Storm Clean-Up

Friday, December 2, Rara & Papa’s power was restored, so Ryan & I packed up our stuff and went to stay there. Since I had hardly worked the day before, I worked most of the day to try to get caught up. School was cancelled on Friday due to all of the damage, including several trees at Ryan’s school. Rara hadn’t seen the damage at our house yet, since Alice & Claire were at their house the previous day. So we went to our house and checked out the damage in the storm-free daylight. (Note Ryan and Papa in the lower right to get a feel for the size of the tree.)
Swim team was cancelled Thursday, but was back on for Friday. Ry & I left Rara & Papa’s to go to our neighborhood to pick up Maddy, the girl we take every day. As we drove by our house, we saw several cars and trucks at our house! Our ward (neighborhood) had rallied, and there were a dozen men (and a couple of young men) working to cut up and clear the tree! Ryan and I took Maddy to swim team, and then went back and helped with the clean-up efforts in our yard until it got dark and the crew disbanded.













This was what our thermostat looked like. Yes, it was 39 degrees INSIDE our house! We had both fireplaces going, hoping things would stay warm enough so the pipes wouldn’t freeze. They didn’t.
Friday night was Rara & Papa’s ward Christmas party. There was some discussion of whether to even have it, under the circumstances. They went ahead and held it, and I’m glad they did. Several people in their ward were also still without power, so the big group of us met for a hot dinner in a warm building, and enjoyed sharing storm stories.


All day Friday and Saturday, everywhere we went, we heard the buzzing of chainsaws cutting up trees. By Saturday afternoon, the majority of the trees that had fallen in the storm were piled at the parking strips of the affected homes. Then Saturday night, meteorologists warned that another wind storm would be coming through the area Sunday night. Warnings were issued about the possibility of debris becoming projectiles in the subsequent storm! So, Sunday morning, word came that church services would either be shortened, or cancelled completely, in order for everyone to help to completely clear the debris from neighborhoods.

Once again, Sunday morning, several cars, trucks, and trailers were in front of our home, and chainsaws were buzzing. Several people worked quickly to cut up the huge pile of branches in our front yard, load them into a trailer, and even rake and sweep away all evidence of the destruction that had just happened. It was amazing!

I was working hard in the clean-up process, and didn’t take any pictures. However, my friend, Becky, took a picture of some cute missionaries helping with clean-up efforts in Farmington. This picture is a perfect representation of what happened that Sunday.

And here’s a picture (I think I got it from KSL.com) of the line of trucks and trailers at the landfill.