Wind, Hail and Tornados

I have never been afraid of storms, but after these 2 weeks in Oklahoma, I dread them. We’ve had two EF5 tornados, including the widest tornado in recorded history (4 kilometres wide) go through this area, as well as numerous smaller tornados. One man on the TV said he’s lived through 13 tornados since living in Oklahoma City. He’s only been here 2 weeks!

Last Friday night’s EF5 storm was a bit too close for comfort. The TV mapped my area; the weather man said, “Get out. Do not try to ride this storm out. You need to be underground.” He said the same thing last Monday when the tornado hit Moore, just down the road. Look what happened there. And here I was alone in the house without transport.

I grabbed my cell phone and computer and headed into the wind and rain. A woman across the street offered me a ride to her church; I jumped in. I started calling people who might talk to my husband: he and our daughter were at the movies and didn’t have a phone. If they stayed put, they’d be fine, but I knew they would try to rush home, despite the storm, concerned for me.

I spent 2 long, long hours watching the tornado’s progress on TV, praying that my family wasn’t anywhere near it. Vicky (my newly-discovered neighbour) and I decided to return home at 8:15pm. The wind chased us all the way. We could see flooding all along the road - we had to redirect a couple of times to reach home. The radio told of several fatalities amongst the bumper-to-bumper traffic stuck on I40. “LORD, don’t let my husband be on that road.”

Maybe our houses had no power – maybe that was why he wasn’t calling. After all, some 91 000 houses/businesses in the area were without power. But when we reached home, our houses were still standing and the power was still on. The garage was empty and no one greeted me at the door. I know God is in control of our lives and does all things for the good of those who love Him, but I really didn’t want Him to take my family that night.

Thank God there was a message on the machine. They were alive – taking shelter in a stranger’s house a few blocks away. They drove home during some of the worst of the storm, listening to the radio map the progress of the tornado towards them. It was pitch dark and wind slashed rain and hail at them. Then they drove straight into water that gushed up through the floor boards. The engine quit and wouldn’t start again. My husband single-handedly pushed the car out of the flooded intersection and onto higher ground while my daughter cried in the back seat. When it started to hail again, he jumped back in the car, soaked to the skin. He managed to turn on the radio and there was another tornado heading their way. He saw a light in a nearby house, so they sloshed out of the car. They knocked at the door and the people welcomed them inside, wrapping them in towels and offering the use of their phone.

Of course, my daughter found a couple of playmates amongst the 10-12 strangers in the house. She played with them for the next hour and a half, while my husband dripped in the entryway, wondering why I wasn’t answering our home phone. Within a half hour of my return call to him, they found a ride and were finally safely home.

I say safely, but we hardly feel that way. The last 2 mornings, our emergency radio has screeched us awake periodically through the wee hours. My husband and I lay awake listening to the thunder and thrashing wind, obsessing about all that needs to be done and all that might happen.

Our car is totalled. Here we were wondering how we could buy ourselves a second vehicle and now we have none. Well – not exactly true. We have a rental car, paid for through insurance – it does pay to buy that coverage! Now we await news from the assessor – how much will they offer us for the car? Given that they have to assess hundreds, if not thousands of other cars damaged or totalled in the last 2 weeks of tornados, hail and flooding, who knows how long that will take.

Oh, and did I mention that we are moving to Phoenix, Arizona in the next few weeks? But that’s a whole different story.