From the Land of Oz
I only have a minute …For those of you who are aware, we had some pretty bad storms in this part of the country last night. Tornadoes hit our sweet little midwestern town. One touched down two blocks from our house, taking out a tractor trailer and the Dairy Queen. I’d make a joke about the caloric tragedy of losing the Dairy Queen, except someone was trapped inside and, by all accounts, possibly hurt. Another tornado hit a mile south of us, taking out part of one of the home improvement centers, and a third hit the University of Iowa campus and downtown, taking parts of buildings. All in all, there was a lot of damage, and a number of people were hurt.
Unfortunately, while all of this was going on, we were completely ignorant. We lost our power after the first strike. After that, we were completely dependent on our out-of-town friends to call our cell phones with updates about what was happening.
Losing our power is very unusual because we’re on the same grid as the hospital. In the past when it happened, our power was restored within minutes. One friend called to say that the entire 911 system had gone down. Another, whose Dad works for the power company, said they had to call the Disaster Team in to the hospital. (I have no idea what that means, but any time you attach the word "disaster" to something, it makes it sound very serious, doesn’t it?).
I’ve lived in the midwest most of my life. Tornadoes are as much a part our lives as earthquakes are to those crazy Californians. You learn what to do, you take it seriously and you hope for the best. I’ve been through close calls a million times. Still ….. there was a good 10 minutes last night when I was pretty damn scared.
MID-MORNING UPDATE: There was one fatality as a result of last night's storms.
posted by Theresa @ 4/14/2006 06:49:00 AM
13 Comments:
I'm glad the tornadoes didn't get you. Now, if you can just avoid the outbreak of mumps...
I'm glad to hear that you are okay. We had some storms here last night and while they sounded severe, they were just normal thunderstorms. Still, I dreamed I was in a tornado and I didn't have control of my body being swept in all directions. I'm sure one would have a field day interpreting that, but I'd rather think it was sympathy dreams for what you were experiencing.
I'm glad you are ok. You are correct though, it sounds exactly the same as dealing with our earthquakes out here. You prep the best you can without going into full on koo koo mode and hope for the best.
And I know our California rain/weather is a joke out here, but I swear to you we've had more severe weather in the last 5 years than I can ever remember. More trees are being snapped in half (one of ours the last round) and more flooding.
When nature has a pms day, all you can do is hang on and hope.
I'm SOOOO happy to read that you're ok my sweet hott-T.
Having been raised in the NE, and now living in FL, I am accustomed to all kinds of crazy weather, but I think tornadoes scare me more than any of 'em.
Stay safe doll!
Very scary indeed! I'm glad you're safe.
We had a tornado once in the KS town I grew up in which destroyed half the town. It was scary as heck. We're moving back into tornado alley to a place where the water table is too high for basements. I have not missed tornado warnings.
Glad to hear you came through unscathed and you'll still be able to sock it to the assclown with your hilarious insults.
Despite the fact that work crews could do without the additional traffic, I had to drive through town earlier today. There are neighborhoods that look like a bomb hit during the night. In our neighborhood, the Dairy Queen was only one of the businesses near us that was wrecked. Likewise, just one block from our house, trees over 100 feet tall are completely uprooted, laying across the homes they used to generously shade in the summer heat. A person can't help but be effected by this kind of destruction. Once again, those close to me and I have been spared any real harm, and I'm very very grateful.
I was worried about you when I read the news. I'm happy you madeit through it healthy.
Really glad to hear that you are okay! Hope this is the end of it--recuperation is desperately needed!
Oh yeah, it isn't normal to be without power for a while...and yeah if disaster is connected it is usually bad, or at least expensive;)
That must have been scary. Glad to hear ok. In Madison, WI we got hail size of golf balls two days ago. EEK!
I'm glad to hear that you and your loved ones are safe and sound. Take care of yourself T!
You can bet that if the Navy asks for volunteers to come push brooms in order to help clean up some of the damage, I'll be there in a heartbeat.
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