I'm back...
I'm back...
Hello, All,
First of all, I just want to thank all of you for your care and concern on this thread. It means so much to me that my cyberfriends were looking out for me.
Where to begin? Well, as many of you know from turning on the national news Sunday morning, an F3 tornado, three quarters of a mile wide, cut a 40 mile swath starting in northern KY (Henderson - where I teach) and ending up north of Boonville, IN. It decimated Ellis Park, a horseracing venue just north of the Ohio River, jumped into Southern Vanderburgh County (Evansville) and totally tore up a trailer park. In fact, news reports state that there were actually two vortexes on the ground in that trailer park. The rescue personnel had to drain the retention ponds to recover bodies because these people were literally being sucked out of their trailers and thrown into these ponds. A lady I teach with knows a guy who survived being thrown, if you can imagine that. It then jumped up into Warrick County and hopped through Newburgh, my town, tearing up several subdivisions, went north through an industrial park, and then tore up some more northeast of Boonville, IN. My subdivision was narrowly missed. In fact, the ones that got it the hardest were just one quarter mile up the road. Both my boys and I know people who had their homes just completely torn up. My husband and I walked in that general area Sunday morning to check on my friend's house and were just shell-shocked by what we saw. They are estimating over 100 million dollars in damage. The death toll was 23 the last I heard, but there are still up to 100 or so still in the hospital, some very critical.
Right now, we are still in a state of emergency. The National Guard is here manning several checkpoints. Since my house was right in the middle of all those areas, I have to circle way around the country and enter a back road into my subdivision. My drive from Henderson High to my house normally takes 25 minutes door to door. Now it's taking me roughly two hours to get home in the early evening.
Again, thanks to all of you for your care and concern. I had Gina's number in my address book from our Vegas trip and knew that if I called her, she would convey the news. Thanks, Gina.
Please keep the victims' families in your thoughts and prayers. BTW, I'm attaching a picture of a church down the road from us just to give you an idea of the damage.
