Hey friends and family! Thank you for all of your supportive calls, texts, and concern for us the last 48 hours. What a crazy day Wednesday was! It all started around 9:00 a.m Wednesday morning when the first storm passed through. I was sitting at my desk getting started for the day, reading emails, when our emergency alarms in the building started going off and the an announcement (from a very nervous sounding man, I might add) came on saying a tornado had been spotted close to downtown Chattanooga and we all needed to take cover immediately. We all looked at each other confused and then closed our workstations down and went into the interior hallways and stairwells (away from windows) as we were trained as kids in school during tornado drills. It only lasted about 15 minutes and the intercom came back on telling us that the storm had passed. Being in such a large building (we have over 3000 employees) we were very unaware (outside of catching glances of the windows to see the sheets of rain pouring down outside) of the impact. The tornados had touched down a few miles from where I was and headed northeast...here are a few pictures of what it left behind.
Lookout Valley Barber Shop
Lookout Valley park
Thank the Lord, Spencer and the girls were far enough away from where the tornados touched down that morning that they barely felt any of the effects...a few high winds and a little rain.
We all knew from hearing the weather reports that morning that there was a second storm system moving through later that day that was supposed to be worse than the first. With that in mind, all of the area schools let out around noon so that all of the kids could get home before the second storm system was supposed to move through, starting around 2:00 p.m. The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful really, we had a little bit of dark clouds and some rain but nothing major, around 4:30 when I was packing up to go home, I thought we had made it through the worst of the day and this second storm was going to pass by without a hitch. So I got home safely, we had dinner and talked about the interesting morning we had at work, and then put the girls to bed around 8:00. Spencer and I got in bed to read and watch American Idol, just relax. By that time, we could not get access to any of our 3 local new channels so I was flipping to the weather channel and noticed it was flashing a "tornado warning" for Ringgold, GA. And being that I have lived through a tornado before (when I lived in Helena, AL) I knew not to take chances, especially with the girls, so I made Spencer get up and we got the girls up out of bed and all snuggled on the couch in the basement together for about 20 minutes before our power went out. It still didn't seem too bad outside, the rain was coming down pretty hard, but it didn't seem too dangerous, so about 30 min later we put the girls back to bed and went to bed ourselves, not knowing that during that exact time the tornados that hit Ringgold were tearing through the town at that time. We live about 5 miles outside of downtown Ringgold, and as I layed down in bed that night, I opened the blinds on the window by my bed so I could watch the trees in our backyard sway back and forth in the heavy winds and rain, worried that one of them might coming falling down on the house, specifically where the girls were sleeping. Being that we had no power or phones working, we had no idea what was really happening outside, other than the scary sight we saw from our windows that night. Sometime around 2:30 a.m. our power came back on...a miracle in itself.
Aerial view of Ringgold High School
Ringgold Shell Station
The next morning was somewhat of a blur. I woke up to get ready for work, being that I looked outside and didn't seem to see any damage to our neighborhood or house. I turned on the radio as I was putting my make-up on and the DJ was naming off all the school closings and then he stopped at Catoosa County (where we live) and said "please do not go near Ringgold this morning, it has been declared an emergency, all exits and entrances have been closed". That was all I knew...didn't know what had happened, but knew that Spencer's family lived in Ringgold too and closer to town! I tried turning on the news but our cable was still out (and still is) so I finished getting ready and told Spencer I was going to try to drive down to Ringgold before going in to work to see if his mom and mamaw were ok. Before driving down I called them, not knowing if any phones were working yet, but thankfully was able to reach Darlene, his mom. She said they were blocked in their home, the end of their street was blocked by police officers and they weren't allowed to go into town at all. She said she was able to see and talk to a few people who said everything around the interstate was destroyed. We've still not been able to see any of the damage to our beloved little town...they are still not letting anyone but emergency crews in. Here are a few pictures we've retrieved online. Pray for the families who have been hurt, affected by this terrible storm...as of this morning, there are still 65000 people without power, and residence of Ringgold have no clean water (glad I was able to get some at the store before it all was bought!). I think so far around 30 people have been reported killed by the storms in our area alone...more in Alabama I believe.
It really made the situation real when I got into work yesterday morning and had an email message from a co-worker whose home had been completely destroyed, they were basically homeless. Here is the picture they sent us! God willing, they were not able to get home that evening and were forced to stay with some neighbors becuase the storm had already progessed and it was too dangerous to drive...a major incovenience that saved their lives! Just a reminder of how God still performs miracles. Here is a picture they took of their home Thurs morning just as the sun rose...
We love you all and thanks again for your calls and support and love for us! We were definitely some of the luckier ones!
