Wind advisory, Schmind advisory... The Almost Hurricane and SoCal fires

The strong wind advisory Southern California residents received a few days ago took a terrible turn yesterday. Fires from Santa Barbara to Baja are being stoked by severe wind storms, in some places near hurricane force winds. We watched the news in horror last night and called all our friends in danger zones to make sure they were OK and to pray with them.

From our back yard we watched the Santiago Canyon fire blaze over the hillside here in Orange. These photos are really terrible because the wild wind made taking night shots nearly impossible, but you get the idea.

Flames glowing over the hills

Smoke and dust kicked up by the fires and wind are shrowding Orange County and all the way out past Catalina Island

In our area winds reached in excess of 60 mph buffetting our house so that it sounded like a freight train was passing through all night long. We heard our master bedroom fireplace chimney top clanging and banging until it finally broke. Even now the wind is whistling and moaning through here making it sound like a premature haunted house.

Here's what we found this morning:

Our patio furniture blew away

and landed all over the place

The trampoline net got shredded

The back patio furniture was pushed all around by the wind and several trees broke.

This poor papyrus plant took a swim

And finally, here's the culprit. This thing kept the whole house awake last night until it finally gave up the ghost.

From what we hear, none of the fires are contained yet with no signs of the wind slowing down until the weekend. So, please be in prayer for the safety of firefighters putting their lives on the line, and for the residents of the endangered areas, and for the homes and wildlife that are threatened.