Friday, April 4, 2008

Life on the Wild Side!

Yesterday was not a pleasant time to live in Arkansas. We had been warned from midday that severe weather was expected later in the day. I got busy doing something and did not have the TV or the radio on so I was alerted at about 9:00 p.m. by a phone call from a weather alert service provided by a local TV station that we were under a Tornado Warning and should take cover.

I quickly grabbed the portable radio, Bella's carry case, my purse and a telephone and we piled into the walk in closet in the guest room. It is the most inside room in the house and hence the safest place to ride it out. I have a stool in there and lots of pillows, blankets, etc. that are stored there. I put Bella in her carry case and we got set to wait it out. For the non-cat people reading this, cats freak out when their house blows away around them and frequently are never found, so I wanted to be sure she was closed up. The thunder got closer and closer and there was one particularly close lightening/thunder episode and then it was over and on its way toward JW and her family. I was not too worried about them, they have a safe room in the garage and use it when necessary. It was a little scary when I heard that the storm was moving right up route 107 which goes by their house.

Right at the end of our storm, the lights went out and that was when I discovered that in my haste I had forgotten to bring a flashlight with me. So we sat in the total dark for a few minutes. I felt a little pat on my ankle and put my hand down and Bella had her front paw stuck out through the grille door on her case and was patting me.

When we came out and I turned the TV on, I found out that there was significant damage in a neighborhood very close to my cousin and I called them to be sure they were okay.

I also discovered on the TV that the storm that had just gone by us was out in front of the main squall line and we had more coming in another hour of so. In fact, it was after midnight before things calmed down enough that I felt comfortable in getting undressed and going to bed. Then just before 5:00 this morning I was waked up by the sound of thunder and we had another little session.

We had 3 inches of rain in my area, and a lot fell on those areas of the state that are already under water. There was significant damage in a bedroom community about 20 miles to the west of Little Rock and in a neighborhood in Little Rock fairly close in. But thankfully no serious injuries or deaths. That can be attributed in a large part to the fact that the radio and TV stations do such a good job of warning people.

So since March 1, Arkansas weather has been:

Tornado
Ice Storm
Snow Storm
Snow Storm
Flood
Tornado.

Makes me wonder why I live here--but not for long. Mild winters, long hot summers, warm, welcoming, friendly people, low housing cost, a growing economy, and a dropping unemployment rate. I could do a lot worse!

2 comments:

Sherry said...

So glad you and Bella are OK! The storms are heading our direction tonight. I need to check and see how bad they're predicting it will get before we go to bed so we can be prepared.

Sherry

Anonymous said...

I'm relieved you're all OK.