Monday, June 20, 2011

Castle in the Air in A-Town




From our local paper...
"Skies turned from blue to partly cloudy then stormy in a short period of time late Saturday afternoon as a dry line developed on top of Abilene. The conditions turned from 107-degree heat to storms that in Abilene produced brief downbursts of hard rain, rumbles of thunder that set off security alarms at businesses, super gusts of wind that downed power lines in northeastern Abilene and penny-size hail elsewhere.
The weather outburst disrupted the Juneteenth celebration in Stevenson Park, where tents were flattened and an air castle reportedly was blown about 30 yards with as many as seven youngsters inside.
One witness said the castle had been tied down.
“It blew it way down to the road,” said John Lyons, describing wind that lifted the lightweight inflatible and sent it tumbling. Witnesses described how men were able to chase down the castle — one of two at the event — and hold it down before it reached the roadway.
As far as the children — Lyons said maybe six or seven were inside — they all were able to get themselves out of the castle, he said.
A trained weather spotter reported to the National Weather Service that straight-line winds of 70 mph struck east Abilene about 5:30 p.m."

For the whole article: http://www.reporternews.com/news/2011/jun/18/another-100-plus-day-but-spotty-rain-was-a/?partner=popular

The article doesn't say if any of the children were hurt or not.

Reading the article reminded me of Don McLean's song.

7 comments:

Madhat said...

They needed more duct tape to tie down that castle...

stopsign said...

@Madhat~lol

Supi, Hope all the kids are safe. Normally those things are pretty sturdy but they are light weight.

I really enjoyed the video.

Supi said...

@Madhat - Wonder if there is double sided duct tape.

@Stopsign - This isn't the first this castle has kicked it up a notch with kids inside.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

Yee Hah ... I have my first show this weekend and don't need to hear this. Been there, done that .... Tents a flying ...

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

Hey Madhat ... loan me some duct tape, Dude.

Madhat said...

Okay, I left some at that hardware store by your place, I think they may charge you a storage fee though, which for some reason, is exactly the same as the retail price...

Supi said...

Odie - Ah the joys of selling outdoors.

Madhat - So that is what California is calling taxes nowadays: Storage Fees.