Spring Fling... A Twisted Tale

Last night about 11pm, I looked at our local radar and saw a line of storms that made my innards do a somersault. Very calmly, I put our fire department pagers back on the charger bases, made sure one was turned to county dispatch, and the other was turned to our city's public works. My husband installed and set up the civil alert alarms some time back for our 'city' (it's really a small town, the sign says 700 people but it's really more... that's just in "city limits", though our 'town' is considered more than that.) He's had the capability to test and set them off since then, but it isn't his responsibility - that falls to our mayor/city council and/or police department (quite a few of our officers don't even live here, and oft times they are not staffing a late late shift like that on Sunday nights.) To set off the civil alert sirens, you have to be somewhat near them and punch in a code to the radio while keyed up. We live right smack next to one of them, and my mother in law is very near to the other. So it's just very easy for hubby to test them and keep them operational for our little town... but it has never been his responsibility - not even when he was the fire chief. When he *was* the fire chief, I would set them off in his absence once a month to check them... but we've grown a little distant from the department lately. We are both still members of our volunteer department... just very busy with work and family, so haven't been up on our training or meetings or run many calls in the past year.
Anyway, disclaimer stated... About 11pm, the radar indicated we had a strong line of storms headed straight for us, with potential for tornadoes and hail. I don't know the particulars of how to set off sirens for a town, so I'm not sure how early or late or anything - I just knew I had to get my kids prepared, secure some precious treasures (family photos, digital photo archive, legal documents) find a good place in this old house to bunker down, and then deal with my next priority - alerting town.
I woke the boys and told them, "There's a line of storms coming, could be about an hour or two before they get here, I'll be watching the radar and keeping tabs on what it does... but if I do come wake you back up again I will need you to move quickly and don't question anything I say, just do exactly what I tell you and trust me." They all three went back to sleep.
About an hour later, still watching radar online and weather radio on tv (I do not own a battery operated radio... just never had time or money to deal with it) I start getting text alerts pertinent to my town - severe thunderstorm WATCH. Our county set off tones for all fire departments - an 'all call' for storm watchers and personnel to be at the ready. (At this point, the storm had just produced one weak EF1 tornado to our north-east within the county.) The air outside was still, quiet, only slightly moist - no indication we had anything more than lightning and rain coming. But given the 'all call', I roused the kids and directed them to hole up in the safest part of the house. I went to get my daughter's infant carrier car seat, and as we were all assembling ourselves and donning blankets and coats, the lights went down. No more radar (except on my mobile phone web browser).  The watch was upgraded to a warning only shortly before the power died.
After the power died, maybe just a brief moment, I heard a loud crack - but it wasn't thunder. My oldest son strapped his little sister into her car seat while I started trying to set off the civil alert sirens. But with the power being down, they could not operate. Mind you I have no formal training regarding weather emergencies (just 37 years of Texan upbringing) so I was just doing the best I could. I tried again and again, and stopped short of running across the road in the driving rain and wind to get closer to the siren - because to go outside would leave my kids alone in a high anxiety, frightening moment.
I already had one child having an anxiety attack. He was pulling it together the best he could. But my boys were raised in California for the first 8-8-4 years of their lives. (they are 13-13-9 now). So storms are not as deeply ingrained in their psyche as they are into mine. I wanted to be a storm chaser as a child. This storm was exhilarating, if anything. There was no way I was leaving the building for anything.
A fellow fire fighter, my BFF K - her wee treasure 'Lilah is my goddaughter - phoned me in our worst moment of the storm, "SET OFF THE SIRENS." I told her they were dead. She lives in a trailer. I could hear over the howl on my end that the howl on her end was getting louder, and my heart sank. The storm was indeed a tornado - confirmed later by the national weather service as a very strong EF1, stronger than the one to our north) - and it was going straight toward them. My mother lives to the north east of us, the typical route for such storms - but she has been staying with her mom and wasn't home - my concern there was for her house and property, which I could (and did) check on in the morning. My husband also has family in the area, scattered all over the county. I checked in with my sister in law and mother in law just after the worst passed us. I also texted my BFF back to make sure she and her hubby and family were ok. Called my mom, IM-ed my brother in the Seattle area. Posted our status to facebook. By now my phone was really low on battery - thankfully I have a spare phone that remains charged (swap that sim card) and a spare battery for my phone, and the twins' phones. So we were 'connected' still. Just in the dark.
After the worst blew over, I opened a window for ventilation - power was still out - and we all camped out in the living room. Sleeping bags on the floor, candles on the dining table (secure in containers - I'm a good Girl Scout) and Miss Mae's 'Violet' leapfrog dog to play music (Glow Worm also helped) to distract the kids. My youngest son, Monkey-Li (Liam) wanted all his stuffed animals around him, so I sent his biggest brother with him and one flash light, and they collected the menagerie for safe keeping.

It was at least another two hours before they could calm down and sleep. I managed to crash out sometime around 5am. About 6am, power was restored, waking me up. The sun wasn't long after and I could go out and survey damage. The loud crack right after power died was a tree in our back yard, a previously damaged hackberry tree that was ugly and in a bad spot, so no heartbreak there. It split and came down on our goat-wire fence, easy fix. No other damage, but the storm moved our lawnmower (it *had* been right where the tree fell, but was moved across the yard and set down gently) and tossed our burn barrel way out into the road causing damage to other things - someone clearing debris removed the burn barrel before I got out to check things. Our other, lighter trash bin was left in the ditch, almost where it had been before. Certain things that stayed put, and others that got moved, just didn't seem like straight line winds, it was quirky and unusual- I knew for sure now it was a tornado. And that we had been right in the middle, and survived. Maybe it was those ruby red slippers I bought for Miss Mae a few weeks ago, or maybe it was just a whole mess of good karma, but we were spared damage. My mother's place, and hubby's uncles place also spared damage, save some trees and limbs. Our family is all very fortunate. Our whole county is very fortunate. No injuries, well none due to storm directly. I hear one person stepped on a piece of glass.

radar loop during the storm, we are south of Fort Worth

A barn to our northeast about a mile, flattened.

A barn on the left, house on the right, with significant roof damage - also about a mile to our northeast.

I haven't been back to sleep since the power came back on at 6am and woke me. I am operating on the residual adrenaline from the storm, what little caffeine and sugar I've consumed since morning, and sheer determination. Luckily, hubby's work sent him home early (not due to the storm) and he arrived at the house about the time I got to my mom's to check the property out. We got to spend a quiet, cool, fresh day together just enjoying each others company, both of us up since the witching our and tired. My daughter slept much of the day. The boys went to school - delayed start due to power outage - but then came home early due to another outage. It's just down the street. I was glad to have them back home. I needed extra hugs.

My usual late night hours of operation came in handy. Also my tendency to park on the internet and stay all day helped us avoid danger. Sure we all just stayed put in our beds and slept right through, but what if... what if... at least I had advance notice and was prepared. I'll look at that fabric stash, that yarn stash, that bead stash, and I won't think, when I get more time I'll do such-and-such. No, I won't say that, because I've got more time. And I am thanking my lucky stars that I do.