Surviving The Tornado

Thursday night we survived a tornado. We knew severe storms were predicted so we were keeping watch on the clouds and channel 7 news. My brother called around 7:30 and said sirens were going off in Texarkana so I was watching that storm, keeping in contact with him and my dad who was fishing on DeQueen lake. We saw where channel 7 predicted the tornado at Mena and then it started focusing on the storm that was coming for Dierks.

We built a safe room in our house so I began to stock it with diapers, formula, toys, pillows, blankets, snacks, and drinks. I made the girls come in our bedroom because it was close to the safe room and a tv. Channel 7 was showing rotation close to our house and predicted it would hit Dierks at 8:32. Jeffrey looked at the screen and pointed to our house on the map which appeared to be right in the path. At that time the girls and I got in the safe room.

The phone lines were going crazy but I was able to talk to my dad who had found shelter at a neighbors house in town and my brother who was at this point clear from his storm.

Jeffrey was outside watching the clouds from our porch when he heard the tornado coming. He ran to the safe room and told me that I had to hear this. He lifted the window up in our bedroom and I could here it coming. It really does sound like the roar of a train! We both ran to the safe room because we really thought it was coming straight for our house. I told the girls to start praying. I called my brother and was able to get through at 8:36 and talked to him for 1 minute and 51 seconds. That was how long it lasted. I was crying telling him that it was coming for our house and that we could hear it. It sounded like hail was hitting our house at the time but it turned out to be debris from the tornado. The girls were scared to death poor things. Even the twins sensed that something was terribly wrong.

I knew at any moment I was going to hear the sound of glass breaking however thankfully it ended and I felt that my house had survived. My mom was able to get through at that time and let us know that we were in the clear because obviously we had lost power and were unable to get radio or tv.

We all walked outside to take a look around. About that time Jeffrey's parents drove up. They had been in DeQueen eating and had to stay in the bathroom at the restaurant. When they got to the house they were scared to death because they drove over a tree to get to us. They didn't know if it had hit our houses or not or if we were safe. I think they were never so glad to see us!

My dad and one of his friends drove up shortly after. They had driven over power lines to get to us.

We were all safe but the towns water supply building had been destroyed. It was a two story building and the top of the building had been blown away. It also hit the core office. All of this is about a 1/3 of a mile from our house! Several trees were blown down along with several power line poles.

Our trampoline didn't make it and one of the girls play house got blown up into the swing set. Amazingly our house was fine. Not a shingle was blown off. The girls and I decided that our prayers were answered!

My phone began to blow up. Several of my friends received word that the tornado had hit by our house and they were all checking to make sure we were safe. Thanks to everyone who thought of us and were concerned!

The town has now hooked into Nashville's rural water. Everyone is conserving water and praying that this lasts until something permanent can be done with the town's supply. We got our electricity back on last night and our well is working so our household is back to normal.

The schools were out Friday and they are going to be out Monday as well due to the water situation. Hopefully the kids can get back in school soon so they won't have to go into the summer.

Our town is extremely blessed that the tornado missed the town. It hit all around and was rated a F3 tornado. I honestly have never been so scared in my life.....