Driving Blind

The torrential rain that blasted through the Niagara region yesterday caught me right on the QEW coming home from the casino.  My first inkling that something was up was when I exited the casino at 7:30 P.M. to a black sky that darkened the streets so badly I had a hard time seeing to drive.  In the dark, I see haloes around headlights so I don't usually drive at night.

Anyway, the sky was ominously black but you could see light where the heavy cloud mass sort of ended and that was the direction I was going.  I foolishly thought I might be able to get home (an hour away) before it rained too hard but it hit like gangbusters once I got out on the highway.  The rain came down so hard that I couldn't make out the car lane lines and had to stay close behind the car in front of me...hoping they could see better than I did.

Not only was visibility near zero but there were very deep puddles building up and I worried about hydroplaning.  I decided to stay on the highway as long as the car in front of me did instead of looking for an off ramp.  I was afraid if I got off the highway I still wouldn't be able to see and also wouldn't have any idea where to go.

The rain abated every once in a while only to come back with a vengeance, blinding all of us drivers again and again.  It was a wicked hour on the road going very slowly before I got to the Linc and knew I'd make it home.  The clouds were still black and the rainfall still heavy when I reached the house but I was so darned relieved to not have ended up smeared on the highway.

There was a lot of tree damage in the city, mainly large old trees with heavy limbs that just couldn't withstand the vicious winds.  I lost one little limb off my relatively young tree in the front yard but that was all.  No basement water damage, thank heavens!  A neighbor up the street must have had their basement flooded because the whole foundation of their house was dug up today...I presume to put waterproofing against it.  I'm so glad mine was done a few years back because I'd have had a nervous breakdown if my basement flooded now.

The one good thing about the storm is that the heat dropped to a liveable 25C (80F) today and I hope we don't see any more mid 30C days this summer.