The last few days have been surreal for several different reasons. In the end, we were very lucky, and my heart goes out to those who were not as fortunate and are still struggling.
On Friday afternoon, a massive tornado–estimated to be nearly a mile wide at some times–touched down in Forest Park in the middle of St. Louis before heading north through our neighborhood, destroying buildings and trees as it moved.
Miraculously, our home wasn’t damaged, but just several buildings away there are massive trees in yards and houses missing windows, roofs, and more. This is an older area of St. Louis–buildings are made of brick and stone, and the trees are over a hundred years old. It’s such a loss for them to be gone–you can’t just instantly replace a massive tree.
We were at a convention 30 minutes west of our home when the tornado hit, so we didn’t realize how bad it was until we returned home that night to what I would describe as a “peaceful apocalypse”. It was completely dark due to the power outage, but there were people everywhere (mostly clearing streets of trees/branches and helping each other).
Over the next few days, I spent most of my time at the convention, where everything seemed perfectly normal, including the weather–we even had a lovely disc golf outing on Sunday morning.
But starting and ending each day at home was a different story, as we didn’t have electricity. I’ve taken 3 very cold showers, thrown away a lot of food (though being a pescatarian helped), and adjusted my sleep schedule based on when it got dark each night. We’re lucky that it’s been fairly temperate, though I’m spoiled by AC and haven’t slept well without it.
The good news is that right before I started writing this, we got word that our electricity is back on (I’m currently at a friend’s house). No internet yet, but power is truly a gift.
I’m still processing the whole ordeal, and there’s lots to learn about being prepared (i.e., I’m buying some landscaping gloves so I can help move branches/trees, and I’m really glad we had a good flashlight) and helping others in need. If you have any thoughts or lessons learned from similar situations, please let me know in the comments.
I am so glad you are okay. I’m sorry that others are not. Such a very scary situation. May repairs be swift .
Wow, that is crazy. I’m really glad to hear that you, your family and your house are ok.
The silver lining is the community spirit that comes out of something like this. I hope that is the end of the tornados and that you, your family and your neighbours can get back to normal soon.
Take care!