Tornadoes

As you probably heard, Oklahoma City and surrounding areas were hit by massive tornadoes last week. I have to say, our meteorologists are AWESOME!! Channel 4's Mike Morgan and David Payne had been warning us for several days that the weather pattern was setting up to look exactly as it did in May 1999 and May 2010 when Oklahoma saw some of the largest most devastating tornadoes to date. I attribute the fact that Oklahoma had about 5 massive tornadoes that day affecting about 14 different towns but only 10 deaths to the exceptional meteorologists we have. It is obvious by the number of awards these men have won that they are great at their jobs but watching them work together on air, usually with Mike watching the radars and David out chasing the storms, is just amazing. Their love for their field, respect of the storms and concern for the people is evident in every broadcast. The footage that David Payne has captured in his chases is unbelievable. During this storm it almost felt like we were watching the news in 3D because he got so close. We got to see a electric pole snap and fly right over his vehicle as it happened. Actually he got a little too close but thankfully was able to get out of the way.
I have seen lots of the damage over the last few days but the roads have been so crowded with volunteers and clean up crews, I had not been able to get close to much of it. Since the sun was just rising and the streets were empty yesterday morning, after the paper route, I decided to check out some of the damage around town that I had not been able to go by. This is what I found.....

A pile of debris in a front yard after 3 days of clean up. The houses in this neighborhood look fine but the debris is everywhere!



It is kind of hard to tell but this tree is basically cut in half

Insulation and tin scattered throughout the field beside a veterinary clinic.

The front of the Vet clinic.

The side of the clinic. The Vet, his wife and daughter where inside when the storm hit. Thankfully they are all ok. This is the 3rd time this clinic has been hit by a tornado and they took cover in the center kennel-the only spot that withstood the last two hits.

Trees shaved off just above the ground.

The sunrise makes it hard to tell but the glare is actually the roots of this tree ripped right out of the ground and laying on its side.

More trees snapped like twigs.

I am pretty sure this belongs in a field and not a drive way! This house has some roof damage but if you look in the background, the shed or barn is demolished.

The large square in the top of the tree is a piece of some one's roof.

This WAS a 2 story house, now only one remains (sorry about my finger☺).

Tin, boards and trash mangled in some broken trees.

More trees just splint in two.

Another house that looked fine but their yard is littered with debris.

This house looked ok but the garage is caving in. From the other side I saw that a tree is actually on the roof of the garage. Not sure, but since the way the cars were parked in the yard it looks as though the residents may be staying there.

This is what is left of a house of one of our paper customers. We were not able to get down their street for several days because of down electric poles and debris in the road.

Another angle of the same house. I thought I recognized their house on the news and was just able to confirm that this morning now that the road has been re-opened.

Kenyon's scout leader, Geoff, let us know about a command station set up at a church in town so Saturday the kids and I volunteered there for a few hours. They have all the classrooms set up with table and tables of donated clothes. Here is Kenyon sorting them by size.

They are also serving hot meals to victims and clean up crews. Even little one's can help divide girl scout cookies into separate baggies for dessert!

While we were there they served a couple hundred people a meal. Several came in and ordered 10 or 20 meals to go that they were taking to the crews working all over town cutting trees and cleaning up. They also had cases of water and toiletry items for those in need.

Since Monty has the car during the week I don't know that we will be able to help again even though they are continuing with meals for several days but if the opportunity arises we will gladly go!

Once again God has shown us His power and once again we are thankful for His protection!!

You know I have lived my entire life with tornadoes in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle but the last several years seems to have produced more powerful storms than ever before. Combing that with the fact that we have broken several records on amount snowfall, amount of rain, lack of rain and others it just makes me wonder...Were we warned about that somewhere??? Maybe Matthew 24:7??? I'm just sayin.