The storm that struck us....

Being an Indian, especially being a Keralite, I was never used to storms or gales for that matter. So last week, when I was kept awake at nights due to the shrieks and shrills of the heavy storm, the first thing that came to my mind was the tornados in US. I could feel our house vibrating, in the wind with its shrill noise, almost deafening me. [Houses here are not made up of bricks and concrete as in India. They use plaster of paris, for walls and stuff with thermocol like stuff in between them for heating insulation !!!] I could feel strong cold wind forcing thru the key hole, with the whistling sound. I saw the sky dish antenna that was mounted on a house top across us, coming down. I also saw the basketball pole, crashing down with a thud. And for the first time, I wanted to think about the reason why sky-scrapers are not allowed in Ireland. The highest building I have seen here was just 5 stories high.

Next day, I came to know about the worst storm that was going to hit northern Europe.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=207748972&p=zx7749678

My husband was working late and I called him and told to remain there, till the storm subsided . Even after 11 pm, he was stuck there. He tried going to the parking lot, but told me later that he couldn’t get his balance, to walk over there, because of the storm trying to sweep him off his feet. And finally when he tried to get home, with his manager, his (manager’s) car broke down.

Later we came to know that a lot of people were killed in UK, because of the storm. And next day, my mom called me and enquired, as Indian news channels were breaking that news. By Gods grace, Ireland escaped the worst, while part of Britain and other N.European countries were not so lucky. Luckily we didn’t suffer power cut.. Because without power, our heating system would have crashed and at temperature much below 0 deg Celsius, we would have frozen to death.

Ironically, I was seeing the film ‘Tornado Warning’ in TV at that time…