I don't have a photo of it - not from a camera, but in my mind, it's there. Picture this: we were driving my daughter and her boyfriend back from the shopping center to his home to drop him off after 9:00 p.m. when the mall closed.
It was storming. Bad. We knew that earlier in the day, there had been tornado watches in the Greater Kansas City area. Suddenly as we neared his home, it got very dark (and it was already dark) but big rippling lightening shot across the sky. His Mother called, and said, "Get home quick, there is a tornado warning - a funnel spotted at 150 highway."
My husband is NEVER afraid of storms. He said, "Don't worry, that's not headed in our direction." Mere minutes later, when we reached Lake Jacomo spillway at Colburn Road, we stopped at a stoplight, some lightening lit up the entire sky and I saw it - a big funnel cloud - and it was WIDE. It wasn't touching the ground, was about halfway down from the sky toward the ground but it was big, dark and backlit from the lightening, and being directly in front of us, was one of the single scariest moments of my life. Bobby turned to me, touched my knee, and said, "This isn't good."
"You saw it, didn't you?" I whispered, not wanting to frighten Emily, still sitting in the back seat. He shook his head "yes." A few seconds later, when the sky lit up again and hail started coming down, we both agreed it was definitely . . . a big frigg'n funnel cloud.
We were right at the spillway, and torrents of rain were pounding down so hard we couldn't see. I said my prayers.
I honestly didn't think we'd make it home. If that thing had pulled down from the sky, it would have been bad. Nowhere to pull over, no bridge or underpass, and we were in a low area where water collects. Shit.
We are fine, we made it home, and I honestly don't know and don't CARE if there's hail damage on my car or not. I'm just glad we're home and safe. Whew! It happened nearly two hours ago, but I'm still freaked out.
I know what a damned funnel looks like. I spent every summer in southeastern Kansas where many tornadoes came by. I also lived through a really bad storm where 2 trees went through the first house I rented as a 21 year old girl. But this was scarier. Everyone I loved was in the car.
Whew. That's all I can say. Thank you. We're fine.
10 comments:
Wow! I am very very glad you are safe. You got my heart rate up just reading your story. I personally am fascinated with storms and their power. Amazing!
Oh man! I'm so glad you all are ok! See, I'm also glad I didn't know you guys were out in that. My sister, Steph, was at Belton when the tornado touched down near road Y and 151st street.
We're not out of the woods just yet. Let's hope the next round of storms are highly overrated. :)
Ack! I'm glad you know they're all safe.
I sure am glad to be here reading about it after it happened.
Hugs,
Lynn
I grew up in North central Iowa where tornados frequent every summer. I always thought that their destruction was the wrath of God's anger. I have been through 3 such storms and could happily spent the rest of my life without experiencing another. I'm very thankful that you and your loved ones are ok. You must be livin' right. Hugs, Shelly
How scary! I'm glad you all are okay!
Wow, that must have been scary. I remember spending many hours under the basement stairs as a child in Ohio, waiting for the storms to pass. Thankfully we don't get much tornado action up here in Michigan.
Glad you're safe.
OHMIGOD! I'm so glad you guys are safe. It must have been terrifying!
So glad you are all safe and sound. One of the tornados that touched down in the northland, hit my brother-in-law's old neighborhood. He use to live on Donnely drive and his old house has two holes in the roof. I was home alone last night when the sirens went off...it was scary. I'm glad you all are safe and sound and had the clarity to write about your experience. I don't think I would. This is an experience you will not forget.
Thanks for the kind thoughts, everyone. Yes, I seriously felt lucky ALL DAY yesterday after experiencing that scare on Thursday night. Then those poor folks in Arkansas had a HORRIBLE time and several deaths.
Punkybean, didn't you have tornados or threats of them yesterday?
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