Wind Storm!

Fences, Shingles, Water Damage, Asbestos Abatement, and Power Poles.

Or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Wind.   

     Last February we had an absolutely massive wind storm here in Gardnerville, NV. It caused a lot of damage all over the area, mostly to roofs, fences, and power line poles. Our house was not spared. 

               

There were conflicting reports as to what the wind speed actually was. It was definitely the worst wind I had ever experienced. It was literally raining sand. In the video above, the main reason I stopped filming and went back inside was because Mother Nature had decided that Jimbo needed a fresh paint job on his legs, neck, and face. 

We lost a little bit of fencing. It was an easy fix. George, a landscaper down the street who has done a lot of work on the property, had this fixed in a hurry just a couple days later.

With the loss of all the roofing shingles there was water damage inside the house. About 50% of the insulation and drywall in the living room had to be replaced.

But before those repairs were done, the living room had to be treated for asbestos. This non-fun un-bounce-house was in the living room for about a week.

Meanwhile, a power line pole right next to our house was uprooted from the wind (as were several trees and dozens of other poles all over the area). The only thing that kept it from falling over completely were the power lines holding it up. This picture was taken the next morning. The yellow warning tape was put up by the fire department. In fact, when those guys tried to call Nevada Energy about it, they were given the same line as we were when we called about it; "Suck it up and get in line, pal!"

Later that night the power company showed up to start working on replacing the pole.

They stabilized the pole for the night with a giant claw.

And here's an action packed video of the pole being replaced. This is about ten hours of footage dwindled down to about fifteen minutes.

               

     First of all, I would like to thank Nevada Energy for the spectacular job these lineman did when replacing the pole. The whole time I was watching them work all I could think was "hard as fucken' nails!" That really is very tough and very dangerous work. 
     We actually fared out quite well compared to most of our neighbors. There was only the one panel on the fence that needed to be replaced, whereas many residents in the area lost entire fences surrounding their property. And, for as inconvenient as it was having to close off the living room for a week, and getting the roof replaced over the course of another week, we were very fortunate to have it all done so quickly. The repairs to our house took about a month from start to finish, thanks to our neighbor that hooked us up with a friend of theirs who works in construction. Most everyone else in our neighborhood however, didn't even get roofing materials delivered to their homes until about three months later. And even in the last month or so I can still see repairs being done to fences and roofs when I drive down our street. We are very fortunate, indeed.