Scary Night

Last night was very scary.  Lots of severe weather and a Tornado in my neck of the woods.  If the trajectory would have been slightly different my entire neighborhood would have been wiped out.  Thankfully we have no damage.  We did get some winds and rain but you can’t tell by walking outside how much danger we were actually in.  However, there are other people a short distance away, who aren’t as lucky and tragically there has been loss of life. 

I was watching Single All The Way on Netflix and got to about the last half hour of the movie.  The weather alert went off on my phone first and that sound grabs your attention (or at least mine).  I read the words tornado watch and tune to local media.  The movie was on pause and I switched over to local news.  The weather radio went off.  I opened up the police scanner app on my phone and tuned into the local police (there is a delay of 2 minutes, meaning what they say is broadcasted two minutes later).  I saw something headed for my area and then the sirens went off, then the weather alert went off on my phone and it said tornado warning.  I heard an officer a few minutes later say that he spotted a tornado.  I had grabbed my handheld police scanner and turned it on (thank goodness the batteries were freshly charged).  I heard another officer from a different department that was in the next town over report a tornado.  Then the reports of all of the devastation started to roll in. 

I knew that I should have been in my basement with Gator but we were sitting in the living room as all of this unfolded.  She knew something was wrong with me but not exactly what it was.  I was scared.  Being a former trained weather spotter I know that when you get warnings you should act because after that it is usually too late.  My late spouse never was one to run to the basement, he too was a trained weather spotter and wanted to run outside and see what was going on.  That is kind of why I didn’t move.  Plus nothing usually happens despite the fact that we are in an area well known for tornados we usually get straight line winds. 

I kept hearing radio traffic but it took a long time before the local media started broadcasting because we had a couple waves of this rolling in and the weather folks were very busy trying to do their jobs.  I flipped between channels constantly throughout this because one would start talking about my area and then they would start talking about another place.  I was only concerned with my area, which I think is most common for folks.

The power flickered a bit during all of this and I thought for sure we would lose power, which would suck because then it’s flashlights, the police scanner and my cell phone.  Thankfully the power stayed in tact to allow me to continue watching the TV.  

The urge to pray came over me and I did just that.  This has been a trying 2 years for all of us with COVID.  For this to happen so close to Christmas is sad.  This is not something that we ever needed.  It does show you how people come together in trying times though. 

It was well after midnight before I went to bed and Gator was quite upset with me.  I needed to know that all of the severe weather was out of the area because the last thing I wanted it to get comfortable only to have to climb out of bed.  Not to mention my nerves were shot. 

I did feel all alone.  I thought for sure when the damage reports started being broadcast that my friends would reach out to me, but nope not a text or a phone call.  Just makes me feel like they really don’t think of me as a friend, unless there is a holiday and they want company.  I thought about sending a text saying, thanks for checking on me and Gator.  Were fine and so is the house.  But I figured that would just cause issues so I let it go. 

I did get out today and drove around to look at the damage and it’s heart breaking.  You don’t normally think of severe weather this time of year but it can happen.  Especially when the temperature swings rapidly high and then rapidly low over the course of a couple days. 

Considering that my neighborhood is untouched and I still have my Gator, I am beyond thankful that we were spared.  Hopefully, the remainder of the year will play out and be uneventful and oddly calm.  Lord knows we could all use some calm. 

I hope that you are safe, well and you don’t know anyone that was affected by this horrific event.  Cheers!