My daughter started to feel a bit under the weather while at the soccer game so we came home and awaited the storm. I bypassed the division egg hunt and began to prep for the storm coming, I covered the furniture and made room in the garage for my van. I truly think my neighbors look at me with one eyebrow cocked at times like this. I will admit I am a bit of a weather nut. I like to just say am I a prepared mom... but hey who knows it could just be my crazy coming out.
This being said, on Saturday evening around 8pm I was keeping a watchful eye on www.intellicast.com. This is the best weather site ever, it has an active weather map with layers and lists all alerts based on location. I have my sister, a fellow mid-west storm lover, to thank for this site. As I tell the kids to be ready to get in the small kitchen bathroom if I yell to take cover, I sit and watch. I chat on the phone with a neighbor and discuss my plans and the alerts I am seeing. At 8:15pm a tornado warning is issued for the county I reside in. I, of course being a trained weatherman, look outside. Hmmm, I see the usual weather of the day thus far, windy, windy, windy with some gray clouds. I do not see that illuminating green hue or rain or hail, so I pause for about 5 minutes. It is then that I notice the glow of green and the fact that the wind has stopped. Not just eased off, but completely stopped. I yell al the kids to get in the bathroom, I do not like the feeling in my gut. Kids in bathroom, one cat in bathroom and now the hunt to find the final cat.....oh lord, let me find him! I find him hunkered down under my bed dragging his claws in the floor as I try and remove him from his spot. I get the cat and myself in the closet and we wait. The warning is supposed to end at 8:45pm.
My bathroom is very quickly becoming my personal sauna. Five people and two cats in a half bath that barely fits the sink and toilet. Oh yes, we are sweating and then to beat it all....someone farts!!! I can not help but laugh as my kids are gagging and complaining. How can this not be funny. We look like clowns in a clown car and now we all smell like turd.
I have internet and power still, we hear a loud boom which truly I believe is one of our large trees hitting the roof... but then nothing. I check intellicast... it says the warning has been extended til 9pm... we sit and watch tv on hulu and wait.
9pm hits and we are outta that cramped bath... no more rain, but I can tell it poured. We no longer have power and I grab a flashlight to check for what I think may be a tree in my house... thank goodness it was only the contents of a shelf that for some reason had fallen. We are fine, my house is fine. I look outside and all of my neighbors are fine too.
I chat with some neighbors outside and then head in to go to bed. There is no power and for the last week I have not slept.
This is where is starts to go bad.... in my head at least........for the moment...................
The phone rings.. in my stupor I grab it and see a number that is the one Bill uses to call home on. I know that surely he would never call in the middle of the night unless........... yep my mind went there... unless something terrible had happened. Nope he was checking on us, he heard a bad storm had damaged homes in the area. I knew nothing of this and at 3am... I checked the TV.. all I got was that shelters had been opened... let me point out I was in a stupor and it was 3am... I now knew that not only were my kids safe but so was my husband... I fell back to sleep.
Unbeknown-st to me, something terrible had happened. It was not to my family or my close friends, but to other military families. A tornado had touched down in the housing area next to ours and destroyed several homes, injured people and caused severe damage. I found out this information on Facebook at 9am. HOLY COW!!!!
I am saddened to hear of this news and I am mad!!! I am mad because as a mid-west girl what I can not understand is why the warnings were not better published. Many of my neighbors did not seek shelter in their homes, many were in bed in a second floor room with no worries. There was a high school party going on a couple blocks away and those kids were playing in and out during this storm....... can we say lucky or just plain stupid!
Sorry you all but come on...... why did the base not have their sirens blaring when the National Weather Service published the warning??? Why did the patrol cars not go about the streets with lights flashing and loudspeakers telling all to seek shelter??? Why did the forecasters on TV keep talking about cities no where near us????
I am saddened to say it took destruction by storm for people to now realize just how powerful mother nature is and to realize that maybe just maybe...this mid-west girl is not so crazy when she hides in her bathroom.
I pray for those who were impacted by this storm and I shame those who should have done a better job of warning them. I am also proud to say that the military has stepped up and the families here have rallied in support of their own.
Bill- I am fine and the kids are fine... this crazy mid-west girl has their back when mother nature is knocking. Do not worry about us, you stay safe and by all means......never call me in the middle of the night!!!! I may not survive a heart attack. Remember, no news is good news... I am sure that if something did happen on this end.. I would be able to get word to you very quickly, I have my ways.
Wear you helmet and flak... and bring them home with you.... the crazy weather here warrants the need to possibly wear them even in your own home.
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