The day we had a tornado

We experienced a tornado today. We were fortunate that our house is undamaged and everyone is safe, but homes in our neighborhood didn’t fare so well.

So – here is how our Thursday March 15, 2012 played out.

Carson had a dentist appointment after school (he did great, I think because he got to watch SportsCenter while the dentist cleaned his teeth), and then we hurried home to eat because Mallory had rock climbing.

The kids were playing outside and there were constant rumblings of thunder, like for 30 minutes straight. Then I heard the tornado sirens. I remember thinking “That’s weird. Why would they test the sirens at 5p on a Thursday?” Then I looked at the clock and saw it was 5.10p and figured it probably wasn’t a test.

I got the kids inside and made them hotdogs for dinner, which they then took out on the back deck to eat while we listened to more thunder and watched for lightning. I turned on the news and saw that there were tornados spotted out by our old house (but where Mallory’s BFF lives) so I texted her mom and made sure they were OK. In the span of five minutes her texts went from “is there a tornado warning?” to “tornado in our neighborhood..Saw it. OMG..in the basement”.

The news then started showing that stuff was developing closer to our house so I got the kids inside. Rick finally got home and we were trying to decide if he should take Mallory to rock climbing or not. The skies were starting to look funny, and the clouds were going in opposite directions over our house. We actually saw a small funnel cloud far away, but it didn’t look like it actually touched down. So when it started raining and the clouds looked weirder, we headed inside.

And then the insulation hit the fan. I looked outside and saw a piece of pink housing insulation land in our yard and I thought perhaps Mallory & Rick shouldn’t go to rock climbing. We sent the kids to the basement, and Rick put on his headlamp (the lights had been flickering, but it was still only 5.45p out – so plenty of daylight…but whatever, Rick).

Then the rain started to pick up. Rick & I were taking turns running upstairs to look out the windows and Rick pointed at the tree in our backyard that was uprooted. OMG. You could literally see sheets of rain blowing across the yard.

Then the winds really started blowing and I saw siding and pieces of wood start flying through air and I really started to freak out. Mallory kept asking if “our tornado” was coming, and Carson just kept trying to say “tornado”. Rick had the kids tucked in the closet under the stairs in the basement. Good thing Rick doesn’t have two more big boxes of baseball cards, otherwise there wouldn’t have been room for the kids.

It worst part lasted maybe 15 minutes – the super intense winds and rain. People keep asking me if it was noisy or if the sky was green. I can honestly say I don’t remember. All I remember thinking is that now I know why they tell you to stay away from windows. I was freaking out seeing the stuff flying around the yard. Our patio table was flipped upside down and somehow it didn’t break. The kids were getting nervous every time Rick or I would run upstairs, but I wanted to see what was going on outside and also know if our roof was still attached. We could see pieces of roof and shingles missing from our neighbor’s house (the best neighbors in the world) and Rick & I were anxious to see how the outside of our house looked.

There were some brief breaks in the storm so Rick finally was able to go outside and see that the exterior of our home was intact. We also saw that there was a lake in the street in front of our house (Rick joked that we finally had a lake front house again!).

It seems like the rain and winds kept up for about 45 minutes and then everyone started coming out of their homes around 6.30p. We could hear sirens and there was debris EVERYWHERE. There were firemen walking the neighborhood checking homes and doing inspections, and then they would put a piece of caution tape on the door to show that they checked the house and found everyone OK.

When Bob (across the street, Nathan & Addy’s dad) took inventory of their house, he found water pouring into Addy’s bedroom. The firemen told them they couldn’t stay in the house, since the electricity was still on, so the three of them came to our house (Amy was stuck at her school for conferences).

Mallory thought it was a fun playdate, having her friends here, so they ate graham crackers and played games in the basement. At about 6.45p, word started spreading that there was another tornado warning for our area and everyone scrambled back into their homes. I don’t think there was another tornado, but it started raining and hailing again and was really windy.

After that all died down, we all headed outside again. The kids wanted to come out so they put raincoats and boots on and stood on the porch to survey the land. Mallory was leading the inspections “LOOK AT THAT TREE!!! LOOK AT OUR SWINGSET! DO YOU SEE HOW THE SLIDE IS A LITTLE CROOKED? THE TORNADO DID THAT!”. Our plastic playset survived the storm with just a little tweaking of the slide, and the swings are all wrapped around the top bar. But it was still standing. Almost every other wooden structure in the neighborhood was splintered and destroyed. Mallory was telling Addy that “maybe my dad and my grandpa can help your dad and mom fix your swingset!”.

Here are a whole bunch of unedited pictures I took during and after the storm.

This is across the street from us

The swingset. You can see the rain falling in this picture

Bob & Amy’s house during the storm.

The view out our front porch during the storm.

This is how close we are to one of the complete destroyed homes. Just between these two homes you can see the wreckage.

This is from Amy & Bob’s back yard looking at a totally destroyed house.

Our neighbor’s window.

Some of the very minor damage at our house.

Someone thinking they could drive through the lake in front of our house.

A graduation card :-(

Insulation in a tree…looks like cotton candy.

Nathan & Addy’s playset :-(

This used to be a trampoline.

This used to be a sandbox.

More of the destroyed house.

Another neighbor’s house.

Yeah, this black stuff doesn’t usually hang out in our garage door like this.

I’m realizing that I’m not going to wake up tomorrow and only have to worry about cleaning up my yard, and help Amy & Bob with whatever they need as they get their roof patched. This was a really big deal. We will have these crazy reminders of this night, as we drive past the damaged homes, answering Mallory’s questions about tornados and how and why they happen.

I’m feeling very emotional about what we lived through tonight. I realize saying we “lived through” it seems sort of dramatic, but our house is only a couple hundred yards away from a house that isn’t standing any more. We’ve heard that no one was in that house at the time, so while they have suffered a major loss, I am thankful that no one was injured. I’m also thankful that the news reports have said that there have been no casualties as a result of this storm, and no major injuries.

I’m shocked at the response of our friends who have checked in with us from across the country as word spread about a tornado in Dexter. Thank you again to everyone for your good thoughts for us and our neighbors.

And while this was an insanely scary experience for us, I hope my kids aren’t so scared that they won’t still sit on the back deck with me and eat dinner and watch some spring storms roll in.

I’ll just take the storm minus the tornado next time.