Tornado Lessons
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I have been dreading doing this for about a day and a half now. But I just put my sweet baby girl down for a nap, after she downed 6 oz of carefully rationed water [mixed w formula] and more then I ever I feel I need to do this. This is something I will never forget, but lessons fade and the ones I’ve learned these last few days are important.
It is May 21st, 2013 right now, and we are living in Oklahoma City. Two days ago, 2 tornados hit two of our neighboring communities, namely Moore and Edmond. In our year here, we have heard countless warnings about potential tornados, but they came to nothing. This coupled with our friends seemingly unconcerned manner [having lived here for years] made us feel fairly safe. We were in the middle of church when a women came in and said she was sorry to interrupt, but we were officially on tornado watch, and there was one coming quickly and we all needed to get to our homes and await further news. I was confused and scared. The three of us drove home, and had the news on all day. At that point, I had never heard thunder or seen lightning that intense. The wind and hail was frightening, but luckily we were missed. Lester headed into work that night, and although I had a melt down before he left we were fine and I remember thinking ‘That was scary, but at least its over’ and all to quickly getting back into the routine of things.
The next morning Lester returned home from work and picked up Addy. Usually, I try to discourage him from this while she’s asleep but I could tell he needed it as he told me about some of the patients he had on his ambulance that night, some of whom had died before he even had a chance to do anything-one of them being an infant. As he finally fell into some much needed sleep, I came into the living room and turned on the news to see some of the aftermath. A trailer park of homes was destroyed-initially I wondered why the were showing the dump, until I realized that used to be actual homes now ripped to shreds. But then the news shifted gears and frantically started talking about the new tornados coming. I considered waking Lester up, but waited thinking it would probably pass. I waited and watched while entertaining Addy. Suddenly it started reporting that it was about to hit our neighboring town-then our neighboring streets. Sirens started going off like crazy through out our whole county. I woke up Lester, and as I did so I heard them mention our address-our street. The tornado would shortly be crossing our street, and the frantic news people were saying ‘if you are anywhere near there, you need to get in a shelter or safe place now now now.’ We live on the second floor of an apartment complex, and if a tornado hits, we would be in a very dangerous position. A girl next door came over with her newborn, and we considered our options. I cried as I packed bags for me and Addy frantically, and eventually we decided that we would head to our generous friends place that was in brick building on a 1st floor. We were outside maybe a total of 3 minutes, and by the time we got there we were 100% soaked through. This wasn’t rain, it was like an emptying a hot swimming pool. We got to our friends, and immediately the lights went out. I don’t think that I have ever truly feared for my life until that moment, when all you could see was darkness and all we could hear was loud wind, rain, hail and the oncoming tornado, along with all the other terrible things going on outside. We all went to an interior bathroom closet, hunkered down there in the dark and talked and said a prayer. We had one flashlight, and even though we could hear the winds howling and I was terrified, Addy seemed to think we were playing some fun game. She is such a light in the darkness. After about 45 minutes, some texts and calls broke through saying the tornado had passed our street and was now in Moore. We hesitantly made our way back to the living room. It was still thundering, lightning, and hailing the size of quarters [which is much better then the baseball sized ones others were getting]. After a while, we realized we would be without power for potentially days. We went to get some dinner. I have never seem a place more confused or devastated. All the laws had been foregone-people were driving like maniacs trying to find their loved ones and trying to avoid downed power lines. We found the closest open food place and came home quickly afterwards.
When Lester left for work a few hours later, we had no power, no water, no internet and our cell phone reception was shotty at best. A few hours later, when it was getting to be dark out, the power came back. Then we saw the news. Moore had been utterly devastated. The theatre I have often blogged about was affected. Two or three schools had been leveled. One school still had several children in it, and many of them were dead. We saw stories about a three month old who had passed and was handed to a police officer as the person just sat in shock holding their dead child. Businesses, homes, restaurants, so much was gone. We have friends in that area. Our church building is there. We go their often for food and entertainment. Destroyed.
We are lucky. We are alive. We are safe. Many people are not-and many who are still alive have lost loved ones and are now homeless. I remember when I was younger and Sept. 11 happened. I realized that at that moment, I was living in something that would be in the history books but I didn’t understand what it meant, and it was far enough from me that I was sad, but not physically affected. I’ve seen the news now in other states from shootings and other natural disasters and I’ve felt bad, but quickly moved on. But here-now-I am living in this. And it is terrifying. I am both heartbroken for those who have lost so much, and also still scared for my own family and the things to come here. There are sever storm warnings all week long-but the news channels are all reporting the worst is over. Still- I will never forget this, and I think i will still probably be jumping every time i hear any thunder or see lightning. I won’t forget these things I have seen, and the things I am feeling. Never.
Lester is working again tonight, and after that he is off for three days. While we are luckier then most, we still have no water or internet as a local water treatment plant has been affected. We have a small bit of water we are rationing out for Addy’s bottles and other necessities, but if the water is not back on by tomorrow, we are going to have to rely on the help of our families and friends and go elsewhere until it returns.
This is one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from this experience. You should always always be prepared for an emergency. People told us not to worry, that we probably wouldn’t see anything big while we were here, and even if we did, it couldn’t be worse then the tornado in 99. The reports now are revealing that it is far worse-higher death toll, and much more destruction. I always put off things like food and water storage thinking ‘we will do it when we are somewhere more permanent.’ Now we are in trouble, and I am wishing I hadn’t done that. I now am seeing first hand that emergencies and disasters are not going to take my needs into account. If the tornado had made a direct hit to our place, we would not be alive. Our last minute makeshift plans would not have been enough. We should always always be prepared with 72 hours kits, water and food, no matter where we are in life or in the world. I know that for the rest of mine and Lester’s lives, this will be important to us.
Another reason is this. I’ve complained a lot about Oklahoma and tried to find the good things about it. I still know, more then ever, that I do not want to live here again once we leave. But now that the two things I mentioned previously-namely the theaters and grocery stores-are affected, there still remains this: true quality, hard working, resilient and Christ like people. In the midst of tragedy and disaster, they have pulled together as neighbors, friends and a community and are rising from the ashes. Strangers are saving each other and opening their arms, hearts and wallets everywhere. I see the goodness of the people and the miracles that are happening even among the substantial debris. This is the best of Oklahoma, and some of the best of America and I will always be grateful to have seen that part of this place.
I can’t tell you how much we appreciate you continued prayers, concerns and love. Please know that we are grateful for them, and we have, and still do need them. We feel your love and support here in our hearts and minds. If we do not respond, it is because we are still without internet and may be for quite a while. Just know that as of now, we are safe and alive and just happy and grateful to be together. Please, continue to send your prayers for us, but more so to all the good people of Oklahoma. We are leaving here in July-but for them, the end is no where near in sight. This is their home, and one they’ve welcomed us to for our stay here. They need your love and prayers. Thank you thank you thank you and we love and appreciate all of you.
PS: Since writing this, we have recieved water and are now just waiting on our home internet to be fixed. It could be a while, just heads up, but again we are just happy to be safe and together. excuse any mispellings or funny font stuff.
