At the Old Ball Yard

Updated 7.20.06 (Val) What a crazy night here in the St. Louis area! My hubby and son went down to Busch Stadium for Little League Night at the Cards game. Two hours before game time, severe weather came through the area that was incredibly frightening.

Here at home, my daughter and I just beat the storm home and we turned on the tv to see some monster supercells headed our way, and worse, straight for downtown St. Louis.

All I can say is, thank God for cell phones! I called my hubby to warn him, and he and the gang all got to safety, but he said it was quite nuts down there for a while. There was a tornado warning, and one was reportedly spotted not too far from the downtown area. They rode out the storm, and stayed for the first part of the ball game, which started nearly 2 and a half hours lately.

And the saga continues, because now they are on a Bi-State bus headed back to the Metrolink lot where they parked because all of the Metrolink lines are down. We have been tracking their progress, and hopefully, they will be at the lot soon. We are a little worried about what they will find when they get there, as the lot is near Lambert Airport which was hit hard. Part of the roof was blown off, the power is out, and lots of folks are stranded.

We have been very fortunate here. Our power flickered, but never went off. 407,000 people in our area have not had the same fate and are now sitting in pitch darkness, warily anticipating our projected 102 degree temperatures tomorrow. Lack of electricity and record heat are not a good combination.

Weather has been rough all over, and right now it's St. Louis' turn to experience our piece of disaster. With three buildings down, (so far) windows blown out of downtown hotels, two bridges blocked and much more damage, it's going to take some time to recover from this one.

The only good thing is that the temps have cooled for the time being, and after tomorrow, we are supposed to be in a cooler trend. Lord, just help everyone get through tomorrow!

Update:

Brenden looks out at a city besieged by storm when he should have been enjoying the first pitch at the new stadium.

The guys got home sometime between 12:30 and 1:00 am and I was waiting for them. It was good to see them wander through the door and hear all about their ordeal at the ballpark. Scott got some pretty amazing footage of the storm, and some really great still shots too. I am adding three of them here, which he also uploaded to one of our local news sites.

A red sunset paints the sky after the threatening storm passes.

I'm just so grateful they made it home safely and that we still have electricity! Almost a half million people here are without power and I can only imagine what a long day it has been for them.

A red sunset over Busch Stadium is a gift after the intense storm that came before.