Member-only story
The Day I Witnessed Mother Nature in All Her Fury
My home was scattered, but I was being built
“Ummm…daddy?!”, I shouted, through the roaring that had suddenly engulfed us. I stood frozen. I could only stare and point to the corner of our house where seconds before, our roof had been connected to the two walls below.
Several things happened at once. The wall clock was sucked up into the black abyss that hovered over us, my dad leapt from his recliner, broke into a full run, and screamed “get your brother!”. This was just before all of my senses were paralyzed as if I were underwater.
It was April 14, 1992. My little brother was barely walking and I was nine. It was a night of sporadic spring thunderstorms, not at all uncommon in the South. My family and I were home, going about our evening as usual. We had just eaten supper and were getting my clothes set out for school the next day.
Like everyone before the days of smartphones and weather alerts, we had our television tuned in to the local news channel. Our little area of the state was visible in the lower right corner of the screen and was lit up in yellows and reds.
I remember hearing the weatherman announce that the tornado watch for our county had just expired.
