Thursday, May 20, 2010

Tornado too close to home...

I was sitting here this afternoon rocking Melina while Tracie and Josiah were napping and the tornado siren went off. I thought it was a drill at first, but it didn't shut off. I looked out the front door and didn't see anything alarming. Called Andy to have him check the radar and he said he'd have to call me back in a few minutes but when he looked a bit ago it didn't look bad. The dog started scratching at the back door and so I went to go see what was up and that's when I saw the clouds behind us and new that something was definitely up. Andy called me back and says "yes, it's not a drill. There's a warning." My cell phone went off and it was my Mom saying that they saw 2 funnel clouds at Carlisle Chevrolet but that they never touched down. There was also a tornado touchdown in Midlothian. Andy told me to go ahead and get the kids into the bathroom and not to come out until he told me too. A few minutes later the sirens quit and so I assumed that it was safe to go outside. It was almost time for me to go get Emily from school. I got the kids loaded up in the van and started driving when Andy texted me not to come out of the bathroom that there was another wall cloud forming. I called him and told him that he was a bit late as we were already out driving. The clouds continued to look very freaky. I got up to Emily's school and a guy stopped me in the street and told me that the school was on lockdown and the tornado was on it's way. Yeah, that's not going to freak me out with a newborn in the car along with 2 toddlers. He tells me that the school is letting parents with small children into the gym. I knew if I took Josiah in there with all the kids in the hallways and the gym and he ran off on me that I'd never get to him, so I took my chances with going home. I wound up getting onto 77 as Brown st was blocked off and the hail hit. I called my Mom in a panic as I really didn't know what to do. I wound up driving to Carlisle so that I wasn't alone with the kids and took cover with my Mom. After the worst of it had passed, we went to the break room to watch the news. Josiah started majorly acting up in there. I was so embarrassed. People were trying to call to warn their families and he wouldn't stop jumping up and down, being loud, and throwing tantrums. I finally wound up having to leave even though the schools were still on lockdown. He just couldn't pull it together and the more I asked him to be quiet, the louder he got and just thought it was funny. I kept trying to explain to him that the weather was bad and that people needed to get in touch with their families to make sure they were safe and that it was a bit scary and he just needed to be quiet. Yeah, no such luck. An hour after school was supposed to be out, the schools finally called and said that they would release the students. I went up to get Emily and they had a NEWS van in the parking lot. It was pouring down rain and they wanted me to go to the office to get Emily. I wound up having to ask them to go get her for me as I wasn't bringing all the other kids out in the pouring rain. I didn't need Melina getting soaked or sick. Thankfully, the principal went and got her for me. I had Andy come home shortly after that. I was never so relieved when Deidra got off the bus and came home and then Andy came home a little after that. I was so relieved to know that we were all safe and sound at home.

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