Caught in the Eye of Yesterdays Deadly Tornado

                         

In a moment in the twinkling of an eye.  That's how so many disasters happen. 

One minute you're watching torrential rain out your doors and windows and worrying about having to get out in the wet and nasty yuck to go to church later....and a little later....there is no church to go to.

Everybody that really knows me personally...knows that I am horrifically afraid of storms.  No one else in the family is...I don't know WHY I'm the way "I" am. 
Most of my family will leave the house to go to the grocery store in a storm and you couldn't drag me out in lightning or even heavy rain unless it was a life or death situation with a close member of our family.

Michael kept emailing me....starting on Saturday...to see if I was coming to church yesterday because we had storm warnings for here already.  I kept telling him that it really didn't sound that bad for our immediate area and "Yes...I'll be watching radar and if it doesn't get bad here before I leave for church and is going to be ok until I can get back home...I'll be there."  He's our song leader and lives in fear of having to lead the singing without the piano  :-)

I kept TELLING him...."It REALLY doesn't look like it's going to be too awfully bad HERE...so don't worry".

Bro Shawn announced during church that he had a project he'd like us to get involved in and it was about helping others....and if we wanted to take part...please stay for a short meeting after church....I was thinking..."Well you KNOW if it's something I can DO right now on one foot...I want to be involved...BUT DO WE HAVE TO HAVE A MEETING WITH STORMS LOOMING...WE ALL NEED TO BE HOME!!!!!!!"   But I stayed for the meeting and was so glad I did...That project is right down my alley...IF there will be a chore I can DO with one bad leg...

We got through church and it still wasn't storming after church...Praise the Lord!  I came home and we had a bite to eat and after a bit...geezer was watching the History Channel and Kim tx'd and said weather spotters were being called out and it was looking like it was going to get really bad in Massac County...so  we turned on the scanner and WPSD TV...Within minutes .... they were saying a big tornado was coming from towards La Center, Ky and it was looking like it was going to hit Massac County.  I was pacing back and forth....hobbling would be a better description...I was hopping and hobbling like Chester in a hurry (Gunsmoke)...from the front door to the back and geezer kept saying "Will you just sit down and stop worrying...I'm watching it on radar and it looks like it's breaking up as it's moving this way....they're always saying it's going to do something...that's so we'll keep their channel on...everybody's going to be fine"

About that time...one of the deputies on the scanner said "I'm at the foot of Ferry Street (which runs right into the Ohio river) and he said "I can't even SEE the river....that must be the tornado and it's huge"
In just another minute or two...the scanner just went ballistic with reports of major damage and many injuries in Brookport...the little sister town just 8 miles from us.  We're so tight with that little neighborhood...we share deputies  :-)  because it's in our county anyway...but Metropolis has just always been really involved in helping Brookport and Joppa (another little town on the other side of Metropolis)

I was frantic...we had family in Brookport and couldn't reach them...and we could tell from the scanner that the tornado went right through their neighborhood...We finally DID reach them and they were able to get out a few hours later and get to family elsewhere.

I had been so worried about Brookport...even before this happened.  It was Brookport...that just 2 weeks ago...Weaver Creek got involved in their 'feeding the less fortunate on Tuesday nights' project...and I had just learned on Wednesday night that they are temporarily going to have to shut down that free weekly meal due to funding. 
I had planned to stay over last night and talk to Bro Shawn and see if there wasn't some way we could help the weekly meal keep going. 
I mean if a bunch of us went together....how expensive would it BE to feed them Sloppy Joes and Chips.....or White Beans with Ham and Corn Bread....When you have NOTHING....a little can be SOMETHING. And besides...I figured they almost needed the weekly fellowship with people in their same boat...as much as they needed that free meal.
And this had really weighed on my mind since Wednesday and I was SO SO anxious to talk to Bro Shawn last night.....But before I could ask him if we could help keep the meals coming to those who really needed them in Brookport...there was no BROOKPORT....

They are reporting that 2 trailer parks were totally demolished with 50 homes lost in those.  Two lives were lost in the tornado instantly and I believe one has passed away at the hospital a little later.
One home was picked up and thrown into a pond and they were able to get the man out...but he had a broken back, I believe...but at last account....they wife hadn't been found yet.  They were asking for a diver to check the pond.
A little 10 year old boy was sitting playing with his X Box...and the last thing, I guess...on his mind was the storm brewing or that a tornado was about to hit and destroy his home....He was found unconscious and unresponsive just minutes after the tornado went through...and at last account was still unconscious.
Bro Tony's son and daughter in law (our former pastor) lost their feed store in the tornado...and it was a huge concrete building that had been on that corner for a hundred years....goodness

Just so SO many stories...so many loses.  Just hundreds of people have lost everything....their homes and their clothing...cars and trucks were lost.  I just can't even begin to imagine.

I HAVE GOT to put back money for 6 storm shelters before spring....I can remember growing up a little girl in the 1940's and 50's and 60's...and we would sometimes hear of a tornado somewhere in the US...but it was usually in Oklahoma...back then known as Tornado Alley....but Tornado Alley has moved...and it's moved right smack dab to the middle of the heartland.

Please pray for all the families involved in all of the tornados yesterday...Not just in Massac County, Illinois...but I think there were 80 tornado's yesterday in the heartland.....GOODNESS!



Brookport Photos...