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Friday, May 16, 2014

Wasn't That a Mighty Storm?!

A couple of weeks ago there was quite the storm in North Carolina--and we didn't know how bad of a storm it was, we were both out of town and hadn't been up to the cabin in a few weeks. 

Tonight we arrived to find we must have lost power at some point in a big way. 

The family room back up battery surge protector failed--

We've got a big loss of electrical stuff here. 

The family room tv is toast, we've lost the interned due to a fried router--both the towers for my AT&T phone and the boy's Verizon phones are gone---deader than door nails. 

The house phone line is also dead. I have an old dial phone for storm purposes, remember--the phone line worked when we were last here, it does not now. 

Computer printer is toast. All were on heavy duty battery back up surge protectors. 

There are several electrical outlets that no longer work--and the night lights are also fried!!

There are can lights in the master bedroom ceiling and those are either non functioning receptacles or the bulbs have all blown. 

One thing I am very grateful for---this is all fixable. Yes, it will be spendy to replace all of this, but if it was an electrical storm--we are lucky that there was no house fire. 

I am sending this from the corner of the upstairs bedroom tethered to the Hubster's phone--

In the morning we will be off to Boone to start re-purchasing what we need to get back up and running. 

If you don't hear from me for a bit, you'll know why--and there is plenty of quilting to keep me busy!

Oh, this is Sadie on here way up here, before we knew what we would find. 

Love from Buck Mountain--
Bonnie

47 comments:

  1. Did you check everything outside? Sounds like lightning hit close to the house. Glad the house survived for you.

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  2. Had that happen to us several years ago...included refrigerator, freezer, all things electrical...insurance covered it all. Hope the same for you. You are right, it could have been much worse. May be good to have the electrical wiring looked at as well. Sorry for the damage, be well.
    Faye in Maine

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  3. OH BONNIE - yuckers... Ii am sorry to hear about the electrical thing! Happened to our daughter here about 2 years back... insurance helped a lot. Hope you all were able to get insurance on and at the cabin.

    Tell you what... when thing s are stressful, if I can sit with a warm dog-friend and stroke the fur and feel the calm, it helps me SO MUCH!!! Better than any med ever... praying things so well.

    HUGS
    JUlieinTN ps LOVE the hair cut

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  4. I agree with Faye, insurance? We used to live up a mountain in waaaay Northern California on a logging rd and we had a few doozy storms. It's inconvenient but all can be repaired. Glad you are all safe.

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  5. ....best thing to do at 2nd. dwellings is to UNPLUG all things that's not necessary to running the place while you're not there..ie: washer, dryer, computers, phones, stoves, really, all electronics, etc. no surge protector ever made will save something that's been hit by a big jolt of lightening. Remember, they say that a jolt of lightening is 7 times hotter than the surface of the sun. How "they" know that I don't know; but I have a very healthy respect for lightening myself.

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  6. Oh man, that stinks but it's not the end of the world.

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  7. I hope you had insurance coverage. So sorry you had this happen when you really needed the rest.

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  8. I would check around real well outside--seems like you had a direct hit or a hit very close....glad to hear you at least, arrived safely...those things are all replaceable!

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  9. Bonnie,
    A surge protector will not protect you from a close or direct hit from lightning. They are designed to protect you from a much smaller power surge.

    Our home has experienced a close hit twice within the past 18 months. Both times, it took out our sunroom TV-and both times it was plugged into the best surge protector I could buy.

    After this last hit, about three weeks ago, we had our electrician install a whole house surge protector in our electrical panel, but he warned there is nothing that will protect you from the power delivered via lightning.

    You are SO lucky your cabin did not burn down. With so many things zapped, I am surprised you did not have a fire.

    Sure glad it didn't!

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  10. Did you check the breaker box to see if the breakers might of tripped since so much doesn't work?

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  11. By the way, most people don't realize that once a surge protector has been hit by a huge surge, it is no longer effective and must be replaced.

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  12. Be sure and check the water well,it could be toast as well as the Hot water heater. Bummer,such an inconvenience for you. The joys of owning a second home. Quilt Villa will be a busy place for the next week.

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  13. at least you can still treadle

    best of luck getting everything replaced -- If I weren't going to the Forsyth Peicers Quilt show tomorrow my hubby and i would be heading up to Boone as well to ride in his new FR-S (which incidentally was on the add on your page)

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  14. OH MY! Can you turn it in on your insurance? It is a pain to unplug everything every time you leave, but I guess it would be cheaper in the long run if you have to rebuy everything now. What a shame, so even the dial phone didn't work either? After you talked about it, i thought i should get one for the same reason, but guess it work out as planned for you. I am so sorry for your loss. Hopefully you didn't lose any of your sewing machines or computer.

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  15. Sounds like a lightening strike to me. Bummer but it was just "stuff" and no one got hurt! We were in bed with our two kids during an electrical storm when they were babies. House got hit by lightening and fried just about everything. saw a big blue flash come out of the t.v. screen in the bedroom when it happened. Pretty freaky! Glad you're okay.

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  16. Boo hiss to mother nature!
    This might be a heads-up from her that you should unplug everything when you're not there. Though an expensive lesson, I'm glad everything is easily (?) replaceable and there was not disasterous damage.

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  17. My daughter's house kept getting hit with lightening all the time and i suggested she get lightening rods and it does help. I don't know how much, but haven't had a loss since.

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  18. So scary! It sounds like lightening damage and I'm glad there was no fire. I hope your insurance covers everything. Like someone said, you may want to have your wiring checked for damage too. Enjoy your time at Quiltvilla as much as you can under the circumstances.

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  19. Wow, hope that you can get it all back together. Sounds from what others have said that it was a lightening strike. From where I am in San Diego...at least it wasn't a fire!! Am glad all at Quilt Villa are safe & sound (definitely including Sadie!)....

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  20. I'm really sorry to hear about your electronics problems! I guess this is why Bernina says to unplug your machine or it voids the warranty. I usually unplug my machines, but we do keep a lot of stuff plugged in to surge protectors. Of course, we don't get the storms in Las Vegas that most of the country does. I do remember the lightening in Tennessee and Texas, though!

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  21. HI Bonnie- some surge protectors guarantee that they will protect the item and if the item is fried they will replace it.

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  22. No Bueno! It will be a quiet night at Quilt Villa. I'm, sorry you found it that way. Hope it isn't too much $$$ to replace it all.

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  23. So sorry to hear about all the damage. Electrical storms can wreck so much havoc. We've suffered losses in the past. Now we have a whole house protector installed outside on the meter pole, it takes the hits before the hits take out the electrical stuff in the house. It's paid off big time already. I can send you more information if you like.

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  24. Sorry for your losses. I bet that if you check with your home owners insurance they will cover all of it. Worth a shot to check. Good luck!

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  25. How about freezer and fridge?

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  26. Joannegledhill4:14 AM EDT

    LiveinCharlotte nc am traveling onE Europe for 5 weeks before we left I unplugged everything I could glad I did Charlotte had bad storms too.hubby said no need but insisted. Sorry it happened but like you said it can all be fixed.lucky no fire. Follow you everyday on my trip.love your hair shorter very becoming.

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  27. Nettie sebastian4:55 AM EDT

    Prayers with you,sounds like a lot of hard work as others are saying check every thing sounds like a major big hit. Thanks for sharing and letting us in on yours troubles ,get back to us when you can we will be right here. This too shall pass.

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  28. So sorry for your losses, so happy they were relatively small. That storm devastated so many in the SE, that I have seen so much anguish. I hope your stuff is quickly fixable. May I give you the same suggestion our insurance agent gave us 20 years ago after a lightning strike - call an electrician. There may be damage you can' see to the wiring.

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  29. You are very fortunate to still have Quiltvilla still standing. My only advice is to take your weekend off and don't spend it running around buying all the items/distractions that need to be replaced. Both you and Hubby are busy people. Relax. Your new hair do really suits you. Very young and fresh.

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  30. Oh Bonnie,

    So sorry to hear about your electrical losses at Quiltvilla. I am glad also that there was no fire. Glad your DH is there with you so you can both sort it all out. Good luck!

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  31. Oh my. After all your busy weeks that's the last thing you want to find. On the subject of surge protectors. Did you know that they have a short life time?. We did not know this. It seems when you get a new surge protector the little light is green. But when it has hit its short lifetime the little light turns red. Both my husband and I were shocked to find this out. Needless to say we changed all our surge protectors. Plus we are having a generator installed that will keep the entire house running if we loose power. One really bad winter and one really bad storm made us realize we needed to do something. Good luck with tracing throughout the cabin trying to figure out was is fried and what is not. I feel for you. What a bummer.

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  32. Wow. Glad you weren't there - sounds like a direct or VERY close lightening hit! Sorry for all you have to do, and buy, but so glad you are all safe. Thinking of you.

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  33. Bonnie - sounds like you had a direct lightening strike - either directly to your house or VERY close to it. Please also check your refrig, stove (if electric), microwave, washer and dryer as well. Also your freezer and probably all phones. And insurance may help - couldn't hurt to check. Definitely turn in a claim. And yes, it could have been worse.

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  34. Anonymous8:44 AM EDT

    Definitely a call the insurance company event!
    dtell@bgsu.edu

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  35. Wow sorry to hear about the lost. Sound like lightening either hit a pole close to the cabin or your pole. Find out if they replaced a transformer on a pole. call the insurance company also.

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  36. Verna B.9:16 AM EDT

    Lightning Rods in order--for sure.
    take care

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  37. Don't forget to call insurance company. They may cover a good portion of this storm damage. We've been surged twice due to storm. My husband thinks I crazy when I go around unplugging things when these crazy storms are coming.

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  38. So glad you discovered this WITH the Hubster. Would have been awful if Shamu had gotten a mind of her own again and brought you here all by yourself! This is definitely a twosome job! Be sure to write everything down for insurance purposes!

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  39. Sounds like a lightning strike, if not directly to house, then probably to lines. Sounds like you need an electrician and your insurance adjuster. Be safe. Thank goodness you weren't there.

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  40. Lynne in Hawaii2:30 PM EDT

    Ah but you can still treadle! But the rest is sucky.

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  41. Sorry to hear about that damage, what a nuisance. Thank God nothing more serious happened.

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  42. Put in a whole house surge protector right on your electrical box. It cost us around 300 I think but we have a 1000 deductible on our homeowners policy so it is worth it...look at how many things you lost. If you get hit, it is fried and you have to get a new one hut it is only a 300 loss
    Marianne in mount vernon va

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  43. Even though it is bad, it could of been lots worse, it could of burned your beautiful cabin down... When we are leaving for any length of time we try to unplug most things that could be damaged by a lightening strike. Hoping you get everything back to normal again real soon.

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  44. I'm sorry you lost so much stuff, but glad Quiltvilla is still standing! Reading the comments has given me so much good information as eastern Washington doesn't have the powerful storms as you seem to get, but we do have our share of lightning...I'll be unplugging so many more things now!

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  45. Nancy: rangerer@sbcglobal.net8:10 PM EDT

    That must have been about the time we had a small tornado here in Tuscaloosa, AL. We lost the shutters from one window and some roof shingles. The claims adjuster found hail damage to the roof shingles also and recommended a new roof. We just heard from the insurance co., and they have agreed to replace it. We just moved from Illinois to Alabama last June, and this is our 1st time to "get" to use our underground safe room. If there is a tornado when my hubby is not at home, grandma (me) will just get blown away with the house. There is no way that I could handle the door to the safe room. He has decided to build one in the garage to handle that problem. Sorry about all your damage, but you are right -- it could have been much worse.

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  46. Anonymous1:33 PM EDT

    I've always felt that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which is why during electrical storms I unplug surge protectors from the wall and just wait out the storm. It's easier, less stressful and much less expensive that way!

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  47. Bonnie, Just this week the tenants at a house my boss owns informed me they had an electrical fire. The power pole was struck by lightening earlier this season and apparently it did something to the neutral wire going into the house. The wire was sending 240 volts (or something like that) into the house randomly and it started a fire in a ceiling fan and a couple of other receptales. They had even turned the main power off to the house. Very scary! The wire from the pole to the house had to be replaced. You might want to consider checking that.

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