The sirens began to blair. The tornado sirens that is. But it was only raining and the sky didn't look dangerous, so we returned to our table and finished up.
The rain went from a drizzle to a soak on our short 4 minute drive home. The sirens were still howling. We ran inside and turned on the weather channel.
Big, ugly, dark red splotches were making their way towards us. By this time, it was hailing pea size chunks, and the storm was still a half an hour away from our little town.
We continued to watch the weather. Fifteen minutes before the storm was called to hit, the hail got bigger. It was about this time that I started biting my nails and pacing. Should I put the animals in the basement? Or is that too drastic yet at this time? It might not even hit us. But what if it does? What if it hits and I haven't put the animals downstairs? There won't be time!
Visions of the dogs and the cat, wandering around outside in a torn apart town, injured and scared and shivering swept into my mind. Sure, they all had tags on and could be returned if found by a good samaritan. But what if somebody saw them all wet and frayed, approaching for some food, and they got the wrong message and shot them?! Oh no!
Then I calmed myself again. It would be fine. The dogs would be fine. Even if something did happen to where they were running loose outside, they would survive a while. They were all initially strays afterall, right? They still had street skills to call upon. The cat however... Well, he would just die if he found himself without his recliner.
I paced one more time to the window and saw the yard was mildly starting to collect pools of water. Then a golf ball size chunk of ice fell from the sky and smacked the window sill. The trees started flapping wildly. It was time to start preparing for the worst.
I ran through the hail and the puddles to the garage to collect crates. I hauled them downstairs and one by one starting herding dogs down. Syl the cat had to be crated as well. He did not appreciate my concern though, and put up a big, nasty fuss.
Regal cats should not be crated.
Suddenly, the skies cleared. The storm was passing. Well, one of them. Turns out there were almost a half dozen large storm cells in the area. They called this one a 'super cell'.
I let the animals up, feeling only mildly dumb for panicking to the point of locking up 5 animals in the dungeon that is our basement. I should point out that I grew up in a house where, when the tornado sirens blasted, my parents couldn't be further apart. My dad would be uber calm, strolling to get his camera and stepping out onto the deck to take photos while a tornado all but came down upon him. While my mom would be histerically grabbing cats and the rabbit and trying to herd the family into the basement on a whirlwind of sheer panic.
I fall somewhere in between the two. Unsure whether to curl up into a ball in the closet or stand my ground and take photos.
Anyways, then the power went out.
But the skies looked fine, and we went outside to assess the damage. There wasnt any, not really. Just a lot of water. Since the town didn't have power, pretty much everybody stepped outside to converse about the weather. I grabbed my camera and Red and I headed out to find some food and get some gas.
We pulled up to the gas station, which also had no power. And no generator apparently. The employees were standing outside. Nothing they could do for the moment. Their parking lot was flooded though.
Since we couldn't do anything but talk, we jumped back into the truck and headed out to get some photos before the storm passed completely.
It appeared that we had missed it for the most part, and there was nothing to panic about.
I pointed my camera strait up for one last photo. New clouds.
But then the winds changed. The storm that had been moving strait east in a very predictable path suddenly shifted. I felt the chill. And I watched, frozen in awe, as a brand new storm approached. I had been pointing my camera east, to catch the last of the storm that had just passed, without thinking to look to the northwest. We had seen this particular storm on the radar before the power went out. But it hadn't projected to come anywhere near us.
Suddenly the sirens threw out their 3rd wail of the night. But we couldn't move. In my head, logic was screaming at me to jump into the truck and flee. This was no time for silly schinanigans like photography.
Let me take a moment here to share with those of you who don't know me that I am kind of a spaz. I panic easily, and I'm a generally anxious person all of the time. If there is even a chance for danger or fear, I am a flight person.
Dark and dangerous clouds began descending upon us. Even as the hole whooshed up and the outter clouds began to smooth and turn black and green, we couldn't stop watching. A state trooper pulled up next to us and got out of his Charger to watch. Others pulled up as well. Sometimes fear gets tucked away when you are faced with something so beautiful and horrendous. Jaws dropped, one by one.
There does come a time when reality kicks back in and makes you move like you have never moved before. When the clouds began their slow rotation and lowering upon us, people snapped back and fled. Red and I jumped into our truck and dashed home. I repeated the ritual of shoving animals into crates in the basement and huddled on the bottom basement step while Red watched the window at the top of the steps. The power was not yet on and by now it was 9pm and dark. The rain and hail returned briefly, along with some wind.
We got lucky. We just got the show. The town just a few miles south of us got the tornado and a whole lot of damage. But luckily, nobody was seriously hurt.
When I went back last night to upload these photos and save them to my computer, my stomach churned. I'm not the storm chaser type. I always wanted to be a storm chaser. But I'm way too much of a weenie for such things. I should not have stood there taking photos while this monster thundered down on us. Dad, I blame you for having the guts to stand down a friggin tornado just to get these shots.
The irony here is that just that morning, radio hosts were going on about how we had had a rather timid, mild spring.
Way to jinx it, guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment