Posted on 07/09/2012 5:43:57 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The week had been difficult enough for the Weinberger family after a rare derecho storm knocked out power to their Bethesda home for four nights and an enormous oak tree had been toppled by the wind into their roof.
And that was before a heavy duty crane tipped over in their yard.
“We had a lovely driveway, a beautiful lawn you could host Wimbledon on,” said Lauren Weinberger with a laugh, as she chatted by phone on Sunday.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Dagon falls on his face before God.
I wonder...did this woman break a mirror, or something?
Her deceased husband Caspar was not available to comment...
Ouch!
Gave me a flashback to some guys with a concrete pumper in an very rural area working on a government contract. Pump broke down and the mix set-up before they could get it fixed.
Not funny! I read the article - her husband and the family are fine. No one died.
Just call the Myth Busters in. They blowed up some concrete truck parts real gud.
A derecho (play /dəˈreɪtʃoʊ/; Spanish pronunciation: [deˈɾetʃo]; day-RAY-cho) is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms. Generally, derechos are convection-induced and take on a bow echo form of squall line, forming in an area of divergence in the upper levels of the troposphere, within a region of low-level warm air advection and rich low-level moisture. They travel quickly in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to an outflow boundary (gust front), except that the wind is sustained and increases in strength behind the front, generally exceeding hurricane-force. A warm-weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially during June and July in the Northern Hemisphere, within areas of moderately strong instability and moderately strong vertical wind shear. They may occur at any time of the year and occur as frequently at night as during the daylight hours.
Cranes are real tippy, especially when they are being used to lift stuff. They fall over all the time. They can also drop stuff. Life is not guaranteed.
It’s good that the mixing tanks can be fairly easily R&R’d
That’s over the top. Maybe a few garden gnomes and a fountain would have sufficed.
It there an American word for this sort of storm? I am tired of using politically correct words.
Boom Truck, under 25 max capacity, probably tried to lift more than the chart indicated. Problem with using cranes in arborculture, the load is put on the crane suspended.
Soft ground after big storm ?
Unlikely, we did not have enough rain for that, although soft spots from the irrigation system and the fact that I did not see any pads in that photo to spread the weight could be contributors.
Two questions, What was the name of the crane company? What was the name of the tree company? Very few tree companies have their own cranes, and the one picture of the crane does not display the company livery.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.