This Week @ the Ricks' Home

Monday and Tuesday just disappear in my mind when I think back over this week and the days have just blurred together since Wednesday. As most of you know, we experienced devastating tornadoes Wednesday. The day started earlier than expected when we were awakened by tornado sirens around 6am. We jumped out of bed and turned on the computer to find out all the information we could. I didn't want to wake the kids and drag them to a safe spot if it wasn't necessary. Luckily for us, the severe weather was way south of us. We also noticed that schools were delayed by a few hours and severe storms were in the forecast for the rest of the day. The meteorologists weren't exaggerating. Storms were rolling in around 9:30am. Soon the sirens were going off again, so we all grabbed our pillows and comforters and crammed into our pantry. It is the only room downstairs with more than one interior wall, the safest place in our home during a tornado. Around 11am our power went out. I went upstairs to look out our windows to get a look at the weather, since we had no power. It wasn't raining yet but the clouds were really interesting. I decided to take some photos real quick.





You can't see in the photo that the clouds are being pulled into each other. I took pictures until it started feeling really weird. The feeling freaked me out so I shut the window and ran downstairs. Right after I closed the window rain started pouring, then it started hailing. Hail about the size of a quarter. When the hail stopped it was completely calm again. I opened the front door and grabbed two pieces of hail. One for Gavin and one for Jordan. They were super cool looking. A white ball in the center with a clear outer layer. It wasn't smooth, it felt similar to a golf ball. We put them in the freezer to keep them. (So sad they are now melted in our freezer after almost 4 days of no power.) John and I were messaging back and forth. While we were in the pantry, John was at work in the conference room on the bottom floor waiting for the all clear. He told me a wave of really bad tornadoes were expected in the evening. I wrote back, "You'll be home before then, right?" He ended up heading home around 3pm. Since our power was already out, he picked up pizza for dinner. On his way home he was detoured because of powerlines and trees already down. It took almost an hour longer for him to get home. As we were eating dinner, a friend called to let us know a tornado was heading our way and expected  to be over us in 5 minutes. We were so thankful she called because we had no idea since our power was out. We all took our plates to the pantry. John headed out the front door to see what he could see. I told him he should go upstairs and get a better look. From our window we watched as the clouds came together. This was taken at 3:57pm. No black cloud touching the ground.

Here's another photo taken just a minute later at 3:58pm.

You could hear a deep roaring sound, just like everyone who has experienced a tornado discribes.
As almost an after thought my husband pulled out his phone to record the tornado as it went past.


Here's the view from the other window. The tornado is no longer visible, but the rain is outrageous.


 Terrifying yet at the same time it was almost comforting. We knew that we were ok, the tornado was going to miss us! John reassured the kids that we were safe then we said a prayer as a family for those in the path of the tornado. During this time the cellphone towers were destroyed and cellphones weren't working very well. John remembered his cellphone can be used as a FM radio using earphones as the antenna so we were able to listen to our news station. We learned the local radar was damaged so the news stations had to rely on other sources for the radar information. Then with all the power outages the tornado sirens no longer worked. A main line from TVA to power all of Huntsville was damaged. Power would be out for days. Soon my friend called, but our call was dropped. At least we were able to find out each was safe. Finally, my family got through on John's cellphone. They had been trying to get ahold of us for a while. They were very worried because on the news the path of the tornado was headed for the elementary school we can see from our upstairs window. It was nice to find out all of my family members were safe. Finally, the all clear was given around 8:30pm.
Once all the flashlights, lanterns, and candles were out, it was very dark. John and I laid in bed listening to the news over the radio until we fell asleep. So much destruction! All through the night we heard emergency vehicle sirens.
The next day we decided to take my mom up on her offer and go stay at my parents during the power outage. We packed up the van and headed toward TN. Luckily, our path out of town skipped most of the heavily damaged areas. Though, we were not expecting the traffic we ran into. It was practically at a standstill for an hour. All of the gas stations were packed and some were already running out of gas. When we finally made it to our exit miles away from AL, cars were parked up the ramp waiting to get gas.


We watched the news constantly. Hardly believing the photos of destruction we were seeing on TV were actually photos of our community. Photos of neighborhoods and buildings we drive by everyday, just piles of rubble. Feeling so lucky that our neighborhood was spared.
Power was out for around 160,000 customers in our area and expected to be out for about a week. Saturday we decided to go check on our home (I worried about looters) and to pick up some church clothes so we could attend church in my parents ward. While we were there we wanted to help our neighbors that had lost everything. You have to register and wear armbands to work in the destroyed areas so we headed over to the civic center. The line was so long you couldn't even get into the parking lot. We were glad to see so many wanted to help but it would take hours to get armbands. Instead we tried calling a friend to meet up and help in an area she was already working but I wasn't able to reach her. We drove through the area looking for our friends with no luck. So we decided to go check on a few families in our ward just to make sure they were well and didn't need anything. Our hearts ached to see what so many in our community lost.
Here's some photos I snapped as we passed by.


This used to be Piggly Wiggly.


I took a Google Earth map and marked our home, the path I think the tornado took, and put a star where I took the photos. Number one is the first photo and number two is Piggly Wiggly. All the neighborhoods in the path are just piles of wood and debris, with a few homes still standing. Power lines and trees are down everywhere. It is astounding that so many came away unharmed! We are so thankful our friends in the neighborhoods that were hit are safe. From what I've heard, everyone in our stake is safe and accounted for. Homes may be damaged, but everyone is alright. Amazing!


Having a smart phone was so useful this week. Facebook was how we received most of our information and how we found out which of our friends were safe even without landline phone service or electricity.

Sunday we enjoyed attending church in my parents ward. After church we had friends over for spaghetti and cookie dessert. It was exactly what we needed, church and spaghetti (just like every Sunday) and friends to help us forget our worries for a while.

We are glad that we could hang out at my parents for most of the week. Many of our friends went to visit family and friends in surrounding states. Lots of friends now have power, but not our area yet. There is talk of power coming back on tomorrow or the next day. It will seem odd to get back to a normal routine after the distress of this week. I can only imagine the sense of confusion for those you lost everything. How do you go back to work and school when you have no home, no clothes, no belongings? It seems like the world should just pause for a while.

This week @ the Ricks home we are feeling grateful that we were not in the path of the tornado and mournful for those who lost loved ones, homes, everything. So thankful our story for this week has a happy ending unlike so many others!