The thunderstorm struck about five miles south of Floyd on U.S. 221 as I headed back home after a long day of shooting photos in Grayson County.

Rain pelted the Wrangler as high winds buffeted the car. Even with the wipers on high visibility diminished to near zero.

My concern, however, was not the failure to see the road in front or the imminent danger of sharing a stormed ravaged road with other motorists as blind as I.

"Damn," I thought. "There goes my driveway."

In Floyd, power went out, leaving the county’s one’s traffic light inoperable for a while. Water flowed down the street in waves, overwhelming the drainage system.  I was sure my driveway, already damaged by three storms in a row on Monday, would be washed to the bottom of the hill.

But 221 was dry just five miles north of Floyd. I turned onto Harvestwood and ran into wet road before Sandy Flats but it looked more like a steady, but not hard, rain had fallen.

Optimism returned and my arrival home confirmed that outlook. The driveway was still pretty much intact. The worst of the storm passed just to the south.

A reprieve, for now, but more storm lurk in the forecast for the next couple of days. If it can hold off until the weekend, I can regrade and repack the driveway and, with luck, prepare it for the next round of Mother Nature’s twisted sense of humor.