Growing up in Minnesota and Oklahoma, I was not unaware of tornadoes. In both places, the cities we lived in would test the tornado sirens once a month and we would have tornado drills at school once or twice a year. Occasionally we would be under a tornado watch during spring and summer months when tornadoes were most common and occasionally the weather forecasters would issue tornado warnings, although usually there were no tornadoes (at least not near us), the conditions were ideal for them to happen.
Having lived in Minnesota and Oklahoma (part of Tornado Alley), I used to be afraid of big thunderstorms and deathly afraid of tornadoes. Anytime there was a bad thunderstorm with the possibility of tornadoes or not, I would start shaking and find Mom or Dad as quickly as possible and stay close to them until the storm passed. If a storm happened in the middle of night, it was guaranteed that I rushed to Mom and Dad's room, woke them up, and camped out on their floor until morning.
I was reminded of this fear yesterday (May 20) not because of a tornado near where I am, but one near where my Grandma Crain lives in Oklahoma.
There was a giant EF5 tornado (the strongest tornado category) that tore through Moore, Oklahoma yesterday. The tornado was up to a mile wide at times and the winds were over 200 miles an hour. Now that is horribly scary tornado. It came within a mile or so of my grandma's house, who lives in Moore. Grandma was not home at the time, because she was at a funeral at the nearby stake center, where someone came in and told them to take shelter as soon as possible. She was shaken up, but is doing okay. Her house is also okay.
But there were neighborhoods that were completely destroyed, two elementary schools were hit and dozens and dozens of people were killed. It is so sad. The relief effort is amazing and I pray for those people affected by this horrible storm.
And this past week and this weekend (June 1) Oklahoma has gotten some more horrible storms with flooding and high winds and rains etc. They just can't seem to catch a break right now from Mother Nature. My grandma is doing okay. Her house is fine, but her back fence is gone. My uncle and aunt and cousins that live about 15 or 20 miles from Grandma are also okay and their house is fine. But there are many others who weren't so lucky. May those affected by these storms be comforted.
This tornado and this bad weather reminded me of a tornado that happened on May 3, 1999 in Moore, Oklahoma when we lived in Oklahoma, but this story will have to wait for another post...
