Friday, April 30, 2010

our night during the storm

I was going to write this on facebook but it's too long so here's a blog for you.

Today Jason, Aedan and myself went to our friend Mandie's house on base so we could do some painting. It started storming really bad and eventually the sirens went off and they announced over the loud speaker that tornadoes were expected and to take shelter immediately. So all 5 of us plus Mandie's cat and dog and a crib mattress hung out in her bathroom for most of the evening. The lightning and thunder was non stop, it was raining really hard and hailing in some parts and the streets looked like rivers and tornadoes were being sighted around the area.

We had ordered pizza earlier, and to our amazement the delivery guy still delivered our pizza in the middle of the tornado warning. He informed us that his brother's house had been hit and no one knew if he survived or not, and they weren't going to let him get off work to go find out! We wished the hardcore pizza guy luck, then we proceeded to enjoy the pizza in the bathroom till we thought it was safe to head home. We got in the car and after realizing the intensity of the storm and hearing the announcements on the radio we decided to stay at Mandie's a little longer even though it was getting really late. Jason made me laugh when he said "Our house better not be destroyed because I just bought Poptarts."
So after it finally seemed to die down, we started heading home for real.. when the sirens went off again. So we decided better safe than sorry, and took shelter at the base gate (where people without military ids get temporary passes). There were quite a few other people in there waiting out the storm, some of which had seen the car in front of them get totaled by a deer and sent the deer flying into the air. As if the night wasn't interesting enough, a fight then proceeded to break out in the parking lot between a very angry taxi driver and a drunk guy. Jason tried to calm the Taxi driver down by apologizing for the drunk man's actions, explaining that not all Airmen were like him. Which seemed to work because then the Taxi driver complimented our baby. :p

After that excitement died down we drove home, while on the way witnessing the biggest streak of lightning we'd ever seen in our lives. We were thankful the roads weren't overly flooded and were able to get home safely. I hear there's been at least 1 fatality and 25 injured in this storm, so say a prayer for them.

Since living in Arkansas two things I've learned is that when it rains, it POURS.. and that since no one seems to have basements in this state it would be a really smart idea to build a storm shelter. I wonder how much they cost? That's all for now.