My Own "Night of the Twisters"

For those of you who might have been wondering, the tornadoes didn't hit Martin at all, but they were only about 15 miles south of here. It was a stressful night. It did hit Rutherford where my sister Karen's family lives. They didn't sustain any damage, but you can see the destruction from their house about 1/4 mile away.

I went to church with her in Rutherford that evening, it was a nice, calm sunny day. I enjoyed having the windows down for the 30 minute drive from my house to hers. Afterwards, the youth group went to Pizza Hut in Trenton, about 15 minutes south of there. We managed to get a terrible waitress that didn't take our order for 30 minutes or so, which kept us there. As the clouds started to role in, it just didn't look good, or feel right. The tornado sirens went off, but outside it was eerily calm with no rain. To the north it started lightning like crazy, and there was one cloud that looked like it was reaching to the ground that the lightning didn't light up. It didn't look good. After finally eating we were getting ready to leave, and about the time as we were loading up, someone from the congregation that had left just previously came back and told us the highway had been closed. Trenton stayed calm, but we listened to the car radio and learned Dyer, just southwest of Rutherford about 5 miles had a tornado, as did a couple towns directly west of there. Several people tried to call their families in Rutherford, but all the phones were down, cell and house. I called my mom in Martin, and it was rainy and windy, but all was fine, although the tornado sirens had sounded three different times. In the middle of all this several emergency vehicles, mostly from Jackson, were racing by with sirens blaring. We then heard on the radio that a tornado hit Rutherford.

About 9:30 they opened up the highway so the church group caravaned back to Rutherford, going slow in case there was debris in the road. As we got to Dyer, all the entrances were blocked off by state troopers, and it was completely dark, the only lights were other cars in the distance. There were a couple times it seemed as if we could see some house lights, then we'd go around a curve and realize it was just more cars. As we went around Dyer, there were metal electric poles bent in half and on the ground as if they were karate chopped. I was expecting the worst when we got to Rutherford, but still calm knowing that all of my family was okay, the rest is just stuff. We pulled into the church, and we saw the roof had some damage, but nothing terrible, my car was still there with all the windows in tack. We went to my sister's house just a couple blocks from there and it was fine. The only thing they saw was the fence blown over, and the neighbors had lost some shingles. There was no electricity and another storm brewing and coming towards Rutherford, so they went inside, got a few things, and we went to my house. We still had electricity as far as I knew, and we have a basement. Karen and my brother-in-law, Allen, made sure an elderly neighbor were okay and checked on another friend while I went ahead toward home with my two nieces.

One the way home I did run over some power lines that were flat across the road, (thank goodness for rubber tires) and then hit some more rain and hail, but it was gone by the time I got to Kenton, the next town 6 miles away. I went the long way staying on the main road figuring the back roads might have debris. About 15 minutes after leaving the picture in the rearview mirror was the same as in Trenton, constant lightning and very dark clouds. I was glad to be out of it.

We got to my house and Karen and Allen were already there, they took the backway, which had that same eerie calm that Trenton did. We heard on the radio that another tornado apparently went through Rutherford around 10:00, or shortly after we had left, and hit Heritage Drive, a subdivision not a 1/4 mile from their house. They went to bed not knowing if their house would be standing or not.

The next morning they got up early and called into work-- both of their work places were out of harms way. My sister found out one of her co-workers lost a house in Dyer. They went to their house and it was fine, but they saw the destruction. The whole north side of town was scattered with debris, and most of the houses had roof damage or much more. The field my nieces play softball one didn't look like it was ever a baseball diamond. The fence and structures, even the foundations of them, gone. One of the families at Pizza Hut that left 10 minutes before us ran right into the storm, literally. They saw their house and were trying to get to safety and the tornado picked up the van and threw them around. They landed in a field on the wheels, miraculously with no serious injuries.

I went to Rutherford this morning to help unload the truck bringing supplies from Churches of Christ Disaster Relief. It was late so we went to an elderly member's house that needed cleaning up. It was in China Grove, a little farming community outside of Rutherford. On China Grove street there were about 4 or 5 houses standing, and about 10 that were destroyed I think. I may be exaggerating the number. It is true, pictures don't do justice, you have to see it first hand to grasp the scope of the destruction. The house we went to was still standing, with moderate damage, mostly to the roof, but the brick shed in back was destroyed. It was off the foundation, but it looked like some of the items in it were never touched, they were still sitting on the foundation where they were left. The wall of the shed was against a tree and all the tools were still hanging on it. The only house in the area that looked completely untouched was a trailer home of all things. It was still on it's foundation, with downed trees all around it. It was the next house down the street from where two people died in houses that were completely destroyed. It looked like the same pictures that were coming out if Mississippi in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. I was almost moved to tears, and that takes a whole lot to get me there, unless it's a movie, I've become a big crybaby at those. Reality has to be much more impressive.

I hope to help with clean-up as much as I can. I haven't been able to yet because of subbing and working at the fast food joint. The person I subbed for Monday and Tuesday lives in Dyer, he's okay with some wind damage to his house. It appears there were two tornadoes that traveled about 15-20 miles each, one from the Mississippi River through Dyer, and another from just outside of Rutherford to Bradford. I found out today there was no second tornado later that evening, it was just hearsay on the radio from witnesses, but understandable considering the circumstances. I don't personally know any of the people who died, but I know lots of people who knew them.

It is scary to think that had the service at Pizza Hut been adequate, I would have been driving home right through the storm, right where the tornado crossed the highway. And knowing me I probably wouldn't have stopped to seek shelter, but tried to beat it out. I'm stubborn that way. And yet I was upset at the lack of service by one indifferent waitress. Her indifference may have saved my life. The power of nature is amazing, and it quickly reminds us that we really don't have power or control over anything at all. It is a good lesson for us to learn, but often times it takes something like this for us to get it, and it seems to only last for a short time when we do get it. Power and control, what an illusion. We're much more secure with the more difficult attributes of faith and hope, it can handle things like this much better. But I can probably only say that because I didn't lose a loved one.

(written to The Normals-Coming to Life and Pearl Jam-Yield)