Surviving the storm

The storms of 2011 have not been fun. We got out of school early yesterday so everyone could prepare for the 3 rounds of storms that were headed our way. We were told that the third and final round would be the worst; no joke.

The first round hit while we were at school. Power outage, wind gusts, my students freaking out. My classroom is a portable, so we ran inside and spent the rest of the school day with another second grade class. But we survived the first round with only 2 trees injured at school. (One was struck by lightning, split in half. The other was blown over along with the concrete at its base)

The second round of storms hit around 3pm. The kids and I were at Melissa's house with our bag o' supplies. No power outages, no phone service lost, no real storm. (in Ringgold at least) Melissa and I laughed at what was supposed to be a big storm, and the kids and I went home.

Joe managed to make it home before the third round of storms got too bad. Most of the rain and wind seemed to be north of us, no real damage and no power outages... yet. I had prepared the bathroom downstairs with pillows, blankets, and books to read just in case.

Around 8:30pm we thought the storm was coming to a close. Joe had Abby were outside on the porch watching the lightning in the distance. When recounting the experience, Joe said, "I felt the hairs on my arms standing up. I turned around, and there it was." 'It' was the beginning of the Ringgold Tornado. Joe grabbed Abby, ran into the house, the power cut off and yelled, "Go now!" So we all ran to the prepared bathroom and stayed there for the following 2 hours.



The kids after 2 hours of confinement. We tried to get them to sleep. It never happened.



Andy being a trooper.



Abby doing, I don't know what.

Our phones went out somewhat. We could receive calls and messages, but could not send any out. I managed to get a call out to my friend Chrystal Morrison who managed to post on her Facebook page that we were fine. Today we still had phone and Internet problems, and Aunt Jenny was able to post for me that we survived.

Thankfully, the only damage we received was 2 pieces of siding were shaken loose from the back of the house. So, now it only looks like the tornado hit the inside of my house; which is how my house looks on a daily basis.