Storm Diary I
On April 27, several states in the southern US were hit by extremely severe storms. Alabama bore the brunt of these storms, including 21 tornado strikes in a single day. My house was missed by less than a quarter mile by a tornado that has now been rated EF-5, with maximum winds of 210 miles per hour, that traveled 135 miles and utterly destroyed several small towns in north Alabama.
Afterward, my out-of-state cousin pressed me for details: what was it like? Where were you? Were you afraid? How long were you without power? Do you need anything? I finally wrote a diary of my experience of that storm for her. cathshaffer read the diary on Facebook, and urged me to post it here as well. She seemed to find it interesting, and thought that others might find it so, too. Click through for the first entry.
Wednesday morning, April 27, was the last Wednesday of the month. I love the last Wednesday of the month, because it's Chick-Fil-A day -- a day when I meet with other moms from my church for lunch at Chick-Fil-A in Athens. Because so much of my life takes me in the other direction -- east, toward Huntsville -- I save up the errands I need to do in Athens for that day.
On this Wednesday, the weather was forecast to be nasty, with "severe thunderstorms with the possibility of tornadoes," and we were in fact under a tornado watch from the time I woke up that was supposed to last until 8 pm. And we did have stormy weather that morning. But about 10:30, the sun came out briefly. The local schools, which were running on a 3-hour delay because of the morning's storms, sent buses around to pick up the school kids. As the bus went past my driveway, my homeschooled children and I pulled out to go to Chick-Fil-A and run our errands.
As we got to the Chick-Fil-A, shortly after 11 AM, another band of storms rolled in and the weather became very ominous. The tornado sirens started wailing as we walked into the restaurant. I asked the young man who took my order if he was familiar with the restaurant's emergency procedures; he gave me a blank look and shrugged. Just as we sat down with our food, the staff came around and invited us to go to the restroom; other staff locked the restaurant's doors. We joined two other moms and their young boys in the women's restroom, where we hunkered down together. The staff went to shelter in the freezer. We did not envy them.
The kids were scared, especially when the lights flickered and the rain became very loud on the roof. I texted Sean, who was on campus giving a final exam, asking whether he had taken cover, and whether he was okay. To keep the girls calm, I gathered them up and told them the story of Paul's shipwreck, when God told him that He had given him all of those who sailed with him, and we prayed that God would keep us safe -- us, and all of those who 'sailed with us' there at the restaurant.
Eventually, the staff came out of the freezer, and we came out of the restrooms, and the restaurant offered to remake our food because it had gone cold. Athens Chick-Fil-A really is the best. We also heard that there had been a funnel cloud -- the young man who had taken my order and another young man who worked there had declined to take shelter, and had watched as the funnel cloud passed over the restaurant. One of the restaurant's other counter clerks, who knows me and is known to me, confirmed that there had indeed been a funnel cloud, and that she had seen it just before she retreated to the freezer.
We ate our lunch, and went to run our other errands. The rain had let up and the sun was out again. I went to the bank, to Edward Jones, and to Staples, where I bought a desk for my kids. We came home, and found that the storm had blown down both of our basketball goals, which was unprecedented, and I thought very severe. I posted pictures of the downed goals to my Facebook account at about 2 pm, but then the tornado sirens started up again, so I ran the girls inside. The sirens stopped, and Sean arrived home. He and Ashley Rose walked around in the yard, looking at the damage, until the sirens and the rain started up again.
I put the girls in my bedroom closet.
Sean took up residence on the sofa.
The sirens wailed and wailed.
I got a text from our preacher's wife at 3:10 pm, telling us that Wednesday evening Bible study was cancelled, and bidding us to be safe.
It got very dark.
The power went out. It would stay out for five days, but we didn't know that then.
I wrapped the girls in blankets, because they were afraid. Cora wanted to be cuddled, but I didn't want to sit down, so I had the dog lay down next to her, and she put an arm out of her blanket to wrap around him.
Sean and I watched the weather from the living room. Sean was trading text messages with his buddy, Lee C., in town; Lee and his wife were sheltering in their crawl space, and hoping to hear when the worst had passed.
The weather grew too ominous for me, and I retreated to the closet with the girls.
Sean sat on the couch with his Kindle and his phone, watching. He said later, "It looked like The Wizard of Oz."
By five o'clock, the worst had passed, and the rain had eased up. We went outside and looked around; the neighbors' yards behind us were flooded, and at least two trees were down. One neighbor's trampoline was tangled in another neighbor's downed tree. I posted that picture at 5:43 PM.
Just beyond the end of the cul-de-sac, just out of our view, was a strip of destruction such as I have never seen. That dark moment? That Wizard-of-Oz bit of time? That was the EF-5 tornado hitting not a quarter mile away from us. But we didn't know that until later. All we knew at the time was that we might get hit again. Ashley Rose started to climb on a downed limb; I told her not to get into anything she couldn't get out of quickly, just in case things went dark again. She complied readily.
That was my experience of the tornado. But I didn't know it at the time. There was a lot I didn't know until later.
Afterward, my out-of-state cousin pressed me for details: what was it like? Where were you? Were you afraid? How long were you without power? Do you need anything? I finally wrote a diary of my experience of that storm for her. cathshaffer read the diary on Facebook, and urged me to post it here as well. She seemed to find it interesting, and thought that others might find it so, too. Click through for the first entry.
Wednesday morning, April 27, was the last Wednesday of the month. I love the last Wednesday of the month, because it's Chick-Fil-A day -- a day when I meet with other moms from my church for lunch at Chick-Fil-A in Athens. Because so much of my life takes me in the other direction -- east, toward Huntsville -- I save up the errands I need to do in Athens for that day.
On this Wednesday, the weather was forecast to be nasty, with "severe thunderstorms with the possibility of tornadoes," and we were in fact under a tornado watch from the time I woke up that was supposed to last until 8 pm. And we did have stormy weather that morning. But about 10:30, the sun came out briefly. The local schools, which were running on a 3-hour delay because of the morning's storms, sent buses around to pick up the school kids. As the bus went past my driveway, my homeschooled children and I pulled out to go to Chick-Fil-A and run our errands.
As we got to the Chick-Fil-A, shortly after 11 AM, another band of storms rolled in and the weather became very ominous. The tornado sirens started wailing as we walked into the restaurant. I asked the young man who took my order if he was familiar with the restaurant's emergency procedures; he gave me a blank look and shrugged. Just as we sat down with our food, the staff came around and invited us to go to the restroom; other staff locked the restaurant's doors. We joined two other moms and their young boys in the women's restroom, where we hunkered down together. The staff went to shelter in the freezer. We did not envy them.
The kids were scared, especially when the lights flickered and the rain became very loud on the roof. I texted Sean, who was on campus giving a final exam, asking whether he had taken cover, and whether he was okay. To keep the girls calm, I gathered them up and told them the story of Paul's shipwreck, when God told him that He had given him all of those who sailed with him, and we prayed that God would keep us safe -- us, and all of those who 'sailed with us' there at the restaurant.
Eventually, the staff came out of the freezer, and we came out of the restrooms, and the restaurant offered to remake our food because it had gone cold. Athens Chick-Fil-A really is the best. We also heard that there had been a funnel cloud -- the young man who had taken my order and another young man who worked there had declined to take shelter, and had watched as the funnel cloud passed over the restaurant. One of the restaurant's other counter clerks, who knows me and is known to me, confirmed that there had indeed been a funnel cloud, and that she had seen it just before she retreated to the freezer.
We ate our lunch, and went to run our other errands. The rain had let up and the sun was out again. I went to the bank, to Edward Jones, and to Staples, where I bought a desk for my kids. We came home, and found that the storm had blown down both of our basketball goals, which was unprecedented, and I thought very severe. I posted pictures of the downed goals to my Facebook account at about 2 pm, but then the tornado sirens started up again, so I ran the girls inside. The sirens stopped, and Sean arrived home. He and Ashley Rose walked around in the yard, looking at the damage, until the sirens and the rain started up again.
I put the girls in my bedroom closet.
Sean took up residence on the sofa.
The sirens wailed and wailed.
I got a text from our preacher's wife at 3:10 pm, telling us that Wednesday evening Bible study was cancelled, and bidding us to be safe.
It got very dark.
The power went out. It would stay out for five days, but we didn't know that then.
I wrapped the girls in blankets, because they were afraid. Cora wanted to be cuddled, but I didn't want to sit down, so I had the dog lay down next to her, and she put an arm out of her blanket to wrap around him.
Sean and I watched the weather from the living room. Sean was trading text messages with his buddy, Lee C., in town; Lee and his wife were sheltering in their crawl space, and hoping to hear when the worst had passed.
The weather grew too ominous for me, and I retreated to the closet with the girls.
Sean sat on the couch with his Kindle and his phone, watching. He said later, "It looked like The Wizard of Oz."
By five o'clock, the worst had passed, and the rain had eased up. We went outside and looked around; the neighbors' yards behind us were flooded, and at least two trees were down. One neighbor's trampoline was tangled in another neighbor's downed tree. I posted that picture at 5:43 PM.
Just beyond the end of the cul-de-sac, just out of our view, was a strip of destruction such as I have never seen. That dark moment? That Wizard-of-Oz bit of time? That was the EF-5 tornado hitting not a quarter mile away from us. But we didn't know that until later. All we knew at the time was that we might get hit again. Ashley Rose started to climb on a downed limb; I told her not to get into anything she couldn't get out of quickly, just in case things went dark again. She complied readily.
That was my experience of the tornado. But I didn't know it at the time. There was a lot I didn't know until later.