St. Louis was hit with a freak storm sustaining winds above 80 mph, Wednesday, July 19th. It unexpectedly changed the sky from blue to black and green in minutes, and despite no reported tornado touchdowns, the wind damage was significant around the area. I’ve heard Ameren Power Outage numbers as high as 560,000, and as of Friday morning, more than 400K customers were still without power. This during the highest temperatures of the year, with Thursday at 101 degrees, high 90s the rest of the week, heat index 110+, stupid humidity, etc… I hope enough people find air conditioning. Heard on the radio this morning the National Guard was deployed to assist relief efforts.

For the record, we’re all fine. Our only live encounter with the storm was a short walk through a sandstorm just off Washington Avenue, and addressing some leaking water near some windows (it was blowing horizontally after-all). All the downtown places we know of kept power as the lines are adequately protected underground and fed from multiple points. Our house near the airport lost power that night, but it was restored the next day. It didn’t look like there was any major damage (trees stayed put, no holes or leaks visible in the house), though the insurance company will still be getting a call about the roof.

My parent’s house was still without power last night, and a friend is staying home since his office doesn’t have power. Our office downtown has power, but the AC is not able to keep up and the heat and mugginess from outside has penetrated the building. Occupying the top floor doesn’t help; perhaps we should temporarily relocate to the open first floor. Or Starbucks.

Or maybe the basement. I’m watching the St. Louis Radar and it appears in two hours we’re gonna see some more storms. Whee!

Update:
Robert Siegel talks with St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay on NPR’s Talk of the Nation.

Crazy night at Busch Stadium caught on video.