Last night's storms
Is this what being in a disaster zone feels like? Pictures from the storms that hit West Tennessee have even made the BBC.
Amazingly, I am fine. We got large hail, but none of our trees fell over, and we only lost power for a few minutes. We only spent maybe an hour in the closet under the stairs for a tornado warning.
However, the tornado did cut a swath just to the south of us.
There was going to be a happy post about how I'm getting to take a weekly beginner's Chinese course at the local Baptist university. The first class was Monday, and the instructor was amazing. But the college (which is only about 10 minutes away from where I live) got hit, bad. From what I've heard, all the dorms collapsed (Edit: they're saying 40% totally destroyed, 40% heavily damaged, and 20% alright). All the students were moved to a local high school for the night (actually, Mom says the faculty were able to take in all the students into their homes), and it'll be two weeks before they even think about having classes again. The new science building and the music hall (where I'd just rehearsed Monday with the local community band) both have their roofs off.
In addition, the nearest fire station, a gas station, and some doctors' offices were destroyed or severely damaged. There were trees and wrecked cars blocking the highway and even the Interstate. My dad drove over about 12 downed power lines on the only open route he could find to get home.
It was over 70F yesterday, so we knew bad weather was coming. Experience with these sort of storms makes me edgy whenever the temperature shifts like that. I don't think I'll want to keep living in Tennessee, or anywhere else with tornadoes. (Though it does prompt thought on the unimportance of material stuff--why build anything if it's just going to be torn down?)
They're saying these are the worst storms since 1971. 52 fatalities, over 20 of them in Tennessee (luckily, only 2 confirmed in our county).
Again, I'm fine.
There was one good thing that did come out of this, though. When my dad did make it home, he was curious about the results of the primaries. So we got on his computer to check out some news sites (miraculously, even our Internet was still working). And I saw, under his bookmarks, a folder called "Gay Parenting" (I snuck back later to look at the links, and they were pages like this). Not surprising, I suppose, but comforting.
Amazingly, I am fine. We got large hail, but none of our trees fell over, and we only lost power for a few minutes. We only spent maybe an hour in the closet under the stairs for a tornado warning.
However, the tornado did cut a swath just to the south of us.
There was going to be a happy post about how I'm getting to take a weekly beginner's Chinese course at the local Baptist university. The first class was Monday, and the instructor was amazing. But the college (which is only about 10 minutes away from where I live) got hit, bad. From what I've heard, all the dorms collapsed (Edit: they're saying 40% totally destroyed, 40% heavily damaged, and 20% alright). All the students were moved to a local high school for the night (actually, Mom says the faculty were able to take in all the students into their homes), and it'll be two weeks before they even think about having classes again. The new science building and the music hall (where I'd just rehearsed Monday with the local community band) both have their roofs off.
In addition, the nearest fire station, a gas station, and some doctors' offices were destroyed or severely damaged. There were trees and wrecked cars blocking the highway and even the Interstate. My dad drove over about 12 downed power lines on the only open route he could find to get home.
It was over 70F yesterday, so we knew bad weather was coming. Experience with these sort of storms makes me edgy whenever the temperature shifts like that. I don't think I'll want to keep living in Tennessee, or anywhere else with tornadoes. (Though it does prompt thought on the unimportance of material stuff--why build anything if it's just going to be torn down?)
They're saying these are the worst storms since 1971. 52 fatalities, over 20 of them in Tennessee (luckily, only 2 confirmed in our county).
Again, I'm fine.
There was one good thing that did come out of this, though. When my dad did make it home, he was curious about the results of the primaries. So we got on his computer to check out some news sites (miraculously, even our Internet was still working). And I saw, under his bookmarks, a folder called "Gay Parenting" (I snuck back later to look at the links, and they were pages like this). Not surprising, I suppose, but comforting.