Thursday, March 16, 2006

Tornado Again

This picture is from a large collection on the WMAY news site. You may also see a vivid map of the storm track through Springfield at the SJR site, which has all the breaking news. Here are more stories from our classmates:

Suzanne Lee Boyd lives near Washington Park, which she says has lost about a dozen large trees, including 2-3 over a century old. With her electricity out, conveniences like wireless phones and garage door openers became useless. She lit candles, listened to the radio a lot, and turned in around 7:30 each night until power returned. "I do believe God has us go through crises like this one from time to time to remind us to appreciate what we do have. Many people are still without power & homes."

Judi Dunkel Headrick writes that the storms came 23 miles east to her hometown of Illiopolis, and along the way, they ripped out a cattle farm or two. The last cell arrived at 4:30 am, a scary time to be trying to protect house, four dogs, and a cat. Her chimney cap blew off, so the wind and the rain came howling down, but otherwise no damage. She has friends in Springfeld who are still without power, though they have a generator to keep fridge and freezer going.

Janet Bailey Kerner reports that her subdivision had no damage at all, but "It was a very scary night. The dogs and I slept in the basement under a very heavy oak table until 3 a.m. By then they had downgraded the #3 cell to a very dangerous thunder and lightning storm with wind, but there was no twisting to the storm. That is when I finally went upstairs and went to bed."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Everybody,

I've been following the news and all your comments regarding he tornado situation!! We're praying all of you are well and didn't suffer too much damage. It sounds like the worst seige ever. I remember in 1961 when my son was a baby and we lived in a mobile home south of Springfield and I watched as another mobile home was lifted up and moved out into the street. I was huddled down with my infant son and scared to death. I remember also going through some in '57 that were really bad out in the Harvard Park area, but NOTHING seems to be as bad as this round of storms. Our prayers are with all of you and hope your tornado season isn't too bad this year. We live in California and have pictures of SNOW in our yard along with hail and mucho rain!!! What on earth have we humans done to our environment to cause all this havoc with hurricanes, tornado funnels and outrageous snow!!! We'll hope NOT to have a tornado during our 50th REUNION!!! Remember in 1993 that we had warnings and a deluge at 7:00p.m. with 95 degree temperatures????? Oh well, if we're all together, we can still have a lot of fun!!! Take care all of you - - -

Betsy and Gene Yamasaki