Touched by Boris

A few days ago, I received a message suggesting that a massive storm was heading towards Central and Eastern Europe. Checking Meteo.pl, I saw that its epicentre is due to move through Czechia and southern Poland. The weather app  on my phone was telling me that Mazovia would be hit by heavy rain in the late afternoon. I got all my paces in before 3pm; shortly after that, the sky darkened and the rain began. No thunder, no lightning – just just intense rainfall. Around 6pm I was watching a The Rest is History podcast – suddenly the banter stopped, the internet buffering had ceased, electricity was cut. Outside, the dark clouds made it as black as night. There was nothing to do but go to bed early.

Four hours later, I was woken by the kitchen lights coming back on. The router reset itself; the internet was back, so I checked social media for news of what was happening. Obviously the south was bearing the brunt, with floodwaters rising rapidly. 

But here locally – what's happening? I checked the Facebook page of the local volunteer fire brigade (OSP KSRG* Chynów) to discover that in Grobice, the next village to the north-east of Jakubowizna, there has been massive storm damage, with roofs ripped off houses.

Today, I went to check. The sun is shining. Stepping out of the działka, the first thing I see is a fire engine in the distance, then a police helicopter flying low across the sky. Other than that – everything's normal. No trees fallen across the road. Not even snapped branches, or tons of windfall apples on the ground in the orchards. Two trains pass each other at Chynów station, both on time. I walk northwards towards Nowe Grobice, turning into ulica Sezamkowa (lit. Sesame Street), then straight into Grobice. No sign of any passing storm other than a few small puddles on the asphalt. People getting on with their garden chores, out for a walk, washing their cars.

But then I pass the road junction in the centre of Grobice and the village shop. Beyond it, I see the scene captured by the fire brigade. The bulk of the mess has already been tidied up, the road is passable, but it's clear what had happened. Some five or six houses and outbuildings have had their roofs pulled away and scattered across the other side of the road. 

Fences had been blown over, garden furniture flung hither and yon, a children's playhouse lifted over the garden fence and into the street. One house, still under construction, has a huge plastic sheet where a roof once covered it; remnants of that roof lie across the road in the grass verge. Overhead a drone is buzzing; probably from an insurance company, assessing the damage from the air. Wreckage is strewn across barnyards, people are tidying up. The damage is highly concentrated. Just 30 to 50 metres up and down the street there's no sign of anything untoward. Old barns, gardens, untouched.

What happened here? Was this a tornado? Later, I'd walk home along the farm track that runs parallel to the south of Grobice. Not even a snapped branch let alone any fallen trees. If this was a tornado, it must have been extremely localised, appearing suddenly over Grobice, rather than leaving a path from south to north or from east to west. 

The rest of my walk revealed no further damage. A puzzling meteorological phenomenon. 

Meanwhile, southern Poland and Czechia are bracing themselves for rising waters as the peak rainfall in the mountains makes its way towards Wrocław and Prague. Lądek Zdrój (where my aunt lived in the 1970s and '80s), Kłodzko and Głuchołazy have been heavily hit by the flooding. 

The storm's fringes have passed central Poland, Tuesday promises to be hot (25C or 77F) and dry. The second half of September and it's still like high summer in my youth. Climate-change deniers – get real.

[Update Monday 16 September. I cannot believe how far the wind carried the roof. I measured it today; 80 metres or 260 feet.]

*KSRG = Krajowy System Ratowniczo-Gaśniczy (National Rescue and Fire-Extinguishing System)

This time last year:
Clinging on and letting go

This time four years ago:
Out in the mid-September heat

This time five years ago:
Poland's ugliest building?

This time 10 years ago:
Weekend cookery - prawns in couscous

This time 12 years ago:
Draining Jeziorki

This time 13 years ago:
Early autumn moods

This time 14 years ago:
The Battle of Britain, 70 years on

This time 15 years ago:
Thoughts about TV, Polish and British

This time 16 years ago:
Time to abandon driving to work!

This time 17 years ago:
Crappy roads take their toll