If you keep up with the news or weather at all, you may have seen that the Midwest has been hit with rain, storms, and even tornadoes this past week. It's been rather unsettling and the tornado sirens are going off several times a week. It's been raining off and on literally every day for at least 7 or 8 days. I'm in St. Louis, or rather a suburb of St. Louis.
When you live where there are tornadoes, you tend to put off running straight to the basement at the first sign of a siren because they are pretty frequent, but this past weekend, it was just "different". Don't get me wrong, IF the sirens are going off, taking cover is the proper thing to do! We just usually wait for more information before we head downstairs. Friday night the sirens were going off, the air had a very still feeling about it, and we grabbed our flashlights, candles, books, and of course the Doritos in case we had to stay there awhile, and went straight to the basement.
The good news is we were safe and our power stayed on. However, tornadoes touched down a mere 10-15 minutes from our house and today I drove around to view the damage. Amazingly no one was killed in the storm, but seeing the destruction up close and personal is not only unbelievable but terribly heartbreaking. In a strange way, it was also inspirational watching people working together to help in the rebuilding process. One place hit terribly hard (in addition to the St. Louis airport) and where the tornado touched down was the city of Ferguson - a quaint city filled with century old homes and full of history. I wanted to share some of the pictures I took today and maybe you can add these families to your prayers, especially those who maybe don't have insurance and who are unable to live in their houses at the moment...
Since we live near the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, flooding is the next thing that comes after lots of rain and storms hit the area so I feel like no one's out of the woods yet. Please keep them in your prayers and I hope the beautiful spring sunshine returns in no time with all its colorful enthusiasm!
6 comments:
Such a sobering post. I've been grumpy over the rainy weather but your pictures have helped me put my "grumpies" into perspective. I am thankful we have our roof still on our own house, trees still standing tall, cars upright in our own driveway and not our neighbors back yard and power supplying my computer, TV, fridge, etc. Plus, the water only gets as close as the low spot in our back yard, and drains in the opposite direction. Prayers continue.
Such power in these spring storms! I am thankful your property didn't sustain any damage, but your heart does break for those that were affected by it. There was some beautiful homes hit. :-( I suppose that puts it into perspective for us as well...you can fix property, but you can't replace life. Stay safe!
Omgosh such devastation. So glad that you were all safe & that your power stayed on. Still scary.
Oh my goodness! Seems so unreal. I can imagine how it looks in person. Breaks my heart for those families, but I'm glad nobody was hurt!!! I'll be praying!! But, you did make me laugh when you said you grabbed the Dorito's. That would so be me!
Oh..and when it comes to earthquakes here, we normally don't run for cover as soon as we feel the first tremor. You kinda just wait and see if it gets stronger!
My heart goes out to them and for you as well because this is all so frightening. I was talking with a customer from Missouri at work yesterday; and after that plus reading your blog, it all seems more human.
You are all in my prayers, friend.
I have been totally thinking about you when I saw what a Tornado did to the St. Louis Airport and the surrounding area.
Glad you didn't get hit or hurt.
All these tornado's are just crazy - it seems like day after day after day it is just more and more tornado's.
The pictures are devastating. Poor people and towns.
Glad you are safe!
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