We were watching "Storm Stories" tonight and pictures were shown of the mobile home park in Andover, Kansas in the 90's when we lived in the area. We didn't live in the park but two ladies, Betty and ?, walked out of their homes with the clothes on their backs. That was the last they would see of their homes and their possessions. It was especially sad for Betty because she was a great seamstress and made all of her own things so they were really irreplaceable. They were from our church and walked over to other friends from the church. While they all sat in the basement of that home, the Mendoza's home above the basement was also carried away.
They were all thankful to be safe but 19 people did lose their lives.
Even though the tornado touched down within a mile or two of us, our main remembrance of it is crouching down under the couch in the basement of our tri-level house with our young kids at the time, wondering if we were better off there or under the shelf in the toy closet of the basement.
We weren't quite as fortunate when the hailstorm hit the Chilton to Manitowac area. Katie was returning from her Spring semester from college. She came home to see a home that looked like it had been fired upon by a BB gun all across the front. Our bay window and roof were destroyed and glass shattered throughout the house from all of our front windows. The roof was also shot (but we were going to need one soon anyway).
I was working at school about a half hour away when the sky got very dark and the storm hit. Tom and our little black Cocker, Sadie, headed to the basement. Sadie ran back up but Tom knew not to go up after her (She was fine.). I happened to be subbing for another teacher that afternoon when Tom called. I headed home as soon as possible but it took more than an hour as the police were keeping traffic to a minimum in the area.
A lot of people needed repairs but no one was hurt. Tom called Bob Berres, our friend in construction, right away which put us to the front of the list for repairs. Our insurance company was great, covering our damages well, even replacing the dining room floor, which had hidden glass that came to the surface and ruined it months later. Our friends from Kansas had given us a special clock when we moved to Wisconsin, and it hung without breaking in our living room where everything else had shattered, so we all thought that was great.
So we survived just fine. I think those were a lot easier than some of the emotional ones we have somehow endured:).
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