Tornado Terror

Last night we were hit by a tornado.

Every year at this time, there is the threat of tornados where I live. Many a time, we've huddled in the basement over these storms. For several nights now we've had the threat of tornados, which have missed us by a few miles, and you're sitting there in front of the TV tracking the radar and just hoping the twisters will miss you and go somewhere else. We've been lucky the past few days, so perhaps it was inevitable that it would come to our doorstep at last. This time it was the real deal.

After I put the kids to bed, I watched the reports, hoping like all the other nights it would pass us and go somewhere else, but it was looking grim. Just looking out the window was terrifying, with the grey clouds, violent winds and watching lawn chairs fly through the air. We lost our satellite, so we huddled around one TV in my parents' room that has an analog local station. With the electricity still on, despite the baseball size hail pummeling the windows, there's still the illusion that it could pass before any real damage happens.

The statement that clinched it for us, on channel 7 was, "If you live about 16 miles north of L___, between D____ and C_________, we have a report of a twister on the ground and you should take shelter immediately." I grabbed the kids and fled to the basement with my parents. Believe me, only the threat of certain death would cause me to get my kids out of bed once they have fallen asleep for the night!

Then the power went out and it was pure darkness down there. That's really when the terror sets in that you are in serious trouble, when there's no more contact with the outside world, it's dark, and it's just you and the overpowering storm outside. We spent a good 40 minutes in terror down there, hearing debris fly against the windows and fearing the house was being blown over. Oh, if only I were L&L! They didn't notice anything amiss at all, and enjoyed running around the basement and playing with Grandma's canned goods and boxed mixes.

I just kept praying we would not lose the house, in fact I prayed that God would go ahead and take my life if He were planning to take the house, because I can't imagine living anywhere but the farm and building again seems insurmountable (not to mention unaffordable).

Afterward, we were afraid to look at the damage upstairs. The house was intact, but there are a lot of problems outside, with my front porch, lots of tree damage, part of my garage torn off, barn door roof partly missing, and some sheds damaged. Normally I might have cried while assessing the damage this morning with my camera in hand, but when I called daycare and she told me of the problems in C____, I could hardly weep for myself; these people have windows out, roofs missing, total loss of their homes, and powerlines in their driveway.

Here is what we woke to this morning.

Miraculously their swingset stayed intact.

My mom's peonies didn't fare so well...

I'm brokenhearted about this evergreen in the back.

My porch was hit hard, with a shutter missing and the glass globe light blown off with wires hanging down.

I'm so grateful the barn has stayed. It was built in the late 19th century.

Remains of the large oak tree, pulled out by the roots. My garage...

In case any of you on the east coast are wondering why we don't have trees out here, I believe I have your answer. Just look at the picture at the top of the screen.