Tornado- Not In The Plans!

I was boiling all our eggs to color for Easter last Friday night and had the girls sit on the couch for a quick picture. I took this to text to the family saying Happy Easter, not knowing an hour later we would have a tornado way to close to our house.

The weather here is nuts in the spring, we know that, but we also know a lot of the storms pass us and you can carry on with normal life even under a tornado warning. You just have to pay attention to where the storms are going. They will tell you to the minute usually of when that storm will hit your area.

Our weather alarm radio went off telling us to seek shelter immediately, a tornado has touched ground. We haven't heard that before, so we quickly turned on the TV and watched, and cleaned out the closet- also referred to as the Tornado Closet.

Darrell always stays out of the closet longer then I do- he likes to watch the clouds and the storms come in. We leave the door open a crack for him to come in if he needs to but usually it passes us by and we all get out.

This storm was HUGE! I had pulled dinner out of the oven and quickly got it on paper plates for the kids- I knew we would be in the closet shortly. They ate and Darrell and I were starting to realize this is not the normal going to pass us by storm. The kids had their pillows and a blanket to sit on- it's a hard wood floor in the closet, and not very much room either.

Baylee thought it was fun for about 30 seconds to be in that tiny closet with too many blankets and people, so we kept her out with us as long as we could. I got in with the girls when I could see the wall cloud up our street, but Darrell stayed out and watched. I noticed him walking kind of hunched over from the front windows to the back windows and then he ran into the closet and shut the door. I knew this was bad if he was actually in with us! He told the girls to get their pillows and put them on their heads- we quickly reminded them of the importance of protecting their necks and heads. This would be the time we realize we can't even pick up Ashlee's pillow because she has filled it with all her favorite books just in case a tornado actually hit. I stood up to dump the books out and Darrell told me to sit down, and no one stand up.

After a few minutes he opened the door and we could see the wall clouds and funnel clouds right across the street. I did not want him or the kids out yet, but as neighbors started coming out to watch I gave up on trying to keep everyone inside.

It was amazing to watch the clouds bump into each other and start to rotate- I now know how people can stand and watch a storm right up until it hits- it is so incredible! I wish I would have taken pictures- I'll have to get some from neighbors. The tornado actually touched down by the airport and we are only 10 minutes from the airport. Some friends stayed outside and watched the storm the entire time- I am not that brave!

We were so thankful that the tornado passed, but the torrential rain we had for the next week was absurd! Roads were flooded and closed all over. They released High School students early because so many roads were flooding and they needed to get them home safely. Crazy crazy crazy! But we are thankful to be safe- it is so sad to see all the destruction and deaths in other states from tornadoes.