On September 8th 2011 I was at work when a severe thunderstorm warning was issued which I didn’t think much of it at the time having experienced a number of such warnings before.  Rain started mid-morning and soon became a torrential downpour. As the wind picked up I along with several others went a window  of our fifth-floor office and watched as it approached.  When it was time to go home at five pm the storm was mostly over with only a light rain continuing.  I left the office and started to drive home taking Route 7. My commute to and from work was short, typically about twenty minutes, fifteen if I hit all the traffic lights right,  as most of the traffic was going in the opposite direction of most commuters traveling from the suburbs into Washington DC.  But this day it took three hours. 

After three hours I finally get to my street but find it was blocked by a school bus which a tree had fallen upon. Crazy, I think, what are the odds that a tree would fall upon a school bus traveling on the road, but there it was, right at the entrance to our townhouses  I park the car on the side of North Shore and walk the remaining distance to my house. Some say a torando hit but it was never verified.

Tree on school bus. The woman in the yellow coat with black dog was my next door neighbor. Etrance to our townhouses is to left of the bus. You can see the roof of my town house behind the buss.

School bus being towed away

A couple of blocks from my townhouse had many several large trees frall on houses.

The park and ride lot in Reston at the corner of Wiehle Ave. and Sunset Hills Rd. was flooded.