created: 2023-06-04T10:39 updated: 2023-06-04T10:
Eric hit the breaks and the truck slid to a stop. For at least a quarter mile, telephone poles lay across the road. "Now what?"
John rubbed his temples. "I don't know." It was rare for John to not have an answer, this was one of those times. He was without his radar display, without communication with the rest of the team, without a phone, and at the moment, without insight.
"This looks like straight line winds..." Eric said, glancing around. "Where's the sat phone?"
"Emily has it," John said, finally. "She had it so that she could call if they got hit in Norman..." John stared at the road in front of them.
"Don't we still have the spare antenna in the bed of the truck?" Eric asked suddenly.
"I think so," John said. He was a planner to an extent and had plans for this kind of thing. "You think those lines are dead?"
"If we keep going down this road, we should pop out of the storm to the west and we should be safe then." Hannah said. "Radar is clear behind this line." The wipers on the truck were running full speed, and even with the rain-x on the windows having a hard time keeping up with the deluge of water falling from the sky.
"We have to be close...." Emily said, stealing her first glance at the monitor that displayed the radar since they had begun their retreat. She was right, they were coming up on the western edge of the cell they had found them selves in. A few seconds later the truck burst through the end of the line of rain, passing a line of emergency service vehicles, waiting on the storm to dissipate so they could go in and do their thing. Emily turned the truck around and approached the line of medics. The truck bursting out of the storm line had attracted the attention of the various medical personnel at in the line and as Emily pulled up behind the last medic, the personnel in the last medic jumped out. Emily did the same and ran around to the passenger door, opened it and pulled Hannah out and carried her over to the medic.
"What happened?" one of them asked.
"I jumped in the truck and my ankle got slammed in the door." Hannah said, watching as the medics cut the laces on the boot to remove it.
"Does she have any medical allergies or any other medical issues?" one of them asked Emily, who was looking around trying to find the other truck. On the far side of a large field, she could see the three mobile mesonet vehicles, having fled the storm after they had lost contact with Probe One. The three cars sat together on the opposite side of the road from a nearly identical line of emergency vehicles.
"Other than incontinence," Emily said, not taking her eyes off the mesonets. "No." Hannah blushed at how causually her mom mentioned the wetting issue. "I'll be right back." Hannah watched her mom walk over to the truck.
"What's your name, sweetheart? "The medic that cut the laces from her boot asked. Another medic was digging around in a cabinet looking for something.
"Hannah Peterson..." Hannah replied, watching her mom pick up the microphone.
"Are you the daughter of Doctor John Peterson?" The medic that was rummaging around in the cabinet asked.
"One of them..." Hannah replied before cringing as the medic removed her boot and carefully pulled her pant leg up. Hannah screamed in pain as the boot slid off her foot. It was swollen, about twice the size it normally was. "I'm the oldest." Emily walked back up to the rear of the ambulance. The medic that was rummaging in the cabinet sat something on the gurney next to Hannah.
"Doctor," The medic that was examining Hannah's foot said, "It's almost certainly broken, You're going to need to get her into an ED to have it actually looked at. We're gonna put an aircast on it to keep it stable until you can get to an ED. I'd get there today if you can." The three mesonet vehicles pulled up behind the truck. Joe Shaw hopped out and came running up to Emily.
"Emily," He said, slightly out of breath. "Where's John?"
Eric slid to another stop. This time, it wasn't something they could climb over. The wind had toppled a silo across the road and the resulting pile of debris was structured in such a way that there was no climbing over it.
"Now what?" Eric asked, glancing at his phone. It still taunted him, showing the last image it had received; The hook echo visible on the screen.
"There was a road back on the right. Probably a quarter mile..." John said, trying to look behind them in the mirror. "Let's go that way. At least if this was wind damage, the poles won't have fallen across the roadway..." It may not have been the best option, but it was one of the few that they had at the moment.
"It looks like it's probably straight line wind damage." Eric said. He and John often took bets on what the weather service would determine when looking at storm damage. Eric put the truck in reverse and backed up, making a three point turn. Only one telephone pole stood between them and the road that they wanted to take. The truck conquered it easily.
"What direction are we heading?" John asked. He was usually good at knowing which direction he was going, but he had become disoriented in the storm.
"Northwest..." Eric replied. "Hannah said something about storm motion, What was it?" There was a thud as something hit the back of the truck, causing the back end to loose traction and slam into a telephone pole.
"You alright?" John asked. His head had bounced off the pillar and he was slightly dazed.
"Yeah..." Eric said. He put the truck in gear and tried to go forward. The engine revved, but the truck stayed in place. John couldn't see what they were hung up on from his mirror so he tried to open the door. The door wouldn't budge. Eric tried the same thing on side.
"Mine won't open" he said, hitting the switch to roll down the window. John simply stuck his head out and looked down.
"We're high centered and stuck on a guy line on the telephone pole." John said, defeat almost evident in his voice. The orange glow of the radio reminded him that the antenna had been broken, the laptop's dark screen teased him. "We have no radar data, no way to tell what the storm is doing, and no way to call for help..." John looked around.
"You think we can use the winch and pull us off the line?" Eric asked suddenly.
"Maybe," John said, "Only question is has there been any damage to the drive train?"
Just as suddenly as the storms had initiated, they dissipated. The truck was finally located by emergency personnel some four hours following dissipation. The cab having been crushed by a small car. John's body was still strapped in his seat. Eric's body was found three quarters of a mile away from the truck, hidden under the remains of a combine.
The reports for the storms that day included upwards of two billion dollars worth of damages, eight fatalities (including John and Eric), and three towns wiped off the map. Of the eight fatalities, four of them were related to the flooding that took place after the storm.