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| Storm Warning By Dianne Herring | |
| By DianneH | ||||||||||||
| 15 February 2008 | ||||||||||||
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This is a true story of my surviving a tornado...
Storm Warning
(An email to a friend) ©2006 by: Dianne Herring Hi George, How are things across the pond? It’s been one HECK OF A DAY here in Raleigh. It was a beautiful morning, but our dog, Happy, kept following me all over the house, as though she wanted to tell me something. I thought maybe she wanted to go out, but when I opened the door, she wouldn’t go. I was still feeling sleepy, so I spent most of the morning in my recliner with Happy sitting right under me - she just couldn’t get close enough; and she was panting loudly and shaking like a leaf. After a while I decided to do a little work on my latest project – I’ve been making jewelry – but I didn’t get much done because that’s when I heard the thunder in the distance. Soon it got louder, and outside it started to become dark, and then it started to rain. Then I thought the rain hitting the front window sounded like hail – and it was HAIL! I switched on the lights and reached over to unplug the TV, but just then the lightening went POW ! Then all of a sudden, I heard BAM !!!! Then the power went off and the lights with it. So I went looking for a flashlight with Happy still right under my feet. I heard the wind pick up outside and I looked out back from my kitchen window and saw that it was blowing the trees around in a circle. Then, I heard a roar, a roar that some folks say is the sound caused by the huge cell tower, right outside in the yard two doors down. But, I knew it was different this time. The lightening was popping like I have never seen, and the constant roar was getting progressively worse and more upsetting. As I looked down at Happy, she ran to the other side of the house - the north side, away from the kitchen. She sat in the hallway, still panting hard, and seemed to be waiting for me to come to her. So I did and we lay there in the hallway for quite a while, and Happy was still trembling as I held her close to me. I called Gene, from my cell phone to his - I was worried about him, out in this storm, pitching mail into boxes. He didn’t believe me how bad things were here, but he would soon find out. As I let go of Happy to get myself up off of the floor, she jumped straight back into my arms. But then everything went quiet, and still, and calm, and sort of eerie. The storm was over! But then the silence was broken by the sound of screaming police cars and ambulances whizzing by. I went back into the kitchen, and I couldn’t believe my eyes as I looked out of the window: The huge tree on the other side of our fence had been blown over, and I could see a MASSIVE hole in the ground where the roots had been, and the roots had jerked the fence up with it when it had fallen! I grabbed my raincoat and went outside and walked around in the mud to my neighbors’- trying to see what kind of damage was done to their garden, and to check that they were alright. But, I couldn’t get close enough because the tree filled their garden and was blocking my way to their house. Later they told me that they were looking out back and saw the tree, ever so slowly, fall onto their garden. They even said that it looked like the tree was falling in slow motion. Anyway, the power was back on after a couple of hours and I was glad of that because already it had started to get really hot again. Gene was home shortly after that, and I looked up and he was already out with his chain saw, cutting limbs off the tree. I figured his main concern was trying to find out how our neighbor’s garden weathered the storm. Then I went outside to take some photos and found out that, apart from the fallen tree, the garden was - miraculously - still just the way it was before the storm! I went back inside to start getting everything ready for dinner, while Happy was inside the fence, watching Gene as he was out for a couple of hours, still cutting limbs. As I stood there in the kitchen, I was so thankful that everybody was okay, but couldn’t help having visions of the tree falling in the other direction. We ate dinner in silence. Gene was so very tired and took a shower and went to bed. I woke up at 3:00am in the recliner - with Happy by my side, sleeping peacefully – which means the storm was yesterday. I can’t sleep now, which is why I’m sitting here typing this e-mail. I’m reminded now of not only surviving a tornado in 1974, in Huntsville, Alabama, but surviving Katrina as well, as we were horrified by the storm that night and worried about this very tree - the ‘Katrina survivor tree’. Well, sorry this e-mail is so long. Take Care, and let me hear from you soon. Happy is awake now, and looking much ‘happier’. Goodnight, or morning, depending when you read this. Dianne - Your storm-tossed friend in Mississippi.
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