For Tornado Support Group - my story
It was May 9, 2001. I was a freshman in college. The weather felt oppressive that day. The air was thick with humidity and energy.
After classes, my friend Joele and I went out for dinner at the Tavern. Afterwards we got ice cream and ate it outside. We were by the river, licking ice cream cones, and I was thinking it might be fun if it started raining. I'd like to eat ice cream in the rain. There were storm watches out and the sky was very dark but there was no rain, just some wind. I told Joele this was a wussy storm.
After we finished eating we hopped back in his car. I thought he was going to bring me to my dorm but he passed the turn-off and I asked him why and he said he felt like driving. I was fine with that so off we went. There were no sirens. Just a black sky and restless atmosphere. I was 18. I thought I was invincible.
After a while of driving under a weirdly blackish/greenish sky, we turned around and started to head back to my dorm. The sky behind us was dark, but the sky in front of us was a strange bright orange. It was the weirdest sky I had ever seen, so bright, and I remember thinking it would be really weird if we can across a tornado now because the sky seemed clear where we were.
Then, when we were near the turkey barn, Joele stopped his car in the middle of the road. We both watched as dust and dirt in front of us began swirling in a circle on the ground. Then pieces of the turkey barn's roof started being torn off and swirling in the air above the dirt swirling on the ground. And right in front of us, about a hundred yards away, a tornado formed. Jolie pulled a u-turn and started heading the other direction. A car that had been traveling behind us did the same thing and was now ahead of us. We sped up, a monster chasing us. Joele said he was going 100 mph and that no four wheels were all on the ground at any one time. The car in front of us pulled off the road into a driveway where some people were standing in their garage, watching the monster behind us. I told Joele to pull into that driveway, too. He parked his car. I was messing with the seatbelt and Joele was already out of the car and had locked it with his key fob, so when I went to open my door it wouldn't unlock. I was panicked and shaking, unable to unlock the car door. Joele saw my distress and unlocked it with the key fob and I hopped out, barefoot, leaving my sandals in the car. I knew the monster was behind us but I didn't look back at it. I just ran through the garage, with these strangers who had taken us in, down some stairs, and into a basement bathroom. There were ten of us down there. I found a spot in the corner and Joele hovered over me, protecting me. The man who lived in the house, whose name I found out later was Mr. Quinnell, was the last to join us in the bathroom. He was looking out the window until the last moment. Then he yelled, "There goes the shed!" and ran in and joined us. A second later the roaring was upon us. All the air was sucked out of the room. I couldn't take a breath in and my ears popped. It lasted about three minutes. We could hear the destruction above us - glass breaking, furniture flying around, walls being torn from foundations. And that constant roar. The man next to me was praying. I think I screamed some. Joele stayed huddled over me, protecting me. I was just so scared the ceiling wouldn't hold but it did, thank goodness. When it was all over we slowly emerged from the bathroom. Woodchips and dirt covered the stairs.We looked up from the basement into open sky. I had no shoes so Joele carried me to the top of the stairs, where a pair of Nikes sat, covered in woodchips and dirt. I emptied them out and put them on. They were way too big for me but they worked. There was debris everywhere - broken glass, bags, a microwave. All the usual accoutrements of everyday life, strewn about the remains of a house. There was no way to get through the doorways because they were blocked with trees so I climbed through what had once been a window but was now devoid of glass. Joele's car was totaled, had been lifted off the ground and moved to a different spot on the driveway. The paint had been stripped off of it and there were two-by-fours across the seat where I had been sitting. But his cigarettes were still there, perfectly fine.
The rest of the night is fuzzy. I called my parents and they got me. My mom took a sliver out of Joele's hand. There were news cameras and photographers. The next day I was on the front page of the St. Paul paper, hugging Joele next to the remains of his car.
It's been twelve years. I finished college, married, graduated from law school, produced two beautiful children. But these memories still haunt me. The nightmares return sporadically. Usually in my nightmares there is a tornado coming and I'm trying to find shelter and trying to get other people to take shelter. I say, "Please, listen to me! I've been through this before! I know what to do!" but they won't listen and they refuse to go to the basement I'm directing them to. Every May I check the weather reports obsessively, looking for any signs of storms heading our way. My daughter knows exactly where to go if she hears the sirens. We have water, a first aid kit, flashlight, and radio sitting in the basement bathroom. And, of course, a pair of my shoes. Because when the tornado is coming you don't have time to find a pair of shoes.
After classes, my friend Joele and I went out for dinner at the Tavern. Afterwards we got ice cream and ate it outside. We were by the river, licking ice cream cones, and I was thinking it might be fun if it started raining. I'd like to eat ice cream in the rain. There were storm watches out and the sky was very dark but there was no rain, just some wind. I told Joele this was a wussy storm.
After we finished eating we hopped back in his car. I thought he was going to bring me to my dorm but he passed the turn-off and I asked him why and he said he felt like driving. I was fine with that so off we went. There were no sirens. Just a black sky and restless atmosphere. I was 18. I thought I was invincible.
After a while of driving under a weirdly blackish/greenish sky, we turned around and started to head back to my dorm. The sky behind us was dark, but the sky in front of us was a strange bright orange. It was the weirdest sky I had ever seen, so bright, and I remember thinking it would be really weird if we can across a tornado now because the sky seemed clear where we were.
Then, when we were near the turkey barn, Joele stopped his car in the middle of the road. We both watched as dust and dirt in front of us began swirling in a circle on the ground. Then pieces of the turkey barn's roof started being torn off and swirling in the air above the dirt swirling on the ground. And right in front of us, about a hundred yards away, a tornado formed. Jolie pulled a u-turn and started heading the other direction. A car that had been traveling behind us did the same thing and was now ahead of us. We sped up, a monster chasing us. Joele said he was going 100 mph and that no four wheels were all on the ground at any one time. The car in front of us pulled off the road into a driveway where some people were standing in their garage, watching the monster behind us. I told Joele to pull into that driveway, too. He parked his car. I was messing with the seatbelt and Joele was already out of the car and had locked it with his key fob, so when I went to open my door it wouldn't unlock. I was panicked and shaking, unable to unlock the car door. Joele saw my distress and unlocked it with the key fob and I hopped out, barefoot, leaving my sandals in the car. I knew the monster was behind us but I didn't look back at it. I just ran through the garage, with these strangers who had taken us in, down some stairs, and into a basement bathroom. There were ten of us down there. I found a spot in the corner and Joele hovered over me, protecting me. The man who lived in the house, whose name I found out later was Mr. Quinnell, was the last to join us in the bathroom. He was looking out the window until the last moment. Then he yelled, "There goes the shed!" and ran in and joined us. A second later the roaring was upon us. All the air was sucked out of the room. I couldn't take a breath in and my ears popped. It lasted about three minutes. We could hear the destruction above us - glass breaking, furniture flying around, walls being torn from foundations. And that constant roar. The man next to me was praying. I think I screamed some. Joele stayed huddled over me, protecting me. I was just so scared the ceiling wouldn't hold but it did, thank goodness. When it was all over we slowly emerged from the bathroom. Woodchips and dirt covered the stairs.We looked up from the basement into open sky. I had no shoes so Joele carried me to the top of the stairs, where a pair of Nikes sat, covered in woodchips and dirt. I emptied them out and put them on. They were way too big for me but they worked. There was debris everywhere - broken glass, bags, a microwave. All the usual accoutrements of everyday life, strewn about the remains of a house. There was no way to get through the doorways because they were blocked with trees so I climbed through what had once been a window but was now devoid of glass. Joele's car was totaled, had been lifted off the ground and moved to a different spot on the driveway. The paint had been stripped off of it and there were two-by-fours across the seat where I had been sitting. But his cigarettes were still there, perfectly fine.
The rest of the night is fuzzy. I called my parents and they got me. My mom took a sliver out of Joele's hand. There were news cameras and photographers. The next day I was on the front page of the St. Paul paper, hugging Joele next to the remains of his car.
It's been twelve years. I finished college, married, graduated from law school, produced two beautiful children. But these memories still haunt me. The nightmares return sporadically. Usually in my nightmares there is a tornado coming and I'm trying to find shelter and trying to get other people to take shelter. I say, "Please, listen to me! I've been through this before! I know what to do!" but they won't listen and they refuse to go to the basement I'm directing them to. Every May I check the weather reports obsessively, looking for any signs of storms heading our way. My daughter knows exactly where to go if she hears the sirens. We have water, a first aid kit, flashlight, and radio sitting in the basement bathroom. And, of course, a pair of my shoes. Because when the tornado is coming you don't have time to find a pair of shoes.