Tuesday evening my niece and her boys joined us for dinner. We had tacos until we burst, and then played several hands of UNO, each of us hoping to have the chance to win.
The kids both had homework, so we cut the game short after I had lost about four hands. As they put on their shoes in the foyer, the storm sirens started up. I herded everyone into the bedroom hallway, and we closed all the doors leading into the hall. I can't remember the sirens ever going off before. We tried to ease the youngest one's fears while we waited. Dear Husband roamed about watching out the windows and trying to find a weather report to tell us what was going on.
When the siren stopped, and the rain eased, my niece and the boys made a dash for the car for the short ride home. I was uneasy about their driving because tornadoes were reported in the area. There were three separate fronts leading northeast into the southern suburbs of Chicago. We were in a direct line for the northern-most storm.
My niece called when she got home to let us know they were safe, and we waited to hear about three of my siblings, who were in the path of the other storms. We were lucky. My second sister had to go without electricity overnight and into Wednesday. The area where she lives, part of an historical district, had a lot of damage. Her biggest problem was how to blow dry her hair in the morning.
Unfortunately, eight people in Utica, Illinois, near Starved Rock State Park lost their lives. Many of them lived in a trailer park, and had sought refuge in a brick building that housed a tavern, thinking it would be safer than their own homes. The tavern was demolished.
It's time to pack an emergency bag, and to gather chairs and towels, candles, a flashlight, batteries, a radio, water, and anything else that might help us weather tornado season.
Comments (8)
Gosh - scary! I can't imagine what it must be like to have to leave being permanent expectation like this. How many tornadoes would you expect to get in a season?
Posted by Semi-Invisible Blue Witch | April 22, 2004 3:18 PM
Posted on April 22, 2004 15:18
'live in', not 'leave being'.
My VRS is mucking about as I've got a sore throat and so it finds it harder to recognise me accurately, and I'm not checking carefully enough. Sorry.
Posted by Semi-Invisible Blue Witch | April 22, 2004 3:20 PM
Posted on April 22, 2004 15:20
Yes, it IS scary, BW. We don't often have tornadoes come through the Chicago area, but when they do, they're devastating. About fourteen years ago one hit the high school I attended, almost totalling it. Luckily school was out of session and only one person was killed. Before that they hit Oak Lawn, Crystal Lake, and I think there was a major one in Arlington Heights.
Kansas is called "Tornado Alley." Tornadoes are a weekly affair there in season.
Posted by Buffy | April 22, 2004 8:38 PM
Posted on April 22, 2004 20:38
VRS fascinates me. I should encourage Dear Husband to try it so he doesn't have to struggle with the keyboard. I hope your sore throat eases, soon.
Posted by Buffy | April 22, 2004 8:40 PM
Posted on April 22, 2004 20:40
I shook my head in amazement that it could have been so long since your sirens had sounded that you didn't even remember it. Wichi Dude and Bogie can vouch for our hearing them, if not frequently, at least often enough during the season here. Scary about your high school. Three or four years ago, Hoisington KS was hit (you probably heard about it) while the kids were at their senior prom. The prom-goers were safely in the basement of the Elks' Lodge, but their high school was damaged as was a great swath mostly through the residential area of the community. (I believe that there was one person killed--much to his wife's chagrin since she had tried to get him to accompany her to their basement.) My husband served on the American Red Cross disaster relief team for a couple of weeks up there. He had a particularly sad tale about a woman who came to his Emergency Relief Vehicle (from which he was handing out cleanup supplies) hoping to get some food. He ended up pursuading her to take several packets of cheese cracker sandwich snacks--his being convinced that she had nothing else to eat. She was reluctant to take more than one for fear of being greedy!
Posted by Cop Car | April 22, 2004 10:01 PM
Posted on April 22, 2004 22:01
We seldom ever get tornadoes and your blog made me realize how lucky we are. I was certainly relieved to hear all your friends and family arrived safely at their destinations. Keep safe.
Posted by Roberta | April 23, 2004 4:23 AM
Posted on April 23, 2004 04:23
The invigoration of hearing the tornado sirens! Sirens mean that everyone (adults anyway - mainly the stupid ones like me) goes out and looks for the tornado. Fortunately, while looking, I've never met one close up!
We don't have tornado sirens up here, but we don't get too many tornadoes. There was one not too far from here several years ago. It actually hit and tore up the building where WS used to work. Luckily, the business had moved to another town a couple of months earlier, so the building was empty.
Posted by bogie | April 23, 2004 7:32 AM
Posted on April 23, 2004 07:32
Glad to know that you are OK.
We have hurricanes here, but they tend to give more warning than tornadoes. However, they are no less destructive.
Posted by Dr. D. | April 23, 2004 8:57 AM
Posted on April 23, 2004 08:57