So, some of you may (or may not have) heard that we had three tornados touch down all within 2 miles of us here in Portland early this morning.
The first touched down 1/2 a mile away and luckily did minor damage to houses and landscapes etc.
The second touched down one mile away in an open field behind some of our friend's houses.
The third touched down two miles away and caused damage to houses.
Luckily no major injuries or deaths.
A couple of things disturb me though...
- We did not hear the siren. Both Storm and I were awake as the girl's had just woken up and come into bed with us. They have a real fear of thunderstorms and seem to sense when one is about to happen and have no hesitation in letting us know that it's time to come into mummy and daddy's bed. Needless to say I do not sleep very well at all when they are in bed with us. Guaranteed I will have a dodgy neck the next morning so it really has to be a good reason for them to be in bed with us.
- We were extremely vulnerable this morning and did not have a radio playing to know what was going on. We thought it was just a bad storm that was going to blow over really quickly. Little did we know that there was serious flooding, tornados and blocked roads everywhere. School was also cancelled in the area and when there was a lull in the weather we actually got in the car to take the kids to school. It was only once we were on the road that we heard the radio announcements with more tornado warnings. Luckily we were able to make it home before the second wave of storms hit.
- 14 inches of rain in less than a 12 hour period caused a few failings in the sunroom's roof but we've figured out a way to fix it but had to cope with some minor flooding and leaks.
I have piccies from our drive around town this morning. Unfortunately, they're on the other computer and you'll just have to wait for me to get some time at the PC to upload them.
Anyway, this was my closest encounter with a tornado and that's the way I want it to stay. No more encounters ok?
On another note it's 4 more sleeps until my mum gets here and four more sleeps until Storm leaves with the dogs to drive up to Simpsonville. It's also one week to the day that Storm flies home from Simpsinville and two weeks until our first full day at the new house.
Exciting but oh, so stressful. So much to do and I am so thankful to have my mum here to help!
