Memorial Day 2019 Tornado

Actually I should say tornadoes. Yesterday was a beautiful day. High 60’s/ low 70’s, cloud cover most of the day so it was not too hot.

On Sunday evening/ Monday early afternoon, I cleaned up our porch from winter yuckiness. My porch was bleached and washed down.

I decided we could eat outside because our porch was cleaned off and the weather was beautiful.

My mother-in-law told me that a storm system was coming through so we needed to eat quickly before the rain. Just as we were finishing up, it began to rain.

We moved all of the food inside. My mom finished eating. The rain had stopped so I took her home before it began storming again.

I fell asleep for about an hour. When I woke up, I noticed there was a tornado watch for the area. I decided I needed to get the portable patio furniture we had borrowed from my mother-in-law into the house. (It folds up.) So Youngest helps me with that task. Nothing was going on at that point.

Oldest and I ended up outside a little bit later. Again nothing was going on. Once we got back in, the situation changed.

My Facebook started to be filled with messages of there is a tornado spotted in Indiana along the Ohio/Indiana border heading east along Interstate 70. Co-workers and family were in that path. I lay down because nothing was going on in my area – yet.

Hubby comes home. We talk for a few minutes. He leaves me alone when I see that Trotwood was hit. It was real at that point. Tears and panic fill my heart.

Still we were not in immediate danger. Nothing had been spotted near our house.

Mind you this was 10 something at night.

Suddenly we get a message to take immediate cover. Oldest was just getting out of the bath. He put on a bathing suit and sat in the water. Why? I don’t know. He’s a teenager.

We gathered up the dog and all four of us sat in our tiny bathroom waiting out the storm. Every time we thought we could get out of the bathroom, a new alert came through. We could leave at 11:45, 12 am, and then 12:30 am.

The house shook from all of the wind and rain. I could feel it on my back because I was leaned against the bathroom door. We heard loud sounds of hail hitting our house. Sirens were going off.

Dobby, our 14 year old dog, started panting because he heard all of the sounds going on around us.

The boys watched Ant-Man on Netflix while waiting out the storm. The Oldest was also texting his girlfriend who was scared. She lives close to us.

I spent my time messaging friends, co-workers, and family.

Then it was time to finally leave our sanctuary and try to get some sleep.

I slept from 12:30 until 2:30. Then I awoke to see if I could find out any information. I still could not go back to sleep so I ate something and went outside.

It was a clear sky. I could see stars littering the sky. There was a sense of peace.

The water in our pool was moving. So weird and odd.

Finally I went back to sleep. I slept for 2 more hours.

I got up and went outside. The sky was absolutely breathtaking. The sun had come up. I could see we were lucky. My car was not damaged from the 2-inch diameter hail.

As I read messages on Facebook about the devastation left behind, I once again realized how lucky we were.

My last day of work was cancelled for today because of the pure devastation left behind where I work. My principal took photos of the street where my school is located. Trees down in the area.

The mall area close to my house had also been hit. Less than 5 miles from my house. Our favorite grocery store was hit by the storm.

The photos of the devastation are heartbreaking.

I’m stuck here because roads are impassable and emergency vehicles need to have priority on the roads.

A snow plow needed to clear debris from I-75.

Tornadoes or possible tornadoes hit the following areas:

• Beavercreek – EF 3
• Trotwood – EF 3
• Brookville
• Northridge/ Harrison Township
• Riverside
• Vandalia
• Celina

I’m probably missing some areas. Excuse me, my head hurts. My heart hurts.

Please pray for the areas affected. Please pray for my students.

I’ll share photos later. For now, please click this link to see a news report about the tornado outbreak.

Stay kind!

Have a magical day,
Traci