Friday, April 13, 2007

Hail andTornado

Well, we are all ok, but I have to say, after I put it all together, I think I experienced first hand my first tornado in many, many years …….
I dropped Zach off at youth Conference. Becca came along to go to JoAnn's Fabric. I sent her in and was going to rest for a few minutes from an already pretty awful day. I heard on the radio a tornado was sighted just north of downtown FW.
I got out of the car and watched the sky…. the clouds all rolled together and were forming into a v-like shape… . I was hearing an eerie sound. I kept thinking is that a siren? or a train? and the noise got louder and louder like surround sound. I thought that’s kind of like what people always say about tornados ‘ They sound like freight trains. I was thinking hmmm….. I guess that’s what they mean , wow they’re exactly right! The wind is just whipping… I have always loved to be out in high winds like on high hills or a bluff. I guess it is like a speed boat.. I watched a grocery cart flip side over side and debris lift off the ground.
A woman came up to me and asked ‘I’m not from here, what do you do w/o basements? where should I go? What should I do? I said well, stay away from windows, go in the hall, or at the very least go in low-lying areas. I was so calm I grew up in Ohio where tornados were common I never had to experience any ill effects but they were a common occurrence.. I guess I should have been afraid. … I don’t think I developed a healthy fear, because they were so common, but when the debris started to blow in in my eyes and I saw the fastest moving cloud I have ever seen, I p/u up the cart from Ross and pulled it into JoAnn’s w/me.
The hail started instantaneously pounding on the metal roof. They were golf ball and small tennis ball sized. As I was going in, Employees were running to the doors closing and locking them not letting us leave..
We bought lots of fleece on sale for the Humanitarian project at church.. But our phones didn’t work and everyone was almost instantly like family all kind, helpful and had a were all in this together like attitude. So it wasn’t unpleasant but when we drove home 3hrs later (we just waited for Zach at that point) I couldn’t see to change lanes ..... I then saw the mirror on the van all broken and shattered I guessfrom the hail. I am anxious to see the rest of the van since it was dark and rainy.. So was it a tornado?





7 comments:

Lana said...

awh your poor mirror.
THere were sevearl tornados that touched down.

60 cars in the stake center parking lot had damage.

We were lucky to be fine.

nikko said...

Our van (parked at the stake center) has some nice hail dings, but other than that we are fine!

Anonymous said...

good morning joyinthemoment: thank you for telling me your great comments about my "letting go" post last night. i agree with you about feeling like you gave birth. i think in many ways, everytime you create (yes, crafty things, sure) something new, something that once was nothing, into something new and better, you are sort of creating new life. i know that is a run on, sorry :) yes, you were so right about how there is pain in the poem, but the pain that was the genesis of the poem is not the focus anymore, the person you've grown into because of the experience is more of the focus. that is more strength-based, positive-focused .. you know, full of hope or at least trying to be hopeful.

about your experience here, glad you and yours were okay. freaky. i was in a really bad hail storm one time (the hail was so big like golf ball size). looked like a meat tenderizer hit the tops of things (i.e., tops of cars looked like a meat tenderizer bashed them over and over), but we were okay. it surprised me to see this, opened my eyes.

i was most impressed how you and the people you were with did that beautiful thing -- you all acted like family suddenly in this situation where you were all in this together and you were going to get through it together. that is a blessing.

thanks for stopping by and commenting on my very heartfelt poem.

all things good to you this day :)

I have a good life said...

WOW! Sorry about the van. I remember the one tornado that I was that close to...and it sounded like this low groaning moan. It was a sound I will never forget. I am so glad you are okay. I hope you are feeling better than Sunday and I want you to know that I will miss you a lot. You are so awesome. Thanks for all you have done for me.

Love My Cottage Garden said...

What an awesome story! I know how you feel about not getting overly excited about the warning signals, they go off so often around here this time of the year that we seem to just think oh well here we go again, it is probably nothing. I can't believe you were in the middle of the storm area. The van looks pretty bad. We were in Lake Worth and we got nothing. Nothing at our house either. Oh well, we are supposed to have another round this afternoon. Thats Spring in Texas!! Glad you are safe.

Love My Cottage Garden said...

What an awesome story! I know how you feel about not getting overly excited about the warning signals, they go off so often around here this time of the year that we seem to just think oh well here we go again, it is probably nothing. I can't believe you were in the middle of the storm area. The van looks pretty bad. We were in Lake Worth and we got nothing. Nothing at our house either. Oh well, we are supposed to have another round this afternoon. Thats Spring in Texas!! Glad you are safe.

Love My Cottage Garden said...

What an awesome story! I know how you feel about not getting overly excited about the warning signals, they go off so often around here this time of the year that we seem to just think oh well here we go again, it is probably nothing. I can't believe you were in the middle of the storm area. The van looks pretty bad. We were in Lake Worth and we got nothing. Nothing at our house either. Oh well, we are supposed to have another round this afternoon. Thats Spring in Texas!! Glad you are safe.