In March 2006, my city was hit with 2 F2 tornadoes in one night. The first one danced all around my apartment building. Terrified isn't a good enough description for what me and my sons were feeling.
After the first one tore through, there was word that another was heading our way, so after checking on my brother (who slept through the first and planned to sleep through the next) in his basement apartment, we hit the road across town to my Dad's. The house I grew up in and the house I always feel safe.
Well, little did I know that Dad's house was indirectly in the path of #2. Given the choice though, 2nd floor of a 3 floor building or a brick house with a basement? Yeah, I chose brick.
Anyway, in the days after the tornadoes, the city looked like a war zone and power was out to most of the residences but who I work for NEVER closes and life goes on. I wasn't wasting my vacation days on something everyone was experiencing. So I washed in cold water, dressed in wrinkled clothes and took my ass to work, where we had half power (we were housed in the same building as the police dept).
A block over from my Dad's
I didn't have much damage at home at all considering a bike trail separates my complex and the area that was worst hit. I just had no power. Oh, and the day after these tornadoes, it snowed.
Anyway, we pulled out all the sleeping bags, comforters and long underwear we could find and made it work. Guess what? We survived.
I found a Walgreen's with extra flashlights and candles and we lived on PBJ and canned fruit and whatever snacks we found for almost a week. Yeah, the stores were open and running on backup generators, but if you didn't have cash, you were shit outta luck. No ATM's, no cell phone service, no swiping your debit or credit for payment.
The other side of the bike trail
No hot water, no electricity period, but we made it work. We talk about how we'd never survive without the microwave, but here we were surviving without the microwave, without the stove, without tv, radio, heat or hot water.
This was only a temporary thing for us, but when I went to Jamaica this past June, I realized that electricity is a commodity that we are blessed to have.
So the next time you find yourself without power, just suck it up, keep it moving and thank God it's not a way of life for you.
My photos of the tornado damage of 2006 are here
