Monday night there was a dramatic electrical storm: lightning lit up the house like strobe lights flashing, thunder rolling in waves like the ever-pounding shore surf. I had thought that was the worst of it, but the following night was the most severe of the storm, called a “bomb cyclone” Nor’easter. Tues night’s wind blew up to ninety-four miles per hour and caused the most damage.
In the middle of the night, I heard my phone ping and checked it for a text, but there was none. That was between 1:30 and 2:00am, when the power went off. I woke up to a cold dark house, misty rain, still strong winds. Did anyone have power? I couldn’t see any lights down the street. In the cemetery across the street, a huge tree had fallen and its roots pointed into the air.
I soon learned that most of Cape Cod and eastern Massachusetts including the town of Plymouth was without electricity. I was out of food, having planned to leave the Yarmouth Port house that day to move in with my son and his wife in their new house in Falmouth, on the southwestern side of the cape, for my last few days. Worried about losing power on my phone, I thought, how did we ever get by without GPS on our phones? How would I find my way to their Falmouth house if my phone died?
I drove to Falmouth in the rain. At the corner of their block, a tree had split, carrying a power pole with it as it fell. It would undoubtedly be a few days until power was restored.
Around the neighborhood, large branches and whole trees were down, some blocking major roads. One tree fell on a house roof; there were fences broken, gutters bashed. We talked in the waning light, lit a candle, and used flashlights on our phones to negotiate around the house. A few portable chargers helped keep our phones alive. I had no wi-fi at the Yarmouth house and had spent those first two weeks mostly off the grid, checking email on my phone sparingly. Now there was no power, no lights, no Internet.
According to the Cape Cod Times, many of the hundreds of repair crews on the Cape were forced to wait until winds died down enough to be safe to use bucket lifts to repair lines. We cheered to finally see service trucks on the street. The blackout lasted from Tuesday night until Friday evening.
Cape Cod: Yarmouth and Hyannis, Chatham, National Seashore, Provincetown, Yarmouth, Chapin sunset, Cape Cod Canal, Sandwich, Nor’easter, Falmouth, Woods Hole
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Ruth Rosenfeld 
That is some storm!
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Thanks for reading.
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Goodness, what a storm!! It’s not often that we see something like this here in our part of the country … though, we do have load shedding from time to time (because our electricity provider can’t supply enough electricity to the people of South Africa). So, we are used moving around the house with lamps or flashlights 👀.
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Interesting, I’ve never heard the term load shedding before. I imagine every place has it’s extremes of one kind or another.
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Load shedding is just a ‘nice word’ for being without electricity for a couple of hours … we have a “load shedding schedule” to know when we will be without electricity (we even have different stages … load shedding 1 to load shedding 8 …). Like you’ve said, we all have our extremes 😉.
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Severe winds are a frightful, regular part of life where I live, too. Falling trees are one of my major worries.
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The deciduous trees seem more prone to that kind of damage. In the mountains, the evergreens are strong and hardy and the aspens bend.
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Yes. I wish I had evergreens instead of elms.
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But of course we have blizzards and avalanches.
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What a terrible storm !
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Yes it was! Thanks for your visit.
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What a scary storm with so much damage. Glad you’re safe. Maggie
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Thanks for your good thoughts, Maggie!
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Wow, that looks like quite the storm. That’s a long time to be without power too. Glad to hear that you’re okay.
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Thank you! I just looked at it as another adventure. We weren’t in any real danger. Mother nature can be amazing.
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Wow, that’s some storm, and a long time to be without power! I hope no one was hurt?
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I didn’t hear about any injuries, I’m happy to report. Some minor flooding and damage to some structures. Just inconvenience for us. And a story to tell.
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Oh man. Bad weather makes good stories.Falling trees are always scary. Glad you escaped with no harm. Hi to Adam. Are you still there?
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I just returned home last night (Sunday). I’ll relay your greetings. Glad to see you are returning to your artist-in-residence space, Virginia!
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Well I’m just glad you’re ok. What a wild few days. It looks like some serious damage was done. We also had what they called a “weather bomb” of wild weather but nothing as bad as this.
Alison
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There was quite a bit of damage but no injuries reported. The locals claimed it was the worst they’ve ever seen.
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I was right there with you Ruth! Scary times with Mother Nature’s fury. Say hi to Adam for me!
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Thank you, Dawn! It was an exciting week. I will pass on your hello!
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What did we do without GPS and Google Maps before, I often wonder the same. I don’t know how I found my way around India 20 years ago. I’m glad you are all ok and there was no damage to the house. Driving a car alone, with pouring rain and such strong winds, seems like the scariest part of the whole storm experience to me. Sorry for my belated comment. We’ve been very busy exploring Sarajevo while the fine weather lasts.
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The winds had died down by the time I had to make that drive, but it was stressful. How could we be looking at a map and driving at the same time? It took a bit more planning and printed research before GPS. Looking forward to catching up with your posts later in the week.
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Oh wow, I’m so glad you and your house are OK – that looks like some serious damage with those trees uprooted everywhere. I hope you weren’t without power for too long. Best wishes from the UK!
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Three days without power. A bit challenging, but no injuries or serious problems. Thanks for your good wishes, Hannah!
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Yikes. I’m guessing you were just visiting. Not fun dealing with all that while also away from home. Glad you’re ok.
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Thanks, it was a visit. My son moved to Cape Cod for work. A great place to spend a few weeks, but that last week was a rough one!
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The lead photo is remarkable (and I love the juxtaposition of a current event and historical grave markers) and tells the story almost as well as your words. The power of Mother Nature – WOW! Glad you were only inconvenienced and not really in harm’s way.
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Thanks, Dave. That was the view out my window the morning after. It was quite an experience!
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