F3

On April 3, 2012 and F3 tornado hit our little town. 

Here is how I recall it:

My friend Sara and I were at home baking that day (bran muffins - hundreds of them!) Both of our husbands called to ask us about the weather - they both work outside of Forney and were unaware of the clear skies that we had. They both reported that storms were coming in quickly but we thought that they were silly because everything looked fine from my house. 

Maggie had come home on a break from school and reported that as she was out driving, she saw nothing ominous either. She went back to school with no fear. 

About an hour after those phone calls, Tim called me from school saying that he needed my permission to walk home. This was very unusual - the principal was holding everyone who walked or was bussed. All of our local schools were locking down because of the weather reports (which I hadn't heard yet).

I gave my permission, as I am just down the street from the elementary. Once Tim arrived, he said that the skies were turning dark and the air felt heavy - so I turned on the news. 

About that time, Tommy called and asked me to pull the Yukon into the garage in case of hail. Our garage is always full of bikes, a drum set, kids toys, etc - so tim and I set to work making room for the car. Just as we got it pulled in, I hear the sirens in town go off. I ran in to hear the television reporter say "Tornado has just touched down in Forney". 

So I open my back door and there it is! VERY SCARY!!! 

The reporter states "Forney high school has been hit." I'm pretty sure my heart stopped, as Maggie was in there! Tim immediately dropped to his knees and began to pray out loud for his sisters safety. 

In an effort to keep him calm - futile I should say, as he was already pretty hysterical - I usher him and the pets into the bathroom and we says a quiet prayer. 

I then try to call Maggie & my husband and find I have no service. Knowing that my neighbor has  a different provider than I do, I run next door to borrow his phone. The skies are a strange yellowy, greenish, grey color and it is lightly misting. I still can't get through, so I call my mom.

 I was pretty calm until I heard her voice - then I lost it! I asked her to say a prayer and told her I would have to call her back. 

Then, my other neighbors son drives past - he says he is going to drive around to find the tornado (crazy) so I ask him to let me know what the high school looks like. He came back quickly to report that it was fine, but raining REALLY hard over the school - strange because it is probably only a mile down the street and I still have only mist! 

About 10 minutes later, I finally contact Tommy who says he is headed home. At this point, the tornado has skipped all over town - leveling houses, picking up people and vehicles and tossing them around. About an hour later, I hear from Maggie. It turns out that her school was NOT hit and they were just on lockdown. Her dance class was ushered from the football field practice to another room which has glass walls - dumb - and she watched as the storm raged and bowed those glass walls. She said she was more fascinated than frightened. Thats because she isn't a mom yet! 

We ended up getting a bit of rain, but not much. 

The whole town was pretty much shut down by nightfall. The hardest neighborhood hit was inaccessible due to emergency workers. Thankfully none was killed, but you would never know it by looking at the devastation the tornado left behind. Parts of our town looked like a war zone. 

The next morning, I was asked by our local newspaper to photograph the aftermath. Once I showed my credentials, I was allowed in to the hardest hit neighborhood. I will never forget it. The silence was so unsettling. As the sun came up, no birds were chirping, no people moving. There was no power, so there wasn't even the sound of air conditioners humming. Cars were flipped, several of them stuck into second stories of houses. Foundations were left where homes once stood. I was amazed at how precise the damage was - for example, the whole house may be gone except for a bathroom wall with the sink and mirror still intact and unharmed. I could track the tornados path simply by following the marks it left on the ground - only a few feet wide - it looked like someone had run through the neighborhood with a tiller!

As I walked through each street, residents who had chosen to stay began coming out to survey the damage. No one spoke.Everyone was in shock. It was like we were all zombies! I was sick with sadness, but fascinated at the same time. I have never seen anything like it and I sure hope I never do again.

We met a young girl who reported that she had hidden under her bed upstairs because she was alone. She pointed to the space where her top floor bedroom had been. There was nothing there. She said it took her room and everything in it, but left her laying on the floor! 

I heard several stories like that - I wish I had recorded all of them. 

Notice the car in the front door!

This car was thrown into a field about a mile behind the elementary school. The lady who drove it pulled up to get her child from school and was rushed in and made to get down just as the tornado hit. Once students and staff were released, she went outside to find her car missing. She eventually saw it on the news that night!

Thats a fence post lodged into the windshield. This was a common sight - lots of posts sticking out of  sides of houses - stuck in the bricks!