Monday, June 17, 2013
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Weather Awareness
Even if you haven't been 'round here the past few weeks, you've probably heard quite a bit about Oklahoma on the news. It's been a tragic spring in the Sooner state. In the past two weeks we have had two F-5 tornadoes in the Oklahoma City metro area. This is crazy, because usually the entire United States only has one to two F-5 tornadoes a year.
The first tornado hit Moore on May 20. Moore is only about five miles to our north and we know a lot of people there. Many of our church members live just south or just north of the path. We were fortunate that no family in our church had major damage from the storm. Twenty four people were killed, including seven third graders at Plaza Towers Elementary. It was a devastating storm that made it's way through the entire town of Moore. Blake and I both had opportunities to go clean up people's homes, and it gave us a glimpse at the amazing power of weather. We are helpless if it comes our way. All we can do is hide.
The second tornado went through El Reno and Union City on May 31. While the majority of it's path was in rural areas, it at one point was 2.6 miles wide (!!!!!) and killed 18 people. The majority of people who died were in cars or drowned while trying to hide from the storm.
So, in the past few weeks, we have sheltered 5 times and been "weather aware" an additional 2-3 days. Add that to the clean-up, the FEMA trucks around here, buying supplies for displaced families, and watching the weather for days in advance trying to plan around the storms...we are emotionally exhausted!
I wanted to describe a typical weather aware day. A perfect day to describe would be this past Friday, May 31. For several days before, we had heard that it would be bad. Actually the day before, we had already had to be near shelter. All morning, you could feel it in the air. The air is thick and "soupy". It is still outside, which is rare for our windy state. I spent the morning going about our normal routine.
At noon, I started really focusing on weather. I put Jordan down for a nap and while he was sleeping began making preparations around the house. I packed a bag for Jordan and for us with our most important belongings. It's kind of weird to walk around and decide what matters most. For us it is pictures, our Bibles, a change of clothes, important documents, and my mom's jewelry that she left in our safe-keeping. We also pack plenty of diapers/snacks for Jordan and some of his most cherished toys and books. If we could, we would pack it all, but storm shelters are by now means spacious. I also packed our brand new weather radio!
A funny thought that I have on tornado days is how I shouldn't even bother with chores because it is possible that my house might be blown away. On Friday, I did all the laundry and as I was hanging it up, I thought, "I am going to be so mad if I finish all of the laundry and then my house gets blown away. That would just be ironic." Thankfully, that didn't happen....and all my laundry was done.
The weather guys (who are awesome and we trust so much) were saying that storms would be coming towards OKC at 5...firing out west around 4-4:30. So, Blake came home at 2:30 and I loaded the car and then we just hung around until just before 4. We left then because we wanted to make the Sonic happy hour, which ended at 4. We got our half-price drinks and then drove 15 minutes across town to our dear friends' house.
Our friends have an underground shelter in their garage. We go there, along with 3-4 other families. When we arrive, I just go ahead and put our bags in the shelter. Makes it less hassle to climb down there when the action starts. Then, we all just hang around and watch tv until the storms pass or we have to shelter. Sadly, the previous Monday, we didn't have to shelter, but we did watch the storm go through Moore. It was horrifying to helplessly watch it, thinking about our friends, and wondering how life would go back to normal.
So, back to Friday. We'd been their so often, that one family brought pizza with them when they came. Might as well enjoy some food while you sit around. The storms started firing up right when the weathermen said they would. For a while, it seemed as if the storms would go north of us. Then all of a sudden, they turned south, which is really really crazy. We started to prepare to go down to shelter (shoes, etc) and watched the storm roll in from the north.
There is no way to describe the feel when the storm is almost there. All of the air is getting sucked into the storm. You can watch it grow and get closer, and can sometimes see it spinning. The women in children usually go down first and wait and the men come in when it's time. After about 15 minutes, the guys squeezed in and we waited about 15 minutes before we could come out.
When we were down in the shelter, cramped and sweating, we had the radio, satellite on phones, and text messages coming in from families who could watch tv. It's very confusing because your really don't know what was going on and that night was unusual. At one point there were six circulations over Norman so every area of Norman was under the gun. It's also weird to get a text telling you the chasers are in your neighborhood. Awesome.
When we came out, we were in the clear, with no power. But the storm was still raging. We had one more band to come through. It was high wind and hail, but after being underground we were all content to sit on the porch and watch the show. We all sat in the dark with flashlights and listened to the radio describe the damage and destruction the storm had brought.
After much debate, we decided to chance going home. We figured we didn't have power, but after a crazy drive home, we did have power. We are thankful to be safe and sound and so sad for those who are not.
See why it is so stressful? Our lives have been revolving around tornadoes for a few weeks. So, welcome June with your heat and wonderful predictability!
The first tornado hit Moore on May 20. Moore is only about five miles to our north and we know a lot of people there. Many of our church members live just south or just north of the path. We were fortunate that no family in our church had major damage from the storm. Twenty four people were killed, including seven third graders at Plaza Towers Elementary. It was a devastating storm that made it's way through the entire town of Moore. Blake and I both had opportunities to go clean up people's homes, and it gave us a glimpse at the amazing power of weather. We are helpless if it comes our way. All we can do is hide.
The second tornado went through El Reno and Union City on May 31. While the majority of it's path was in rural areas, it at one point was 2.6 miles wide (!!!!!) and killed 18 people. The majority of people who died were in cars or drowned while trying to hide from the storm.
So, in the past few weeks, we have sheltered 5 times and been "weather aware" an additional 2-3 days. Add that to the clean-up, the FEMA trucks around here, buying supplies for displaced families, and watching the weather for days in advance trying to plan around the storms...we are emotionally exhausted!
I wanted to describe a typical weather aware day. A perfect day to describe would be this past Friday, May 31. For several days before, we had heard that it would be bad. Actually the day before, we had already had to be near shelter. All morning, you could feel it in the air. The air is thick and "soupy". It is still outside, which is rare for our windy state. I spent the morning going about our normal routine.
At noon, I started really focusing on weather. I put Jordan down for a nap and while he was sleeping began making preparations around the house. I packed a bag for Jordan and for us with our most important belongings. It's kind of weird to walk around and decide what matters most. For us it is pictures, our Bibles, a change of clothes, important documents, and my mom's jewelry that she left in our safe-keeping. We also pack plenty of diapers/snacks for Jordan and some of his most cherished toys and books. If we could, we would pack it all, but storm shelters are by now means spacious. I also packed our brand new weather radio!
A funny thought that I have on tornado days is how I shouldn't even bother with chores because it is possible that my house might be blown away. On Friday, I did all the laundry and as I was hanging it up, I thought, "I am going to be so mad if I finish all of the laundry and then my house gets blown away. That would just be ironic." Thankfully, that didn't happen....and all my laundry was done.
The weather guys (who are awesome and we trust so much) were saying that storms would be coming towards OKC at 5...firing out west around 4-4:30. So, Blake came home at 2:30 and I loaded the car and then we just hung around until just before 4. We left then because we wanted to make the Sonic happy hour, which ended at 4. We got our half-price drinks and then drove 15 minutes across town to our dear friends' house.
Our friends have an underground shelter in their garage. We go there, along with 3-4 other families. When we arrive, I just go ahead and put our bags in the shelter. Makes it less hassle to climb down there when the action starts. Then, we all just hang around and watch tv until the storms pass or we have to shelter. Sadly, the previous Monday, we didn't have to shelter, but we did watch the storm go through Moore. It was horrifying to helplessly watch it, thinking about our friends, and wondering how life would go back to normal.
So, back to Friday. We'd been their so often, that one family brought pizza with them when they came. Might as well enjoy some food while you sit around. The storms started firing up right when the weathermen said they would. For a while, it seemed as if the storms would go north of us. Then all of a sudden, they turned south, which is really really crazy. We started to prepare to go down to shelter (shoes, etc) and watched the storm roll in from the north.
There is no way to describe the feel when the storm is almost there. All of the air is getting sucked into the storm. You can watch it grow and get closer, and can sometimes see it spinning. The women in children usually go down first and wait and the men come in when it's time. After about 15 minutes, the guys squeezed in and we waited about 15 minutes before we could come out.
When we were down in the shelter, cramped and sweating, we had the radio, satellite on phones, and text messages coming in from families who could watch tv. It's very confusing because your really don't know what was going on and that night was unusual. At one point there were six circulations over Norman so every area of Norman was under the gun. It's also weird to get a text telling you the chasers are in your neighborhood. Awesome.
When we came out, we were in the clear, with no power. But the storm was still raging. We had one more band to come through. It was high wind and hail, but after being underground we were all content to sit on the porch and watch the show. We all sat in the dark with flashlights and listened to the radio describe the damage and destruction the storm had brought.
After much debate, we decided to chance going home. We figured we didn't have power, but after a crazy drive home, we did have power. We are thankful to be safe and sound and so sad for those who are not.
See why it is so stressful? Our lives have been revolving around tornadoes for a few weeks. So, welcome June with your heat and wonderful predictability!
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