Microburst explodes through valley
Woman injured, trees toppled in wind storm
By PETER BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer
Express photo by Willy Cook
Dylan and Spencer Fullmer, 13 and 9 years old, survey the damage done to Luke
Whalen’s house on River Trail in Hailey. Whalen was not at home at the time of the
storm last Thursday. House guests Larry and Celia Westbury called and warned him that
“this is bad.”
The Trails End Subdivision on the north end of Hailey and along the Big
Wood River was smacked by strong winds from a thunderstorm last Thursday evening.
Widespread damage to trees and minor structural damage was reported. The
only injury occurred after the storm.
Trails End resident Trina McNeal, 50, fell and broke her pelvis and right
elbow while clearing storm debris from her roof on Saturday at about 5 p.m.
According to her brother-in-law, Whiz McNeal, she stepped backward off the
carport roof of her home on River Trail and fell 15 feet to the gravel drive below. Unable
to move, she called for help for 15 to 20 minutes, he said.
She was discovered by a River Trail neighbor, Katheryn Leach, who heard
her calls as she was driving by the house.
She was taken by ambulance to Moritz Community Hospital, then flown from
Friedman Memorial Airport to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. According to Whiz
McNeal, she is being treated for left and right fractures of her pelvis and a broken right
elbow and is expected to make a full recovery.
Those who experienced the storm found it similar to a tornado or
hurricane.
Express photo by Willy Cook
Tom and Dana Lascheck’s camper lies tumbled forward after winds swept across
their property on Empty Saddle Trail in Hailey. Dana Lascheck said the wind reminded her
of the hurricanes she experienced while living in Florida.
Dana Lascheck who lives on Empty Saddle Trail said that she was at a
baseball game with her husband, Tom, and their children when the thunderstorm hit.
Lascheck said that when she and her family noticed the growing darkness,
they decided to leave the game for home. The storm, she said, reminded her of the
hurricanes she experienced when she lived in Florida.
In Florida, she remembers seeing "coconuts flying through the air
like cannonballs," but in this storm all she saw flying were branches and leaves.
The wind, she said, seemed to come from the south, and she estimated it
lasted anywhere from 30 minutes to 45 minutes. She remembers the sky going "totally
dark, and it was pouring rain at the same time."
"We were lucky," she said. "A couple of cottonwoods near
the house snapped off about halfway up, but they missed our windows." Another
cottonwood uprooted, but it fell across the corner of the property.
The only other damage she reported was that the front end of their camper
was crushed after it was pushed over by the wind.
Luke Whalen’s home on River Trail suffered more damage. One
cottonwood was uprooted, snapping the top off a Blue Spruce and landing on top of the
garage. Another uprooted cottonwood fell across Whalen’s pump house leaving him
without water.
Whalen was not at home when the storm struck, but some house guests from
Santa Barbara, Calif., were. Celia and Larry Westbury were getting their two children and
two visiting children ready for bed about 9:15 p.m.
Celia Westbury, who said she has been in one hurricane and three
tornadoes, said, "it got very intense." The wooden shutters started banging,
everything went black and there was "intense rain," she said.
She said the wind lasted from 15 minutes to 20 minutes.
Jack Messick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in
Pocatello, said that the phenomenon was probably a microburst associated with the
thunderstorm.
He said that in a thunderstorm warm air will rise and cool air will sink.
A microburst is when the cool air accelerates to a sufficient force that when it hits the
ground it spreads out or "bursts." According to Messick, a microburst can
produce winds up to 80 to 90 miles an hour and last up to 10 minutes.
But in the mountains, he added, a microburst traveling downhill can last
up to 30 minutes.
