15 Year Anniversary of the Grand Rapids Mega Storm

     It was around 3am on a Sunday morning when our alarm went off signaling for my husband to get ready for work.  He was a company driver working for B&B Trucking based out of Kalamazoo.  The semi he was using was parked near the Grand Rapids Airport.  The company was contracted to haul the mail from one bulk mailing center to another one.  I had preplanned on visiting with my mother that day.  I told her I would be there very early and I would try to be quiet as I entered her home.  Slowly we drug ourselves out of bed.  I woke up our 3 week old daughter, Elizabeth, and sleepily I fed her before we left for the hour drive from Gobles to Grand Rapids.  Before we left Brian picked up our one year old son, Christian, and carried his sleeping body to his car seat in the Chevy Astro van.  Brian slipped behind the driver's seat and I slid into the passenger seat feeling like a walking zombie.  Early mornings were not my speciality. 

     On the way up Brian nudged me awake, "Look at that!"  he said pointing to the northwest.

     I strained to open my eyes.  They just didn't want to open.  Somehow my eyelids pryed itself open and before my eyes was a series of lightning strikes.  From the glow of the lightning you can see the massive cloud.  That caught my attention and woke me up.  I love thunderstorms and this one seemed like it was raining lightning. 

     "We better hurry so we can meet up with my truck and I can do my pretrip before that storm hits."  he drives a little faster going north on 131. 

     At that time in the morning on May 31, 1998 it seemed as if no one was around.  The streets were eerie silent.  We would get into a few batches of rain and then it would stop.  We could hear the rolling sounds of thunder angerily snapping at our heals.  We made it to the 44th street exit and it was a straight shot to the airport.  Most of the lights were still blinking yellow.  Some we did get stopped at by a red light only to see the storm heading for us in the rearview mirrors like it was angry at us for trying to outrun it. 

     At last we make it to the parking lot next to the airport terminal.  The cloud let out its rain like a bucket was dumping over the edge of it.  Instead of getting out of the car to run around to the driver's seat I just slid myself across looking at the heavy rainfall through the windshield.  Poor Brian was out in the rain looking over his truck to make sure everything was good to go for his daily trip.  Then I started to hear a thunk, thunk, thunking noise on the roof of the van.  I looked around to see what it was.  It was raining so hard I couldn't see out the windshield.  Brian quickly hops in the van dripping wet.  "It's hailing!  I am going to wait in here until it lets up a bit" 

     We sat in the van for a moment listening to the tinking sounds on our van.  I looked behind to check on our children.  They were both fast asleep unaware of what was going on in the world around them.  After a few moments the hail slowly started to let up.  Brian kissed me goodby and told me to be very careful as I drove to my mom's house.  I insured him I would.  He got out of the van and made a dash for his truck.  His headlights flashed on and off at me.  That was his way of saying he was good to go and I could leave.  I turned the van around and headed towards 28th street.

     I could feel the wind pushing against the van like it was trying to stop me.  I was determinded enough to continue.  I was amazed at all the lightning that lit up the pre-morning sky.  I was so engrossed with the lightning that I wasn't paying much attention to what was going on around me.  I suddenly realized that I haven't seen any street lights.  As I was crossing over Breton I looked up and in the flash of the lightning I seen the yellow light signal swinging madly over me.  I looked back in my side rearview mirrors.  No lights! I thought to myself.  Power must be out.  I need to slow down, pay attention and stop at the intersections.  Having worked as a waitress on 28th street on that side of town 4 years prior helped me navigate my way west on 28th street.  I remembered where the major interestions were and knew when to stop.  I was thankful that traffic was sparce that morning and no one came from the other side streets and ran through like I did and hit me.  I couldn't get over at how hard the wind was blowing.  The trees I could make out wanted to topple over in the wind.  Light poles in parking lots swayed violently.  To me, this was exciting. 

     I finally made it to my mom's driveway.  The rain had let up a bit but it was still raining.  I turned around in my seat to cover Elizabeth's car seat with a blanket to protect her from the weather.  I looked over at Christian.  He was still sleeping.  I got out of the car and popped Elizabeth's car seat out from its base just enough so I can grab it with one hand.  I lifted Christian out of his carseat and put him over my sholder.  The rain on his face woke him up a little bit.  I grabed Elizabeth's car seat with my other arm and dashed quickly to my mom's garage.  I set Elizabeth's car seat down so I can work the door to enter my mom's house.  As soon as I did that the door started to open.  My mom was on the other side relieved that I made it there okay.  We all enter and made our way to a screened in porch.  There, looking at me from the other side of the glass, was my older sister with her daughter. 

     "What are you doing here?"  I inquired with a smile.  She lived about a mile from our mom's house.

     "It felt like our apartment was about to fall over.  I wasn't sure if there was going to be a tornado"  she said.  She doesn't like storms a whole lot. 

     My mom's power was out also.  I told them that most of 28th street is without power.  We sat and rocked the children watching the storm work its way to the east.  The sun was trying to work its way through the clouds to bring on the day and to illuminate the destruction that was left behind.  In my mom's yard a few small trees fell over and Brian came a few days later and helped remove them. 

     Several hours later we were all starting to get hungry.  We couldn't cook anything because the power was still out in our location.  We decided to drive around and see what was opened.  Denny's over by 131 and 44th street was open.  The parking lot was packed.  Chris, my mom's husband, went in and set our reservation.  It was over an hour wait.  We sat in the car and waiting for a while before we made our move inside.  Elizabeth woke up and wanted to be nursed.  I looked around at the busy resturant.  Being a private person that I am I just couldn't nurse at that moment.  I did, however, carry around the premade 2 ounce bottles of formula that the hospitals give out after you have a baby.  I opened up the bottle and that was her first time taking a bottle.  She was done nursing after that day.

Area affected by the May 30-31, 1998 derecho event (outlined in blue). Curved purple lines represent the approximate locations of the "gust front" at three hourly intervals. "+" symbols indicate the locations of wind damage or wind gusts above severe limits (measured or estimated at 58 mph or greater). Red dots and paths indicate tornado events.  http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/may30-311998page.htm

     Looking back and gathering information about this storm Wikipedia says, "860,000 people lost power in Michigan. This derecho (wide spread windstorm associated with severe thunderstorms) would go on to break the record for biggest power outage ever in the state of Michigan (but later surpassed by the 2003 North America blackout)."   This storm spread from Montana to the Atlantic Ocean.  It went through Michigan in 2 hours.  Wiki also said that Grandville had extensive damage which led to the city being closed off and no one could leave.  I didn't find that to be entirely true since we were able to head out to Denny's and I was able to pick my husband up later on that evening with no problems.  But there was damage all over Michigan and smaller tornado's did pop up sporadically.  Trees did topple over and roofs were blown off of homes and buildings.  In fact, over 12,000 homes were damaged and 34 homes were completely destroyed.  Over 800 businesses were damaged and 34 businesses were destroyed.  This storm was so bad that 5 of Consumer's Energy 345 kilovolt transmission towers were blown down between Ludington and Grand Rapids.  They were designed to stand up to gusts of 110 miles per hour.  "Overall, the derecho traveled 975 miles from southern Minnesota to New York in 15 hours at an average speed of 65 mph. It became one of the most damaging derecho events in North America's history, causing $300 million in damage."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late-May_1998_tornado_outbreak_and_derecho) 

Red numbers are maximum measured wind gusts in mph. Orange numbers are estimated maximum gusts in mph, based on a damage survey by Grand Rapids NWS Forecast Office meteorologists. Thirteen Michigan counties (noted in black lettering and within light blue border) together were declared a Federal Disaster Area by the Federal Emergency Managers Association. The purple "S" represents where a "seiche" took place on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/casepages/may30-311998page.htm



And there I was driving straight into the monstrous storm totally unaware of its magnitude. 

My Encounter With The Pimp

In 1995 this was the Apple Blossom Restaurant

     In my senior year of high school I worked as a waitress at the Apple Blossom Family Restaurant.  The restaurant was located across the street from Sara Lee Bakery on 28th street just east of Division in Grand Rapids, Michigan.   The New Beginnings Restaurant now takes the place of Apple Blossom.  In 1995 there was a hotel next door with a reputation for prostitution.  Not too often we would see a prostitute walk over with her suitor to get a bite to eat.  Sometimes when the hired women wasn't dressed properly our assistant manager, Debbie, would kindly have them leave the restaurant and remind them the establishment is supposed to be family friendly and they can return after they change their wardrobe.

     One day during the slow hours Debbie was the hostess and I was the only waitress handling the floor.  She came into the back room where I was prepping some food and told me that I had a party of 3 at a table.  I started to make my way out there and she quickly pulled me aside.  "They are from the hotel so be careful."

     Right away I felt dirty.  I didn't want to serve them.  I round the corner and there was a black man with a black woman and a white woman.  Both women were barely wearing modest clothing but since it was slow Debbie let it pass this time.  I remember the white woman was wearing an open lacy vest with a bikini top underneath.  The black woman has a tube top on with and long earrings.  The black guy was just wearing a plain t-shirt.  I put on my happy face and proceeded towards the table. 

     I was polite and took their orders and even came back and gave them refils on their drinks.  I didn't have much communcation with them because I didn't know what to say.  Do I ask how work is going?  Nope.  I don't want to know.  Do I ask them if they are having a nice day?  I don't know what they would consider a nice day so I don't want to know the answer to that question either.  It was better if I seldom opened my mouth.  They eventually left and I went to start bussing off the table.  As I removed some plates I noticed there was not a tip.  Figures!  Shortly afterwards Debbie came up to me and said they left the tip, as they were checking out, with her to be given to me.  I look and Debbie was handing me a $10 bill with a huge smile on her face.  They were overly gracious with the tip.  I slowly raised my hand up and took the $10 from her.  I didn't want to know what was done for this $10 bill to be earned. 



This is exactly what the Caddy looked like.     



     Weeks had passed and the black man came into the resturant by himself.  I was his waitress again.  He asked me who owned the Cadillac in the back.  I told him it was mine.   It was a 1984 Cadillac Eldorado that my grandfather bought brand new and died a few years later.  My mom still owned the title but allowed me to drive it.  I did not like the idea he was inquiring about the car.  "By any chance are you willing to sell it?" he asked.

     "No.  It's my mom's car really and I know she wants to keep the car."  I replied back.  

     "If she ever wants to sell it let me know.  I can pay her cash for it."  I just smiled and walked away thinking I will never come looking for you to buy this car with your dirty money!  

     Some time has passed.  I didn't give the pimp guy a second thought.  I had the day off and I was driving across town to pick someone up from work.  He worked over at Kenny Rogers Roasters on the far east side of 28th street.  Traffic was heavy that day.  I was nearing the intersection of Eastern and 28th street.  I had to wait for the light at least twice already.  I remember I was in the left lane, music pumping, minding my own business.  Then my passenger side door opens.

     It started me.  "Did you talk to your mom about selling the car yet?" It was the pimp.  I was shocked!  He enters the car and shuts the door.  I was holding my breath and looked around waiting for the candid cameras to pop out from behind a tree or from another vehicle.  "You wouldn't mind dropping me off at the hotel over by the Beltline would you?"  he asked.

     "I am on my way to pick someone up from work now.  I really don't have the extra time."  I said politely. 

     "It won't be that much trouble." the pimp said as he was fastening his seatbelt, "This is as nice on the inside as it is on the outside."  he said about the car. 

     The light turned green.  It was all surreal.  As I took my foot off the break and started pressing down on the gas.  I told him I would only take him to the corner of the Beltline and 28th street.  He can walk to the hotel.  We drove on.  He kept mentioning how he loved this car.  I kept thinking this is not normal.  People don't just walk into other people's car and demand for a ride.  Then he started mentioning how nice I looked with my hair down.  Resturant policy has us wear our hair up in a bun to keep it off the collar.  When I am not working I kept my hair down and it was just over my sholders.  I smiled and lit up a cigarette.  I just concentrated on the road and ashing out my window.  That way I didn't have to glance in his direction.  My foot pressed down on the accelerator a bit harder. 

     We neared the intersection of the Beltline and 28th street.  He thanked me for the ride and asked if I wanted to come meet some people inside.  I reminded him I was dropping him off at the corner and I was not entering the hotel/bar parking lot.  There must of been a firmness to my voice because he didn't debate with me on the issue.  He left the car and I drove down a bit and turned my car around in another business parking lot and drove west to Kenny Roger's Roaster to pick up my friend. 

     I have learned to drive more aware of my surroundings and to keep my door locked.  He never came back into Apple Blossom that I have known of.  I am so thankful that nothing more had happened.