The End of the Line: This Road is CLOSED

Sunday's big storm hit our area pretty hard. It arrived with special ferocity in Bellefonte and surrounding areas. Western Pennsylvania experienced at least four tornadoes, all of them EF-1's. Pennsylvania? Tornadoes? In MARCH? Our biggest tree, a red oak, according to the experts, more than 100 feet tall, came down and landed on our shed. 

Our top wind speed locally was listed as 43 miles per hour on the hourly weather summary I found online. A weather weenie friend told me his analysis of the maps gave him something like 62 miles per hour as our top gust around the time the storm hit, 3 p.m. 

We were lucky, I guess. Others were experiencing situations far, far worse. Roofs were gone. Wind-borne things landed in places they weren't supposed to. A man stepped out of his car onto a power line and was instantly electrocuted in Pine Grove Mills.

Many people in our area were without power, and may still be without until as long as Wednesday. We were fortunate: our lights stayed on. On Facebook, local churches and firehalls began posting notices: they could help with getting water for livestock, there were warming stations being set up for those without heat, or light, or hope. Fitness centers offered free hot showers to those without water or heat at home.

Bellefonte closed its schools on Monday. State College was on a delay. Many roads were closed in our area due to downed power lines and trees. There was only one indirect route open to get to the airport; all others were closed. The road that runs in front of our house was closed between our house and Autumn Meadow Park, a place I go frequently.

I rode my bike around the neighborhood to check out the devastation, and so here is a photo of the closed road. Of course, the locals know you can turn right onto Red Pine and then left onto Stonerow and then left onto Cornfield to get around the closure. The reason for closure, you can see in the distance: a power pole hanging at an angle, waiting to fall on the road. This here, folks, is the end of the line!

Our soundtrack song is the Traveling Wilburys, with End of the Line.