Night of the Tornados

It has now been a week since several tornados came through our area, as well as Arkansas, Mississippi and Kentucky. Due to several lines of storms, it was a very long evening for us. Although there was loss of life and property during the storms, we came through unscathed.

Since the storms made national and international news, we have been pretty busy answering e-mail and phone calls, reassuring everyone that we are ok.


During the first round of storms, Bill was "stuck" at the Navy base since a funnel cloud had been spotted just a couple miles to the south. The gates were closed and everyone was directed to take cover in the center of their buildings. As soon as the gates re-opened, he headed home and was greeted by the children saying, "Not good Papa!" (chastizing him for driving home during the continuing rain and lightning), but all were glad to see him since he had been out of contact with no cell phone signal while taking cover.

A major storm cell had passed directly over our home, the same one which produced the tornado that damaged Hickory Ridge Mall, dropping pieces of insulation and roofing materials in the area around our home. Later news reports indicated that those pieces were from the mall 15 miles south of our home and had been carried by the storm, attesting to its strength. All the while, storm sirens had been wailing and Bill was constantly shifting from the front porch to the tv for the radar update, then to the back door, keeping an eye out for approaching tornados. Although several funnel clouds had been spotted in our area, fortunately none came close.

Both children were both nervous and excited during round one, but not afraid. David asked what was going on and Cathe explained that there were tornados in the area. Both wanted to know if we would get to see one. "We hope not," was our reply. We asked if they had tornados in Kazakhstan. "No." "How do you know about them?" "We saw 'Night of the Tornados' on TV." Geez!

Then much like being in the eye of a hurricane, the sky cleared and the winds died down around 6 pm once the first line of storms passed. Between storms we were even able to get out and vote in the "Super Tuesday" primary.

Around 8:30 pm the second line of storms arrived, along with the renewed wailing of the storm sirens. There was a little hail and a few strong thunderstorm cells, but much less severe than the first round. Both children slept in Kate's room, along with Bob, while we stayed up until the storms passed.

Shortly after midnight the storms passed and quiet returned.