This is a non book-related post.
First, I want to thank each of you who read and responded to my post from Thursday regarding the tornado that hit our city. Your thoughts and prayers mean so much. Since that post, it has been confirmed as an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds of around 110 mph. Very scary. And even though there is much damage and a lot of clean-up ahead of us, I cannot imagine what it would have been like if the tornado were worse. I do not want to think about it. Something else that is completely shocking – there were no reported injuries or deaths. Thank you, Jesus.
I have some pictures of my neighborhood. All of these were taken within a few blocks in either direction of my house. I truly cannot describe the feelings that are churning inside me that our house remained virtually unfazed my the whole thing. There was some minor clean-up of tree branches in the backyard, but nothing serious at all. The neighbor to my left had a tree fall on their car and garage. A neighbor a few houses up the street had a tree fall on the front of their house (luckily no major damage). We lost power for only five hours, which is a miracle. Walking around my neighborhood leaves me utterly dumbfounded at the mess that surrounds us. And this is just one section of the city. The tornado traveled through my section of town and then down through the rest of the city, for a total of nearly 10 miles. I have not even been to other parts of the city to look at damage, but I have seen pictures on the news and the devastation all around is unbelievable. And this is a smaller-scale tornado!
I know some of you have experienced tornadoes and understand our plight. Here in NY, we are not used to this type of weather. We get heavy thunderstorms, but rarely a tornado. So, please continue to pray and send good thoughts for our city. At the writing of this post, there are still people without power. Sixteen homes are deemed uninhabitable. A long clean-up awaits us. I found a video of someone who drove around the city and recorded some footage, if you care to look at it (I actually make a blurry appearance at 6:41 as I was walking home from helping some neighbors clean up!).
I am glad to hear your family is safe. Tornadoes are scary, scary things. Weird weather still freaks me out, but it also made me learn about tornadoes and weather because I am both of it and fascinated by it. An F3 or F4 tornado hit my hometown when I was 6 years old… I still remember everything.
So I’m happy you and your community are safe and no lives lost. *hugs*
Incredible images. We don’t get this kind of weather in England, either.
That must have been terrifying
I’m so glad you are safe!
Crazy weather seems the norm these days. I live in the midwest, where the threat of tornadoes is constantly real. Now, we would take any rain any time anywhere (well, not necessarily in a tornadic way…) We’ll be thinking of you and hope you all recover soon.
Jen:
I’m so sorry! But glad to hear you’re okay (I missed your earlier post) and that your house missed being damaged. Weird, weird, weird weather these days. Here in Indiana, we’re used to tornado-threats (tho’ never used to tornadoes), but I’ve never seen anything like the way that tree just pulled the grass up like a carpet. Wow.
Glad to know you and your family made it. Seems like it was terrifying at the time.
The photos – thanks for sharing.
First of all, I’m glad you and yours are safe. Secondly, I’ve been a follower of your blog for quite some time (probably never commented before) and had no idea you were local to me! It completely missed us…we just had a patch of bad thunderstorm and that was it.
It’s so crazy that this happened! My husband actually had to drive into the storm to Elmira during all of the craziness – he’s a news videographer in Binghamton. So thankful we didn’t get it as bad here.
Will be praying for your family and for your town.
Tornadoes are memorable. Thx for sharing so we can be praying for you and your town. We’ve never been thru anything close to what you experienced, but every thunder storm reminds us of the one we thought something frightening was coming. It’s too profound to explain, the feeling of the power in weather. it’s awesome – as in before the word was over-used. Your pictures are amazing. Wow.
So sorry about the tornado and all the damage. Happy you’re safe, prayers to everyone involved and hugs.
Jen, those pictures are terrifying! I can’t even imagine.