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Grateful

Writer's picture: Sikena KhadijaSikena Khadija

Confirmed Macroburst and EF 1 Tornado

NWS Damage Survey for 07/13/2022 Ulster County Macroburst

and Tornado.


That is the headline that shook me this morning. Believe me when I say that safety comes first, especially while on the boat. We know how dangerous the river is with or without a storm.

As we sit and talk about that storm, now that the adrenalin is gone, we see that we made some very rooky mistakes, like we didn't have a second anchor on board. We didn't have the marine radio on the weather channel. We were foolish not to head in as soon as we saw that crazy cloud formation. We didn’t put our life jackets on immediately when the wind hit us. I also should point out that this is 38ft houseboat. There is nothing fast about this boat. There is a lot of surface space. There was no way we could have tried to beat the second cell.

We were lulled into a false sense of confidence, having waited out storms in that exact same spot before. If we had seen that the weather wasn't going to improve, we would have been snug back at our dock by the time the second cell hit. I've said it once, and I'll repeat it. What we did right was remain calm. That is what got us through.

I hope we never have an experience like this again. Chances are that we will. It's one of the risks of life on the water. What do I know for sure? We will take everything we learned from this storm on every adventure on the river, locks, lakes, and ocean (eventually) with us. The minute we ever see clouds like that we will be headed in as fast as we can!


We had all of our guardian angels with us out there. .



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