Tornado June 1st 2011

Ok I think its about time I blogged...


more so - I need to blog about last wed.    I did hear of the tornado warnings throughout the day.  It was gorgeous out though....blue skies...who would have thought in just a few hours things would be soooooo different ?? ? 

Logan came home from school, I had the news on.  Channel 3. They were only talking about the weather- storms were popping up around Amherst and they were pretty bad.  We were in a tornado watch-  but it wasn't even raining yet.  Logan was on the couch and just petrified.  Logan has always been afraid of a good thunderstorm.  The baby was napping in her crib-  My mother in law (our Peka) called.  She said "why don't you go into the basement- they are talking about a tornado"  I said ok...even though it didn't look so bad out.  We woke Matilda up...changed her diaper.  I joked with Logan and asked him to get the mail.  He had like tears in his eyes- I felt so bad.  I think at this point when I looked outside...I could start to see some rain drops.  Nothing terrifying.   We went into the office underneath the stairs.  I turned on the TV.  They were showing pictures of clouds over the CT river in Springfield. They were starting to look a little funny and started to angle toward the ground.  My mind sparked...I thought about the cat.  I said Logan - watch Matilda - Mommy is going to get Jepedo.... He was crying so terrified.  I told him I would be right back.  I found the cat...he was relaxing by the window.  I picked him up and ran downstairs.

On tv....we then saw the tornado starting to form on the River.

Here is the exact news that we were watching...  (4 min in-that is when everything went black)

I held on tight to both kids in the corner....

Then everything went BLACK.  we started to pray- prayed that God to would be there for us.  The wind was loud.....I could hear things banging on the sliding window- sounded like a train was coming....  I called Dan and said I think there is a tornado turn on the news...we have no power....I don't think he realized - that yes..there really was a tornado and it was like .25 miles away from his family.  He quickly got off the phone with me to go back to work...I was thinking... doesn't he want to stay on the phone with me???   I am not sure how much time passed as we were in the dark...maybe 5-10 min.  Matilda was clinging to me and not making a peep- Logan whimpering.  he kept saying "shhhhhhh, it could find us- it will find us if we are loud".  I opened the door to see if I could see anything and the cat jumped out.  Logan was so scared he said shut the door.  I did...


Maybe another few min passed...it was quiet.  I think it passed.  I opened the door and the light streamed into the dark basement.  We walked up the stairs.  The deck that we had just power washed over the weekend was covered in leaves, branches and twigs.  Leaves were sticking to the windows....wow what just happened? There was a tree in the backyard...down...I walked slowly to the front...every inch of grass and street was covered in debris...outside- neighbors were inspecting what had just happened. There was a tree on a neighbors house...one down in the front...another neighbor stated the tops of his huge pine trees had snapped and moved on to his neighbors.  At first I thought the tornado came through our street.  We all started walking down the road...we came to the end and I could not believe my eyes. The main rd "Plumtree road" was covered in tree's and downed wires...wow...we are so lucky I thought- this is just terrible.  I did not see any worse until days later when we actually walked and drove through the neighboring streets.  Its amazing people survived.  


Our neighbor Barbara (w/ dog keira in tow) asked if we wanted to go for a walk down Plumtree.  Seeing as we had no power and work had come to a halt, it was the perfect thing to do.  We started walking, Matilda in her stroller.  I was wearing flip flops...Logan was right by my side.  He started talking about what had just happened. Wow - we still could not believe what had just happened.  As we were walking - people were frantic...we started hearing stories about houses missing down the street and roofs being blown away.  It was just unbelievable.  I felt a drop of rain.  I said to Barbara "should we go back?"  All the sudden- more rain.  We decided to turn around.  Then people started running.  They said "another ONE IS COMING" oh my goodness...another person passed... screaming to get inside....we started running.  Logan was crying and telling me to go faster...begging me to run faster.  I couldn't.  I felt like a brick and that we were never going to get home.  All the sudden this nice man yelled to us from across the street.  he yelled- do you want to come in our basement?  I quickly grabbed Logan and we crossed the street.  I was calling Barbara to come ...but she yelled she had to make it home.  I felt it was the best move for the kids and I.  The man had said - a tree had fallen on his house but things were ok.  A stranger let us into his house during this next storm that seemed to take forever to pass.  We walked down his dark basement stairs to find about 6 others crying and praying.  A woman held on to Logan and told him it would be ok.  Matilda was quiet as can be just huddled in my arms.  We could hear the thunder cracking outside.  We prayed as a group and prayed.  Logan was crying for Dad.  he just wanted him home with us all.  The next storm passed- the thunder was further away.  We then heard pounding at the door.  It was Barbara and her son Jeff coming to get us.


On June 1st we had a crazy adventure.  We felt a tornado soooo close to us.  It was sooo powerful.  The world we live in is just filled with POWER.  The damage that was done to 4 towns is just .....well....there are no words.  It looks like a war zone.  I continue to count my blessings and i know that god was on my side and in my heart that day.  It is a day I will never ever forget.


it was midnight...my whole family was together..our home is ok.   We are sooo lucky to have this home and to have each other.


I am so thankful for our forever friends on Plumtree who took us in- for my neighbors- all of them- my family and friends.....  I am also so thankful to be a part of this powerful earth.


My heart and prayers go out to everyone affected by the storm.  Who lost loved ones..homes schools..memories...I hope that we can help as community to help pick up all the pieces - to make everything whole again.