February 6, 2008
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Tara and the Tornado Alert Alabama Style
When we went to bed last night, we knew we were under a Tornado Watch. However, the *tornado* activity was tied in with a fierce band of thunderstorms. This was all supposed to hit our area around midnight. We DID see some lightning waaaaaay off in the distance but no rain…nothing but clouds that kept interfering with my internet (I have satellite service remember) so I called it a night.
About 4:15 AM, my phone rang. Now, I have never had a phone call in the middle of the night that wasn’t some sort of bad news. A kid in jail, a kid in an accident and at the hospital, that sort of thing so I was very shaky when I answered it. I was also still half asleep. I envisioned it being bad news about the Beast’s mother who was on the verge of dying (according to the doctors) just a couple weeks ago.
Lo and behold, it was Tara! She was verging on panic and said, “Aunt Brat, do you know we are in a tornado alert? The sirens are going off all around us” (she lives in the town just slightly north of us). My mind was still a bit muddled trying to wrap itself around the difference between a watch and an alert but I thanked her for letting us know and told her I would be keeping my eyes open (I hoped) and watch for anything suspicious. The Beast and I have gone through a tornado that took the roof right off over our heads in 1965. I will never forget the way the sky and the lightning looked, nor the feel of the air just before it hit us. Tara said to me, “I just wanted to be sure you are going to be alright”. Bless her heart for that. She really was concerned that a tornado MIGHT hit us and we would be unaware one was even in the area. I told her to stay safe and was glad that her boyfriend was with her. This area is very susceptible to tornadoes and he was aware of all the safety precautions to take. I learned the boys were safely esconsed in the tub in the center of the house, along with pillows and blankets. Tara and her boyfriend would grab the mattress from the bedroom right next to it if they were threatened by an actual tornado and the four of them would ride it out with the mattress over them to help cushion any falling debris.
After wishing each other love, I hung up and went to the front door and opened it. The sky looked bright enough to be twilight from all the lightning, which seemed to be continuous. I thought *Ut Oh!* because that is definitely a sign that there is one in the area. About that time, our sirens went off around us. They only go off when a tornado is sighted so I knew that somewhere nearby, a tornado was threatening someone or something. I closed and locked the door and then went to the back door to check out the sky. No swirling cloud formations, thankfully but the rain was coming down in buckets by this time. I sat at the kitchen table, smoking one cigarette after another for the next hour or so. Twice more the sirens went off and I made the trek to the front door to observe the sky and then to the back door again. When the wind died down and the rain seemed to be coming down less frantically, I finally went back to bed and fell instantly asleep. I knew when I awakened, all three local stations would be full of the news about the tornadoes that hit our area along with any damage and deaths/injuries. I prayed that no one was seriously hurt and gave thanks that the Beast and I had been fortunate.
When I woke up around 6:30 AM, I immediately turned on local news and, sure enough, lots of news about the damages throughout the Tennessee Valley area. I was saddened to hear that many people had died in Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi as this storm front passed through them. Alabama had a lot of injuries and three deaths that were confirmed before I finally turned off the news. Our town had sustained little more than a lot of trees down that blocked main roads but they were almost cleared by 9 AM. Other areas were not as fortunate. Many homes had literally exploded, others picked up and moved off their foundations. Mobile homes were either blown apart totally or had major damage. A lot of people were now homeless.
A local station was asking people to call them if they could offer shelter to some of these unfortunate people. They took the information and gave it to the Red Cross, I guess. Also many churches in the area had people that had trained and were out helping clean up the debris and look for victims. They were also bringing food for the many firefighters, EMT’s and volunteers that had been working from 5AM without a break. These same groups were taking in some of the displaced victims of the tornadoes that hit our area.
Tara and her boys were fine and grateful that they had also been spared. I called my sister *C*, who is Tara’s mother, to let her know that we were all fine so that she wouldn’t worry or call when she heard the news about our area being hit.
Well, I’ve had little sleep today so I am going to lay down and try to take a short nap before I have to think about making dinner. I washed, dried, folded and put away all our laundry today and even made a blueberry pie. I’ve been waiting for it to come out of the oven before I took my nap. It’s almost done now so I wish you all a wonderful day, week and weekend. We are prepared for the cold weather that is now headed our way.
Figures….from 75 degrees as a high to 29 degrees as a low (but they say it will be 60 degrees or warmer by afternoon tomorrow). It’s a wonder everyone here isn’t sick as a dog with this changeable weather!Love you all and take care of yourself and those that you love.
