Heck of a hailstorm

Yesterday I experienced an insane hailstorm.

It was like nothing I'd ever seen before.

I was at the Piscine des Marquisats,

Annecy's lovely outdoor pool

most of the afternoon.

I would swim for a bit,

go sit in the shade & read my book

& then get back in the water when I was feeling too hot again.

It was lovely.

Until about 6 p.m.

That was when I noticed some big black clouds forming

& decided to pack up & head home.

I hardly had time to put my bookmark in the novel I'm reading

before all heck broke loose.

The sky opened up,

the rain poured down,

& the wind whipped up.

I saw the brightest lightening flashes I've even seen

& heard absolutely deafening thunder.

It was at this point that the alarms went off on the pool deck

& a lifeguard armed with a megaphone 

ordered the few brave {foolish?} souls out of the water

& into the building.

And then the hail started.
Huge heavy hail.
I couldn't believe my eyes.

The storm lasted a good 10 or 15 minutes.
I waited inside until I was fairly sure it was safe to walk home.

Little did I know I should have brought my winter boots!

This is what covered the ground outside:

The road outside the pool was flooded:

It looked like Christmas in August at the park:

Nature's ice cubes were everywhere!

The town hall was flooded.

Firemen were busy inside
trying to pump some of the water out of the building.

Along the canal, I was astonished by the tree branches 

& the tons of leaves that had fallen down.

The huge puddles on the Paquier were pretty impressive too.

And I think this guy could have practically used his boat to get home.

 Wow.
I still can't believe what nature unleashed in such a short time.

You can see some more photos & a short video
over on the local newspaper's website here.

So it was very exciting around here.

Speaking of exciting,
we leave tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn
for a very quick weekend trip to Spain
to attend our friends' wedding.

I'll be back on Monday for a very Spanish
version of "Les Scènes du Week-end".

Olé!!