliest to have power restored. The district is out of school again today as the High school, St. John and 5 of the 6 elementaries are partially or totally out. Our church and local funeral home had a funeral by candlelight yesterday because neither has power. 5 people are asleep on my floor in the great room. The shower & the washing machine/dryer have been going non stop with neighbors & friends trying to get a few things done while we all wait for life to return to normal. All our houses are intact, though, quite unlike our friends in TX so that's a huge blessing. One neighbor was even lucky enough and had the financial resources to score a generator!

I think we're headed to Jeffersonville today to the outlet malls~if they have power. I'll let the neighbors have the house today!

Our Lil' Family replied: Ouch, man that's a close one! Glad you guys are alright though, hurricanes are nasty forces!

MommyToAshley replied:
Her birthday party was Sunday. When we went to the party, it was windy but not terribly bad. There were probably about 35 MPH winds. But, as people started arriving, they were talking about how bad the winds had picked up -- cars were flipping over, signs flying off, trees all over the road. We were in a huge buildig that seemed very secure -- I think we were safer than we woudl have been at home. We couldn't even hear the wind inside the buiding. Then, the wind was tripping the breakers, one by one.. they'd get one set of lights on and then the other would go off. Right at the end, when I wanted to get a group picture, the lights went out. So, Ashley wasn't scared until we were driving home. We looked back at Ashley in the back seat and she had her fingers folded, her eyes closed, and she was saying prayers. We tried not to scare her and tried not to let on how much of an inconvenience it is not to have power, so she's seemed ok with it all. Although, yesterday she said,"Mommy, I'm glad the winds are gone."

MommyToAshley replied:
That's so nice of you to help out your neighbors. We had a few people over at our house last night too for dinner and movies as we were one of the firsts to get our power back on. It was too late to save any food though so we threw a bunch out again.

Our schools have been closed the past few days. There are many public schools still without power. Ashley's school has power now, but I think they closed it due to so many people not having power. They are saying this was more destructive than a tornado because of the widespread damage. Tornadoes are quick and affect a smaller area, these winds were sustained for 5-6 hours over a large area. I feel very fortunate that the worst that happened to us was being inconvenienced by lack of power. I've seen roofs blown off, trees laying on cars and houses all over the place.

BAC'sMom replied: Sorry honey.
You got it way worse than we did.

Kirstenmumof3 replied: That is so scary! I'm glad you all are okay!

My2Beauties replied: It's really bad here too. We were stnading in our front yard just watching trees blow over in our neighbors yard. Luckily on our street no HUGE trees fell all the way over, I mean big branches snapped off but no great big trees fell. However, there are huge trees down all over the city here. There are 500,000 people without power here. We are the only ones out of our friends and family whose power has came back on. Tonight Dh's cousin and his family are coming over to do laundry and I'm going to cook for them and my best friend is coming over to take a hot shower and give her kids a bath (they have an Electric Water Heater )! Our powr was out Sunday from 1:30pm to about 9:15pm but the people literally right across the street from us still have no power. They are saying the power issue is so widespread here that it could be 10-14 days before some people have power restored. In DH's cousin's neighborhood they are telling them 3 weeks because the damage is so severe. They had 4 trees fall on 4 different power lines, they live literally not even 1/2 mile from us. They are running out of gas all over the city here. It's mayhem and madness I tell ya. My job has power, unfortunately, so I have to work !!

lisar replied: Glad they didnt hit your house.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I'm so glad you guys are safe and sound. I'm sorry you lost your trees, though

I agree....you guys got it really bad. Worse than some parts of Texas, even.