An Exciting NYE (FLW Tornado)

I have been so behind on blogging, my plan was to catch up yesterday but mother nature had other ideas. Yesterday was quite exciting. I feel incredibly blessed.

Yesterday morning a tornado ripped through FLW and surrounding areas and states. It came out of nowhere and happened so fast initially we didn't even know what was really going on. Kevin had headed out that morning to get a haircut and I was supposed to go with a friend to visit another friend. I hopped in the shower thinking I needed to hurry or she'd be waiting on me. A few minutes into my shower the power went out and everything was dark. I thought crap, now I have to shave my legs in the dark. Almost every time it rains hard our power goes out so I didn't think anything of it. A few minutes after that I hear Kevin crash into the house yelling for me to get out of the shower and for the boys to get out of bed and into our room. Almost immediately after that the house shook and it sounded like a freight train was coming through our house (Kevin says it sounded like a jet was in the middle of our house). I jumped out of the shower to see what was going on and then we heard the emergency sirens. It was raining but relatively calm right after. Kevin went to see what was going on and noticed a tree had been uprooted and had fallen on our neighbors shed/carport. It was insane, had it fallen a few inches to the right it would have crashed into our extra bedroom and possibly Neil and Daniel's rooms where they were still sleeping.
Kevin met up with some neighbors and they walked the neighborhood and saw the damage just a few hundred yards away from our street. The damage is devastating. Houses completely gone, vehicles strewn all over, power lines down. Thankfully it was the holidays and so many people were out of town on leave. It's scary to think what might have been had people been home. I am proud of our community who's first instinct was to make sure everyone was okay. Thankfully any injuries were very minor.
I give major kudos to our chain of command here at FLW and the response time of our emergency personnel. They were patient and tried their best to answer our many questions amidst a bit of chaos and confusion. We had to evacuate because our power was out and gas lines were leaking. Not sure when we will be able to go home but I feel lucky enough to know that my home is still standing and we are safe. We are staying with a friend and feel lucky to have her.

It's not the way that I would have planned to bring in the new year but it was still great. We spent it in a 1 bedroom hotel with 3 adults, 7 children, and a dog eating snacks and chatting the night away. It really was a great night!

Not sure what 2011 has in store for us but I feel pretty blessed so far.