Downed power wires

Photo taken with cell phone.  I was not as close as this photo makes it appear.  I cropped out a bunch of photo to make it look like I was close.

Southern Belle took me out for one more run before I take her to the airport.  Once again she kicked my butt.

The crappy weather showed up while we were running.  We came across this tree that had blown across some power wires.  You can see two places where the wires are arcing to the tree in the lower-right corner of the photo.

I called 9-1-1 and left this in the road.

It grew as we watched.  Finally, a char-path spanned from wire-to-wire.  Lots of smoke for about fifteen seconds.  Then the closer wire separated, putting a "hot" wire on the ground.  With all of the weight of the tree on the farther wire, the cross piece on the utility pole crapped out.

It may be a while before a crew gets out there.   A half inch of freezing rain is predicted and wind gusts out of the east at fifty miles per hour.  I am not looking forward to driving Southern Belle to the airport (about 90 miles).  I am going to hate to see that girl go.