Day of the Twisters

I have often reflected on why I am so afraid of and fascinated by tornadoes. I decided that it is probably because back in 3rd grade we read a book called Night of the Twisters at school. It is quite a scary/exciting book--and maybe that is when the fear/fascination was born. But anyway, Wednesday was our very own Day of the Twisters here in Illinois.

The National Weather Service completed a survey of the area yesterday and determined that we were actually hit by three separate tornadoes Monday afternoon. The first one was an EF1 that hit southwest of Loami. The second tornado, which hit Loami, was rated an EF2. The Loami tornado then lifted off the ground, traveled over Springfield, and then formed into a third tornado--an EF--which hit Williamsville. The EF3 tornado stayed on the ground for almost 25 miles, and at one point was a half mile in diameter! The maximum wind speed was 140 mph. A few people are still in the hospital, but luckily they think everyone will be okay. These pictures are of the tornado before it hit Loami.

And here is all that is left of my favorite antique mall, Route 66 Antiques, in Williamsville. I drove past it today, and it is literally just a pile of rubble. They had so much cool stuff there! I can't believe that it is now just scattered all over who knows where. There was also a Casey's gas station next to the antique mall that was demolished--all that is left is the sign. What a terrible storm. I don't like tornadoes, nor will I ever be able to get used to them as many of the locals are. A lot of people I've talked to say, "Oh, it's just normal; no big deal." I say there isn't anything normal about it!

My least favorite sound is a tornado siren--nothing makes my stomach churn quite like that droning noise, but I am grateful for tornado sirens nonetheless. We are very blessed these days to have such high-tech, well-monitored radar systems that can detect even the slightest rotation in any storm. The tornado warning was issued for our county about 15 minutes before the storm even arrived, so if people will actually heed the warnings, then there is plenty of time to take cover.