Tornado

I've been offline for a couple of days. My little pint sized city of Clay was hit hard by a tornado before daylight Monday morning. I went down to the basement, because if there is anything we all learned from last April's terrible tornadoes, it was don't ignore the warnings. I think it was because of that lesson learned and the grace of God that there were only 2 fatalities in the whole county. The tornado has been determined to have been a F-3 with winds of 150 miles per hour.

I thought it was a non event because it was barely raining at my house and I heard no wind at all. My sister lives only 3 minutes away. Her neighborhood seems to have been the last hit before the tornado lifted and didn't set down again until it was out of the county...we are on the northern edge of Jefferson County.

Over 200 homes in our tiny town were damaged or destroyed. I think I read that there are 500 damaged or destroyed homes county wide. One elderly man lost his life on the opposite side of the county and sadly, one teenager lost her life on our side.

My sister and her husband are fine. They lost 7 trees, but none fell on their home. In fact, theirs is the only home in that neighborhood without structural damage.

We have a lot to be thankful for here in Alabama this week. It is heartening to hear about and to see the number of volunteers who have poured in to help those in need. Area churches have opened their doors as shelters and are serving meals to victims and volunteers alike. But, please remember to say a prayer for those two families who lost their loved ones and for those who've lost their homes.