Most people think of humidity when they think of the East Coast. And rightfully so. However, our first year in the mission has brought a myriad of different types of weather events. And while a great deal of the year is lovely, those are not the events that stick out in our minds.
Take the first summer. We had a tornado that uprooted trees and brought down power lines. Four days later we had power again. But by then I'd thrown away our thawed out casseroles, wilted vegetables and warm condiments from the three refrigerators and one upright freezer.
Our neighbors keep telling us how mild the winters are here - usually. Of course the year previous to our coming was "Snowmaggedon" when more than four feet of snow fell and shut down the city. We didn't receive that much this year, but still, I'm not sure this qualifies as "mild".
Now I'm not sure who could have predicted that Washington DC would have an earthquake. But one day about noon we had what they called a 5.9 earthquake. That is a major event for this area, but our missionaries from California and Japan thought it was business as usual. Any missionary who was on a bike, in a car or even walking didn't feel it.
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| Here is one of the temple spires that fell during the earthquake. |
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| Four of the top of the spires fell from the earthquake's back and forth motion. The fifth one is just a little crooked. We hear that new ones will be in place soon. |
One of the local newspapers revealed our mentality about the weather out here in Washington. For days before a storm, the news outlets will warn people of bad traffic, possible power outages and the need to store water and food.
One value of having so much technology is the ability to follow a storm such as Hurricane Irene. We knew she was coming for days. The missionaries prepared by stocking up on water, batteries and food. To be honest, they were quite disappointed when Irene was a no-show for most of our mission. Only those serving in the southern part of the mission really experienced anything. It provided great service opportunities for those missionaries in the Suitland Zone for many days following. They cut and hauled off downed trees. And they bailed water out of basements.
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| Elder Karlinsey sleeps under a sofa for protection. |
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| Elder Fawcett and Elder Kunzler help clear up after Irene. |
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| Sister Postma with one of the downed trees in the district. |
So you think you've got rainy days - just a week after Hurricane Irene came, we had a tropical storm that brought 6 inches in an hour. What does that look like?
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| This is what the cul de sac that we can see from our kitchen window normally looks like. |
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| And this is what the cul de sac looked like about 45 minutes after the rain started. The owner of the car climbed in and drove off just a few minutes after this picture was taken. |
