Tornado Outbreak

I have lots to catch up on, but we have had some scary weather here in the South during the month of April. Since I've lived here in GA (almost 7 years, can you believe it?) I have not had to experience so many tornadoes. It's not good for my nerves, I tell you that much. For those who don't know already the storms yesterday and last night were REALLY, REALLY bad. The system that came through GA last night had previously made an ugly mess in other states, particularly bad in Alabama in the Tuscaloosa area. The cells of storms moved through Georgia between 9pm-2am, which seems to be the trend. And normally bad cells break up over time… but the particular cell that caused so much havoc in Tuscaloosa keep its power and also created havoc in Northwestern GA. Miraculously, we totally got missed. There were lines of storms above and below us. The City of Atlanta and up through Roswell (where we live) and the Alpharetta area were in a pocket that never stormed up very bad, with no particular explanation. We did get some rain and lots of wind. But NOTHING compared to what the other poor people got hit with. This, however, did not prevent me from staying awake until 1:45am watching the news and weather coverage for fear that the storms would take a turn for the worst and come our way. I wanted to be prepared and not be lifted up like Dorothy and taken to the Land of Oz. Although, I guess I’d be fine with that as long as my boys came too, and there were no flying monkeys. I supposed I’d feel right at home with the “little people”…

Here are some bits of info just for the record:

1. President Barack Obama toured rubble-strewn Tuscaloosa neighborhoods on Friday, declaring the devastation brought by a series of powerful storms and tornadoes was beyond anything he had ever seen. 
2. About 148 twisters Wednesday left a swath of destruction across 13 states, killing more than 335 people in six states, including 250 people in Alabama alone.
3. TWC Severe Weather Expert Dr. Greg Forbes says tornadoes were reported nearly continuously from just after midday April 25 through about 5:30pm EDT on April 28. That's a roughly 76-hour outbreak!  According to Forbes there have been 194 confirmed tornadoes, and still 126 reports of tornadoes yet to be confirmed! (taken from www.weather.com)
4. The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has said some of the tornadoes on Wednesday may have been more than a mile (1.6 km) wide with wind speeds over 200 mph. 

Check out this link and article, surprisingly from BBC. The first view you see to me was the most impressive video. You can hear the guy panting in the background he's so freaked out. Crazy huge tornado. It was a pretty stressful night, but I feel so glad we weren't hurt. Not sure what we would've done in our tiny bathroom if something that big would've come over us. Not sure we'd still be here!

I don't like tornadoes.
This was from an email my cousin Mark Collier sent us. He lives in Guntersville, Alabama.
"Yeah, we're doing great.  We had a tornado miss our house at around 6:30 AM, by about 100 feet or so, but it got our neighbors'.  One of them had part of their roof torn off, one had a shed obliterated and several of them lost many 200 year old oak trees.  We had another smaller tornado follow the exact same path at around 9:00 PM that finished off the roof started by the morning one.  In all, our town had 12 tornadoes last Wednesday.  Several sections of our zip code were flattened, and almost everywhere else, there was significant damage to trees and stuff.

We spent six and a half days without electricity, and two days with no running water.  I dammed up the creek to catch water to use for flushing the toilets, and we had a 50 gallon drum of drinking water stored in the garage.  All in all, with our church-inspired emergency preparations, we managed with no real issues.  We had enough to share with neighbors.  No one on our road was physically injured (miracle).  Several people in the next town were killed.

Celeste and the kids were caught in another tornado while in the car later in the day.  They were driving along, and golf ball size hail started hammering the car, so they pulled over into a gas station.  Sheet metal and lumber started falling from the sky.  I stood on my neighbor's back porch and watched that tornado go rumbling by, knowing my family was in it.  I've never said a prayer like that one before.

I spent six days cutting trees to help people get out of their homes, roads, and driveways.  Being prepared at home allowed us to help others who were either unprepared or unable to do the work themselves; testimony to the wisdom of the Lord and his prophets!

All in all, it's been an interesting experience that has strengthened us.  Just thankful none of us was hurt.  By the way, they really do sound like freight trains...."