After watching Jentry sing in church, I was treated to lunch out at the Legion. Then we visited Grandma Johnson in the home. To annoy Nathan, I insisted that we take a "four generations" picture.
While we were chatting with Grandma a thunderstorm warning was issued for Sutton. The staff came around to close all of the windows and we decided we had better get going. The plan was to watch the movie Frozen and order Hunans for supper at John and Jan's. The sky was very dark as we drove the seven miles west. As I looked up the radar on my phone, it showed the storm popping up out of nowhere. We pulled in just before the rain hit. Nathan and John put the vehicles in the building. Next thing I knew, alarms were going off everywhere notifying us of a tornado warning. I really didn't think much of it as I have been in several tornado warnings throughout my life in Nebraska. Jan ordered everyone to head down to the storm room. We huddled together as the power went out. We could hear the rain, hail and wind but it wasn't long until the storm had passed and we were in the clear. The power remained out so John headed to Hastings for the food. He didn't get far before he met up with a State Trooper who was blocking off the road due to flooding. We were stuck and so we began to get creative with dinner.
Nathan grilled steaks on the grill in the rain.
Jan cooked up some potatoes in chicken broth on the gas stove with a flashlight. Jentry loved them and we laughed that a new recipe had been born.
Candle Light Mother's Day Dinner
Then we began to get word that the storm had caused some major damage to Sutton. We started seeing pictures on Facebook and worry started setting in. Nathan and John decided to drive into town and check on our house.
Big blue spruce uprooted in the front yard.
Porch swing down.
Neighbors' tress down in every direction.
Trellis down.
Branches down on South side of the house.
Branch down on power line on East side of the house.
More branches down on South side.
Fortunately, we did not have any damage to the house! Thank you Lord!
We were without power however and therefore had to stay at John and Jan's house for three nights. I am so thankful we had a warm place to go as it got quite chilly in our house. We were able to save most of our food by placing it all in the freezer and extra fridge in the garage. John brought in a generator to keep them running. Jan made some wonderful meals on the fly and entertained Jentry with all kinds of fun things. Stickers, crowns, finger puppets, dress up clothes, dolls, colors, books, bubbles....you name it. Jentry was in heaven!
John helped by holding the baby a lot, which I think was a real chore for him. :)
I thought clean up would take days, but I was shocked at how many people came to help. Jentry had plenty to watch out the window and had a tons of questions. I have a feeling she will remember this storm for quite some time. When she walked into her room she said, "You're right mom, my room does kinda look like a tornado." Finally, she gets it!
Nathan hauling the big tree down the street with the tractor.
Line to the city dump...took an hour to unload.
The dump filled quickly so this is a second tree pile in the school's parking lot. If you look closely, you can see Jan standing in front.
They have classified the tornado as an EF3. We were very fortunate to have only lost a few trees. No one was injured in the storm, however a few families lost their homes and farm steads north of town. Several businesses on main street also had extensive damage. It was definitely a Mother's Day I will never forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment