Behind the Headlines

My assignment for tonight: Go out and talk to the crowds at the football games, see what the draw is, how games starting in Aug. before school even starts affects the experience, etc.

As I rolled up on the SMCC game and people were taking things out of their cars, the clouds blew in. It was a mass exodus, people jumping back in cars, some waiting it out and others just taking off. A few drops were starting to fall.
Since I couldn’t then talk to people and it looked like the storm might be newsworthy, I headed back to the office. But to avoid the traffic snag, I took a side road. I ended up stopped along the way, pausing to marvel at the high speed winds. When the wind really kicked up I saw leaves and other debris start swirling before me. It made me feel puny. I knew I had to get out of there.

Then the rains hit. Biblical rains.

As I was driving I had to swerve to avoid a branch that was flying through the air. When I got back to the office and bolted inside, I was soaked after 30 seconds in the rain. The scanner was going crazy – downed lines here, a possible structure fire at Meijer, a tree blocking the road there.

The reports are still filtering in about the downed lines and trees and damages to homes, the supposed fire at Meijer appears to have been nothing – at least that’s what dispatch is saying.

Now, I wait. For the official counts of DTE and Consumers on how many customers are out of power, from the final tally of downed lines and such, on number and nature of emergency calls.

I guess that means the football assignment is delayed as are the games.