10.25.2010

Well that train sounds like a tornado

Last night I sat down to write a nice post about Will's yard sale. I got up to ask Chris a question out on the back porch at 11 p.m. when all heck broke loose. Flash of lightening, crack of thunder so loud to make you jump then a sideways pelleting of quarter-sized hail had us running for cover. I didn't hear Chris yell grab the boys so I ran to shut the bedroom window. In just a few seconds, he handed me Will, picked up Joseph and shoved us all in the bathroom. We sat quietly as the wind roared and shook the house for 5-10 minutes.

Here is what we saw when the storm passed ...

Chris gathered up this sample of the hail.
Houses and cars covered in shredded leaves.
It's just crazy how much debris was in our yards and street. 
Trees down in yards, across the alley and on houses.
This is the worst of the damage on our street but thankfully no one was injured. 

Joseph went right back to sleep but Will needed to see the damage and see that everyone was okay. In fact, he wouldn't go to sleep until he talked to our neighbors that had the tree crash into their living room to make sure himself that they were okay. Getting Will to sleep and clean up some of the damage put me in bed at 2 a.m. Chris stayed up even later since more weather was on the way that he wanted to keep an eye on. 

And even though we would have loved to sleep in, kids and chainsaws will wake you up every time. Here is what we saw in the morning ...

Doesn't it look like we took a shotgun to it?
Our alley
Poor magnolia!
Let me stress that our neighbors were not injured thankfully!
Mavis was happy her favorite fall wreath was untouched.
Screened windows, loose siding, flattening the back gate — those things I can understand. But it's the little things that are weird like our house numbers here or the mums picked up out of their planters and laid down next to them. 
Today has been spent picking up branches and watching cranes and bucket trucks. Insurance agents have been called and tree cutters are driving around the neighborhood much like a lawyer chasing an ambulance. We haven't heard yet if the damage was caused by straight line winds or if we can claim to have been in our first tornado. If this was a baby tornado, I hope never to be in a big one's path!

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