Thursday was quite a day! My husband and I had planned to go to Illinois to see my daughters and grandson--we had everything ready to go (found someone to watch our house, talked with my husband's employer and had everything packed but a few extra clothes)...woke up Thursday morning and started making coffee. I noticed that the water pressure was extremely low, so I used our bottled water instead, thinking maybe something was just clogged. My husband got up and tried to unclog the filters in both the kitchen sink and the bathroom to no avail. We thought maybe it would be better as the day went on (sometimes, living in a rural area and sharing a well, the pressure isn't what it could be), but as the day went on it got worse. I wanted to throw some clothes in the washer to clean so we could take them with on the trip, but...just a trickle!! My husband and I knew we had to find out how to take care of it, but since our neighbor who we share the well with was gone, we spoke with the person watching their house, and he offered to see if he could find someone to fix it......................well, it's Friday and guess what? FINALLY have water pressure! As if that wasn't the topper, there was the weather...
In the afternoon, we started hearing warnings on the radio and saw the path of the storm on the television. It started around 4 or 5 and by 6 we were in a full blown thunderstorm with a tornado watch. The thunder grew louder and the lightening was a bright spot in the sky every few minutes. The sounds were much like the fourth of July, without pretty colors...the wind, rain and then the hail...the thunder changed in sound and became just a rolling thunder (much like a freight train)..we heard the sirens and I knew the tornado was upon us. We don't have a basement so we crouched on the floor with our animals crowded around us. After some time, amid the thunder and the lightening and the rain, it grew quiet. Deathly still. The rumbling sounds were closer and suddenly we were enclosed in dark-the power had gone out, so now we had nothing...no radio, no lights, nothing. After it finally calmed down, we got up, gathered some candles and sat at the table in the dark, looking at the lightening still flashing outside, and then we started to see cars, many of them, driving down our street. We saw a firetruck with firemen, and the firemen were actually checking on all of us to see if we were okay. They did house checks on everyone in our small town to make sure all were accounted for, and it was such a great feeling to know there were people who wanted to check on you, to make sure you were okay. It was much later and then my husband suggested we start up the generator (we have a small one that can power up necessities) so we did, and after about a half an hour (this is in the early mornings) the lights finally came on, and we were finally able to go to bed to rest...
The next morning, pictures of the tornadoes (all over Minnesota) were devastating. We had branches and trees down in our area, but nothing like the horrendous pictures we saw in other areas. I was grateful we survived, but felt for the others who had lost their homes, and saying prayers for those who did not make it out of this tremendous storm. All said, I read that there were more than 60 sightings of tornadoes in our state. All over the state, and in Southern MN there was a large cluster. We did make it through, and will continue on and take care of what we have to..
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