Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Details at 10


Severe weather moved across our state tonight, and EVERYONE was alert. After the devastation in Joplin (to our north about a 100 miles), we were expecting almost anything including large hail the size of____ and tornadoes. Watching TV it appeared that the storms would our city, but about 9:00pm the weather team interviewed a storm chaser who had just entered my home town (about 20 miles away) and said a tornado had hit the south end of town and named a convenience store, a sandwich shop, and a pizza place that were directly hit. He also stated that the surrounding houses were hit and electricity was off all over town. That got my attention!

My mother lives about four blocks from the buildings he described. My mother usually goes to a storm cellar at a neighbor's house, but I imagined heavy damage. We headed out with flashlights, etc. About ten miles from town we reached her on the phone and she was OK and just home from the cellar.

As we approached town from the south, the first intersection is the location described on TV. There were flashing lights everywhere AND there were the buildings STILL STANDING! Yes, there were tree limbs down and a few pieces of canopy trim gone. No houses or businesses were destroyed. My mother's house had no damage and a tree limb was laying in the front yard.

There is enough drama without this kind of reporting!

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