The Storm

Well, it's been a while since my last post. Basically this happened. Winds of up to 150 km/h, torrential rain, thunder and lightning. 150 km/h! That would be 93 mph, or Beaufort 12. Hurricane force, or, as the Beaufort Scale puts it: "Severe widespread damage to vegetation and structures. Debris and unsecured objects are hurled about." And severe widespread damage there certainly was. I returned home from a lovely (if somewhat scorchingly hot) weekend at la casa boyfriend just in time to witness my biggest and scariest storm to date. This was the balcony last Tuesday, the day after the storm:

 A bit ruffled, but otherwise ok.

 Flying leaves and bits of trees everywhere. But Tumbling Tom survived!

 Even the frogs are still there.

 I found random branches in all sorts of corners.

 I managed to clear the blue shelf and the windowsill before anything could go flying, but I did get drenched in the process. It was well worth it though, as absolutely nothing got broken or damaged.

 Just ruffled.

 Trees! On MY balcony!

But that was the extent of the storm damage, as far as the balcony was concerned. On the roads, everything looked a lot different. A lot of grand old trees have simply been uprooted and branches had been snapped off. Most roads were blocked and all public transport was suspended, leaving many folk stranded and unable to return home or go to work. I myself was forced to stay at home on Tuesday and Wednesday. As I write this, public transport is still not back to normal. Quite a few trains aren't running because the tracks are covered in trees or overhead lines are damaged. This makes the journey to work quite an adventure! But as I'm able to get to work at all now, I am certainly not complaining! :)
My neighbourhood:

Doesn't look to good, huh? I really don't know how long it will take to return to normal. Fire brigades, volunteers, the army and the Technisches Hilfswerk (Federal Agency for Technical Relief, THW) have been working round the clock to clear the streets and repair the damage. But the to-do list is long, and many trees are beyond saving. Six people have lost their lives in the storm and its aftermath.
Suffice to say that last week was not a good week here in North Rhine-Westphalia.