Friday, April 07, 2006
Dyer Emergency
Wow! This entire week has been extremely tough for everyone around here. On Sunday night, three F-3 tornadoes arrived in our area, mainly striking Dyer County, TN and Pemiscot County, MO. The death toll for Tennessee is 24 , the biggest tragedy ever for this area. I have been astounded with the survivor stories that I have heard. I've lost friends, friends have lost everything, so many tragic stories.
At our house in Halls (Lauderdale County), the lights went out for a few minutes. In the other areas it wasn't even raining, so quite a few people disregarded the weather report and tornado sirens. That was a common factor in a lot of the retelling of the events surrounding this sad event. One man just barely had time to hop into a bathtub at his house before a tornado went behind it. Entire house trailers just evaporated into thin air. Some of my friend's son's belonging were found in Rutherford, TN, about 50 miles away. One family, dubbed the "Miracle 6" survived in a basement bathroom of a house that only had cinder blocks standing. Another young family (father, boy 3, girl 5, and 6 months pregnant wife) crowded into a broom closet. The children's beds and boxsprings were swept out of the window, and two barns tore completely apart. Most people report hearing a train noise and some sort of whooshing sound against their house, maybe a little bit of backdraft from the tornado. That's an interesting question...do tornadoes have backdrafts? I guess I need to ask our resident meterorologist that one.
Some elderly people were killed. One woman tearfully reported that she tried to call this friend to warn her, but got no answer. She later found out that her friend's house had been hit and her body found underneath a pile of rubble. One woman's body was found quickly, but only because she died with a flashlight in her hand.
The funeral homes were full, and a temporary morgue had to be set up at Dyersburg Regional Medical Center. I was told that one of the small funeral homes had 10 bodies there all at once. Funerals are even being held at night, something that I have never heard of before.
My friends at Dyersburg Avionics of Caruthersville, MO had quite a bit of damage to the Caruthersville Airport. They have some pictures of damage to the airplanes on their website:
www.dyersburgavionics.com
Another great source for photos is from the National Weather Service website:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/meg/events/April2006/index.htm
One other website that has actual video footage is a TV station in Missouri website:
www.kfvs12.com
It will take a while for our area to recover, but the teamwork in rebuilding has been phenomenal. A barbeque team from Huish Detergents (manufacturer of Sun Detergents) raised over $15,000 in two days, and Huish Detergents matched the $15,000. The barbeque team ran out of food, and people still stood in line to donate money to the Red Cross. That's the awesome spirit of our Dyer County people.
These tornadoes have not happened to just the Newbern and surrounding areas. They have happened to all of us. Everything is connected. The Katrina disaster of last fall has actually made the work related to our newest tornado disaster just a little easier in some ways. People know how to react and understand that it is in giving from the heart that eases the pain of our hurts.
As a side note, 10 tornadoes also struck the Nashville area this afternoon, one flying over Jonathan and Keri's house. They are fine, but a cousin was killed in these storms when a building he was working on collapsed in the storms. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his young family.
At our house in Halls (Lauderdale County), the lights went out for a few minutes. In the other areas it wasn't even raining, so quite a few people disregarded the weather report and tornado sirens. That was a common factor in a lot of the retelling of the events surrounding this sad event. One man just barely had time to hop into a bathtub at his house before a tornado went behind it. Entire house trailers just evaporated into thin air. Some of my friend's son's belonging were found in Rutherford, TN, about 50 miles away. One family, dubbed the "Miracle 6" survived in a basement bathroom of a house that only had cinder blocks standing. Another young family (father, boy 3, girl 5, and 6 months pregnant wife) crowded into a broom closet. The children's beds and boxsprings were swept out of the window, and two barns tore completely apart. Most people report hearing a train noise and some sort of whooshing sound against their house, maybe a little bit of backdraft from the tornado. That's an interesting question...do tornadoes have backdrafts? I guess I need to ask our resident meterorologist that one.
Some elderly people were killed. One woman tearfully reported that she tried to call this friend to warn her, but got no answer. She later found out that her friend's house had been hit and her body found underneath a pile of rubble. One woman's body was found quickly, but only because she died with a flashlight in her hand.
The funeral homes were full, and a temporary morgue had to be set up at Dyersburg Regional Medical Center. I was told that one of the small funeral homes had 10 bodies there all at once. Funerals are even being held at night, something that I have never heard of before.
My friends at Dyersburg Avionics of Caruthersville, MO had quite a bit of damage to the Caruthersville Airport. They have some pictures of damage to the airplanes on their website:
www.dyersburgavionics.com
Another great source for photos is from the National Weather Service website:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/meg/events/April2006/index.htm
One other website that has actual video footage is a TV station in Missouri website:
www.kfvs12.com
It will take a while for our area to recover, but the teamwork in rebuilding has been phenomenal. A barbeque team from Huish Detergents (manufacturer of Sun Detergents) raised over $15,000 in two days, and Huish Detergents matched the $15,000. The barbeque team ran out of food, and people still stood in line to donate money to the Red Cross. That's the awesome spirit of our Dyer County people.
These tornadoes have not happened to just the Newbern and surrounding areas. They have happened to all of us. Everything is connected. The Katrina disaster of last fall has actually made the work related to our newest tornado disaster just a little easier in some ways. People know how to react and understand that it is in giving from the heart that eases the pain of our hurts.
As a side note, 10 tornadoes also struck the Nashville area this afternoon, one flying over Jonathan and Keri's house. They are fine, but a cousin was killed in these storms when a building he was working on collapsed in the storms. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his young family.
