Stormy Weather

I have lived in Tennessee my entire life and have been through some bad storms and tornados, but last night really did some damage. I live in Bellevue which is about 20 min from my home town of Fairview. I was in my apartment alone on the phone with Jake (I know you're not supposed to be on the phone during a storm!) sitting in the bathroom floor while the hail was hitting the bedroom windows. Jake was talking to me so I wouldn't freak out completely. I can handle a thunderstorm no problem, but tornados scare me to death! He was just casually telling me what the news was saying and says "Oh there is a house down in Fairview on Cold Water Road". My head popped up and I asked him to repeat what he said. My mom lives on Cold Water Road. My heart just about skipped a beat. I hung up on Jake and called my mom six times but the phones were down. So after about a 2 min freak out period, I got a call from my brother. She was ok, she had no power. She said she had some trees down, one on her car and one through her front door. I called her cell phone and talked to her for a bit.

This morning my sister Jennifer, brothers Jay, Philip, Sam, and his wife MaryJane, my Dad, my aunt and uncle, cousin, and one of Jay's friends went there to clean up. I was driving all through Fairview and there were no trees down, not even a hint that there was a storm the night before, until I got the right before her driveway. There were trees everywhere, uprooted, scattered. There were 4 houses along the road that were completely destroyed. One of her neighbor’s house was sitting about 15 feet from its foundation and front porch. There were 3 more along the road with really bad damage. The driveway to the house is very long and runs along a forest on the left side and a cow field on the right. The trees in the forest were either uprooted in the driveway, or in the cow field. The tornado had touched down right in the valley of that forest. I would say that over 1,ooo trees were destroyed. It came to about 100 yards from her house. When you look at the damage that was done, there is no way that house should have been standing or that my Mom should be alive. There were only 3 trees left standing in her yard. What is amazing is that all the trees fell around the house. The tree that fell on her front porch would have ended up in her living room if the wind had gone in another direction. She had a tree fall directly onto her car and there wasn't a scratch on it. It was amazing. The garage was completely gone, the roof off the water pump was gone, there were trees everywhere; it was a horrible disaster.

We spent the entire day out there cleaning it all out. I am sore from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes. The power is still out but at least the driveway is clear. My mom is staying with Sam and his family for a few days, but at least she is alive. There were 12 people killed in that tornado last night all along Tennessee and Kentucky. I feel horrible for those people and their families and am grateful that mine was safe through it all.