We watched the weather forecasters on TV. Huntsville, Alabama was hit with a tornado this morning. A storm front covers southern Indiana and northern Kentucky. The whole thing stretches from Illinois to Alabama. There were several areas in it that could produce tornadoes. The meteorologists are really good at knowing what is going on, where it is going, the speed it is traveling, and just when it is going to arrive in an area, telling people to get in their storm shelter.
By three o’clock, there were two large super charged cells about fifteen miles northwest of us that were touching down. One was following the other. They were also saying that there was hail the size of tennis balls in it. Also there was another that was going to go over us, but they weren’t sure if it was spiraling yet. It was just hard rain and some small hail when it went over. This part had actually split some and some went to Louisville.
The tornadoes in Indiana were category 4 and traveled for sixty miles, sometimes as much as five miles wide.
On Saturday we went with a group from our ward to help with what ever was needed. We went to an area that is called Daisy Hill, which is between New Pekin and Memphis. I always thought that if you lived in hilly country you would be protected from tornadoes but that was not the case. Even property east of a very large hill/mountain got hit.
As we were driving into the area, this is some of what we first saw.
This reminded me of the Mt. St. Helens area after the eruption.
Then we passed through a small, narrow valley. The tornado had come over the hill and hit the west side, next to the base of the hill.
The things were blown east across the road and up a hill.
We drove on and saw more destruction.
They were just finishing getting the road cleared so that people could get through. These people had been trapped in this area as the road was blocked with timber on the east and a huge power tower that came down with lines on the road and trees on the west. The tower is to the left of the tractor.
This is what the road looked like on top.
These are also in the Daisy Hill area.
Close up of above. All that is left is a concrete slab, overturned vehicle, and rubble.
Even though some buildings were standing, they lost roofs. Brick had a better chance, but some brick was also torn down.
We sawed up lots of downed trees and piled the wood and branches. We helped a family get to their mostly collapsed garage and retrieve some of their things. For others, we helped get boxes of theirs from a collapsed prefab home. In the brick house in the last photo, we helped move out furniture. The lady in this house took shelter in a closet under her stairs to the basement. We saw twigs embedded into the side of another house.
This was just one small area. There were many, many more throughout the paths in Indiana and Kentucky. There are many stories, stories of survival, heartache, loss, heroism. Recovery will take a long time.
