On April 16, 2011 we experienced one of the scariest events in our lives. Our town was hit by a tornado. Not only was this our town, but our very own neighborhood and street!!
We were expecting storms ALL day on the 16th and we were cloudy skies. Later into the evening darker clouds rolled and it began raining here and there but that was about it. Andrew and I were playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii and the storm hit. It didn't seem like anything big so we just continued playing for a while. I had to get up and get something to drink and the lights flickered so we decided to play one more level and save our game. Literally about 3mins later the thunder more intense, still not too bad, however the lighting was going crazy! It had me on edge and I told Andrew that I was going to put candles and the blanket in the bathroom with snacks just in case. He agreed then went out on the back porch to let the pup out and smoke a cigarette. At this moment it was just thundering and one crazy lightening show. In the amount of time of Andrew smoking half a cigarette and me putting a blanket in the bathroom and snacks, the house LIT up of lightening, a HUGE clash of thunder and power was OUT!! I then forced the kids in the bathroom. As the kids were getting into the bathroom I called Bella (the back door was open) and she came running to me and before she could get to me another flash of lightening and Andrew came RUNNING inside screaming to get into the bathroom! I was so beyond scared and shaking! We had no power, I didn't have enough time to grab the lighter and this loud sound! Within 5 minutes everything seemed dull. The kids were laughing and playing the whole time not knowing what was going on. Hailey believed it was silly with all the flashing lights! Andrew left and went around the house and made sure it was safe so we spent a total of about 10 minutes in the bathroom. The thunder rolled in the distance but the skies were already breaking up. Andrew then told me that the flash of lightening aloud him to see a funnel cloud across the street. It was about 845pm so we couldn't see anything outside at the time. The storm was just about gone completely, so Andrew stepped outside to make sure no one right next to us needed help and that they were alright. All you could here were sirens from cop cars, ambulances, fire trucks...it was all a HUGE mess!! Then you began to see people walking around with flash lights making sure their neighbors were alright. We then found out that a tornado touched down, but not sure where. We had rumored from facebook on our phones it was at the main gate, then somewhere on the other side of our neighborhood. Come to find out it touched down right the street and tore a path down across the street from our house!! We then found out another touched down on the street we had just moved from. The kids and I were ok so Andrew went searching for anyone that needed help and saw in the dark what had happened it was about 3 blocks down which is really a block n half!
The skies were almost clear as if nothing had happened and we were able to go to sleep. The next morning we still didn't have power so we grabbed some pop tarts and went for a walk. I can't even describe everything we seen! Trampolines everywhere, one hanging from about 50ft in the air! Trees uplifted an dropped on houses, trees twisted, homes destroyed!! It was just unbelievable! It was one hell of a weekend and a lot of people were hurt and lost everything. Thankfully everyone here is so generous and loving. Within minutes of the touchdown everyone was on their phones announcing they had power, or rooms to spare! Extra food and shelter, such an amazing community! Within the next week TONS of donations were provided and actually had to stop accepting so many things at one point.
Still praying for those that got hurt and there homes destroyed. Thanking God for keeping our family and friends safe from everything that has happened. On our walk I took pictures and I have collected pictures from friends posting them of the town we live in. It's heart breaking =( the twisted tree is right across from our house in a coldisac =( God Bless Everyone!
