Got Wind?

Weather has been a hot topic in the Tulsa area this week.  About a week ago a massive tornado hit Joplin Missouri, and that same storm had a bunch of other tornado's that struck small towns in Oklahoma.  It was a horribly awesome storm, I just don't know how else to describe it.  I never realized the shear power of tornados.  Over 120 people died in Joplin, normally only 40 people die in a whole season of tornados not just one.  It swept through a residential area, the Hospital, and High School and they only had a 20 minute warming.  Two nurses were sucked out the windows trying to get their patients to safety. One died and the other made it through with out a scratch.  The top two floors of the hospital were blown off and all the windows broken.  A nursing home was leveled.  People at gas stations and food joints were saved because they crammed into the large freezers.  Most people that died were in their cars, some because they were driving home from a college graduation.  One students car was crushed by a tree and it held him down but his friends car in front of him was blown away.  My heart has been in Joplin for the last week, I cannot think about what happened without feeling anguish.  I guess I really feel for those in the hospital and nursing homes because that is my life, wanting to save everybody but not being able to do so, that would be so hard.  The stories we keep hearing are horrible and amazing.

Last Tuesday another massive sweep of storms strolled through western Oklahoma and came our way.  I think everybody was a little touchy since Joplin.  Plus this storm was a matter of where and not if there will be tornados.  I came home from work, cleaned the house, prepared the closed, Spencer and I made some dinner, and we turned on the news.  Half of the fun of the evening was listening to the weather people.  It was a whole lot of "There might have been a touch down in such and such place, can we get a confirmation?!!" or from the storm chasers "The tornado seems to be pulling my car toward it, that's a big one!" or "Look at my shoe, see the hard soles!!" (I still don't understand that one!).  However the storm chasers were making Spencer really nervous, he wanted them to stop getting so close to the Tornado - it really stressed him out!  The news was showing live footage of the tornadoes, it was pretty cool.  With one of the tornadoes there was one house gone, just gone, all that was left was the cement.  Another you could see the massive trail dug into to ground.  We had a bunch of EF4, which are really rare, that is part of the reason for so much of the massive damage!  Spencer and I made some Tornado cookies, which are normal cookies just made while there are tornadoes about.  By the time the storm hit us the tornado part seemed to calm down, we just had massive wind and rain.  But the sirens did go off and our neighbor above us came down just in case,  it was nice to meet our neighbor! 

There was one really sad story about a family whose house was hit.  They were all in the bathtub but the storm was too big.  The mother was pregnant with 4 children, her 3 year old was ripped from her arms and found dead a few days later, one of her other children died later at the hospital.  She and the rest of her family are doing ok. But you can see why my heart breaks every time the news comes on!!  But there are good stories too such as a family was trying to get the Boxer to come in the safe room but he wouldn't.  But after the storm had passed and there house destroyed, a worker found their dog in the woods safe and sound!  There are just so many stories I could never tell them all or do them justice but they are all in my thoughts and prayers.