So you don't think that was a hurricaine?

THIS IS ONE BIG mahuckin' tree that got knocked down in Clark Park (my park) in West Philadelphia during Thursday afternoon's half hour hurricaine. What's that, you say? It wasn't a hurricaine? Just a line of thunderstorms? Tell it to the sycamores. And the oaks. And the maples. And all the cars that got squished by those falling trees all over the area when this mini-Armageddon blew into town.

I was doing a walking tour in Old City when the rain and hail came screaming in on the backs of banshees. The sky had grown apocalyptically dark and I was hurrying the seven people on the tour (five from Ohio, two from Miami) towards safety in Christ Church when the storm trapped us on Cuthbert Street about a half block away from the church. We weren't moving anywhere in that raging storm. We plastered ourselves against a building trying not to get blown away -- literally. Then, deus-ex-machina style, a man called to us from an open door of an advertising/PR office at Mascher and Cuthbert and offered us shelter. Very classy Philaelphia thing to do.

On the way home I drove past devastated areas of South Philadelphia where walls of buildings had been blown down along with towering trees. It looked like a tornado had touched down in some areas like Stinger Square at 31st and Reed Sts It's just another reminder that life can turn on a dime from out of a darkening June sky.