Waterspout, a gentle poetic name for a TORNADO!
And I just found out!
That’s because it was only this evening that I returned home from a trip to the northeast corner of Oklahoma, for a great family visit and a sweet send-off for my Peace-Corps-bound nephew, Jared. But that’s another story well worth a read…
On the last limping leg of my journey home tonight, just after dusk, I slipped quietly back onto the island via I-45 as it mellows into Broadway, hooked a quick right onto 61st street, and headed straight for the seawall for a little heavenly salt spray and a nice Gulf breeze.
Before I got there, though, I noticed something odd. The last stoplight, just before Seawall Boulevard, was blinking.
Temporary stop signs were already in position, and I counted a fair number of city utility trucks stationed around the intersection.
How odd, I thought, at this time of night. Curious.
After a brief stop at the local grocer’s, I pulled up at my new/old home on Avenue O, walked in the back door, and was immediately greeted by a chorus of flashing digital clocks (not to mention a happy black cat). The Columbo in me was beginning to smell a rat.
Or maybe not a rat so much as a waterspout.
WATERSPOUT?!? Hmmm. A pretty word. Sounds harmless. Isn’t.
It’s a tornado, in fact, just one that forms over water instead of land. And an unwelcome guest on Galveston Island, especially after last year’s dinner date, Ike. So I did a little googling and got the full skinny—read about it here. Wow!
I got some pictures of the damage. I’ll send em to you by email. Unbelievable! To my horror I heard on the news the location of the spout. 29th street and Seawall and I thought, Oh Lord not The Poop Deck so I had to investigate. The Dolphin World metal roof was peeled back like a sardine can, literally, a house behind it was crumbled off its foundation leaving nothing erect but the cement steps but there in all of her glory was The Poop Deck and Lady Liberty unharmed and full of patrons partaking of their libations wondering what all the fuss was about. I decided that our lovely little landmark is like a cockroach. She has survived so many storms and will be there long after we are all gone save a nuclear holocaust. Who knows maybe even then.