SAN ANTONIO – A Northeast Side family made the best of a bad weather situation by turning a weekend-long power outage into an opportunity for adventure.
Dallas Benson set up tents in the front yard of her home on East Nottingham Drive, turning it into a makeshift campground for her grandchildren.
“I had my older lab dog in here with me and my oldest grandson,” she said, showing off the family’s sleeping arrangements.
Benson said the decision to head outside came after some scary moments inside her home.
At one point during Friday night’s storm, strong winds brought down part of a large tree in her backyard.
“We had this monster fall on the back side of the house,” Benson said, pointing to what was now a pile of tree limbs and leaves. “It hit the power lines in the back.”
The home’s electricity also went out for what would be a nearly three day-long stint.
Without power for her air conditioner, the indoor temperature became unbearable, she said.
The family finally got a wet and welcome wakeup call just before 5 a.m. Monday when the sprinkler system suddenly began spraying their tents with water.
“And it didn’t really connect to me, instantly, ‘Oh my gosh. If the sprinkler’s going off, the power’s on,’” Benson said.
The outage left her with a refrigerator of food the family can no longer eat.
Still, Benson said the time they had together courtesy of the power outage is priceless.
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