Storm of the Century

Well, maybe not the whole century, but it was a doozy! Remember how I reported that it began to rain on Tuesday, right after we returned from our trail ride to Dripping Springs? It rained all night, off and on all day Wednesday, and then Wednesday evening, the wind came up and the rain really started in earnest.. By Thursday afternoon, the dry wash we were camped near had turned into a rushing river and had overflowed its banks, and the wind had reached gale force, howling at a steady 50-70 miles per hour. Our campsite became a lake, and we moved to higher ground, tucking in behind a big rig for protection from the wind. In our hurry, we left our big “patio” mat behind. Although it was anchored down with rocks all around, that didn’t make much of a difference--that’s it in the picture, all crumpled up, along with someone else’s chair. I did manage to rescue it before it blew away across the desert. The pictures show the wash-turned-river, and what it looked like after the rain stopped, Thursday evening. Those tire tracks are from a jeep that was parked near our campsite; the owner got stuck in up to his hubs when he tried to move it, and had to be pulled out by another jeep.

We found out later that the storm devastated much of central and western Arizona. There were tornado warnings from Yuma to Parker (Quartzsite is halfway in between), and a twister actually touched down in Blythe, CA, 30 miles away, knocking over three semis. Wenden, another town about 30 miles away in another direction, got flooded out, and the whole population was evacuated to Salome, the next town over. Freeways were flooded and closed, power lines were down. Today, Saturday, you would never know anything had happened. The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and there’s just a gentle breeze. Most of the rally folks left yesterday after the rain finally stopped and the ground began to dry out, but there are still a few of us here. I need to go to town today and do laundry, and to the bakery for some of their great bread and wonderful cookies and possibly a few of Steve’s favorite chocolate donuts, if there’s any left. We will leave tomorrow, destination still unknown. We have a week to hang out before meeting up with our friends, Jim and Janice, in Holtville.