Life + Lens: Around the Block

This month's theme for my Life + Lens blog circle is Around the Block.  At first, I had this plan to use the book How to Be an Explorer of the World and explore some of the countryside with Holden out here by our house--we don't really have a "block" here, but there is much to be discovered out here in this beautiful countryside.

My plans changed when a tornado struck our area, very close to home. Close enough that fragments of my neighbors' homes and lives were scattered across the field just behind our house.

We had plenty of warning, as I had been obsessively paying attention to the weather reports. I take a TORCON of 9 very seriously.  My family packed up and headed to my sister's house in Loogootee for the day, where she has a comfy basement. At first it was pretty relaxing, until the Weather Channel (not a local channel!) zoomed into the area just north of Decker, Indiana. Tornado on the ground, heading straight for our area. My mom, dad, brother, and nephew Jackson were all at home (both my parents & brother live by us) and needless to say, I burst into tears and sent them panicked texts to warn them.

Thankfully, I heard from my mom after a few minutes. Our houses were unharmed. My dad's shed lost a big chunk of its roof.

When we finally heard from my brother, Terry, that's when it started to sink in how we narrowly escaped this disaster. He and my nephew Jackson saw the tornado approaching and had no choice but to dive into their newly dug basement--they were down in the ground, but completely unprotected from debris. My brother said, "I looked up and I could see it right over us. If it had dipped down any lower, all of our houses would be gone."  Our homes were literally just on the edge of the tornado.

It completely wiped out some of our neighbors' houses, just across the field. One of the homes belonged to Angie Abel, a mother of three. The entire family of five was home at the time, and they weren't able to reach their basement, due  to the pressure from the fast-approaching tornado holding their garage door shut. Angie says, "Dereck tried to bust the door down and couldn't. He turned and looked at me and I knew by the look on his face we were in trouble. All 5 of us were huddled on the 4 concrete steps when the tornado hit, exploding the garage and throwing all of us into the door, laying entangled in the door frame and steps."

Her family held onto each other for dear life, literally, as the eye of the tornado ripped directly through their home. It lifted them into the air, which seemed to last for an eternity but was only seconds. Somehow, they made it out alive with only minor injuries.

This is what remains of their home.

The Abel family was huddled together on those steps on the left.  As you can see, the garage they were in is gone. "The first responders who arrived within minutes, checked us all out and were dumbfounded we had only minor injuries. The garage and everything in it was across the field. There was no roof, windows busted out and trees through every room."

Just across the street, another house was completely destroyed--only this one had not even a single wall left standing. I don't know anything about this family, but I can imagine they are experiencing much heartbreak right now. There was nothing left.

Across the highway, some homes in the St. Thomas area were destroyed, too. I didn't get many pictures there because I haven't been back since the day after the tornado hit, and I didn't want to gawk or intrude. As you can see, the EF2 tornado was strong enough to flip a semi.

Back at home, we had just a little bit of a mess to clean up. Like I said, my dad's shed lost part of its roof, and our Willow tree had a quite a few limbs down. We went around and picked up the pieces of siding, metal, and insulation in our field that came from our neighbor's houses.

I feel incredibly guilty when I express relief that our houses were unscathed. I know our home would not have withstood an EF2 tornado if it had hit us directly. I can't help but wonder, "What if?"  What if it had just been a few hundred feet closer? Would my parents, brother, and nephew still be alive? Would I have a house left?

I can't even begin to imagine what these families went through. I'm so glad there weren't any major injuries. The community has really reached out to help out in so many ways, including this GoFundMe page for the Abel family. Please stop by and donate, if you can.

Also, if anybody know of anything set up to make donations to the other families affected by the Knox County tornadoes, please let me know and I will add it to this post!

 

Please continue onto Nicole's take on the Around the Block theme here! ♥

 All images in this blog post are copyrighted. Do not publish these images without permission from the photographer, Katie Cawood.