Tornadoes

As most of you have probably heard in the news, last Wednesday there were a number of devastating tornadoes in our current neck of the woods. I saw a map that showed exactly where in Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee tornadoes touched down that day. The map's tornado symbol covered our entire region (anywhere we can drive in 2 hours or less) except for our small town and a couple other towns nearby. We are so grateful to have been left unharmed. The worst we got was 6 hours of no power and some fallen trees in town.

A tiny town 30 minutes north of us called Smithville was hit by an EF-5 tornado with winds of 200 miles per hour. The day immediately following the tornado, search and rescue efforts were underway to find survivors. The town's population before the tornado was 882. 18 people died and 40 people were injured. On Saturday the first clean up crews and residents were invited into town. Daniel and I were able to go to Smithville to help. I had never seen so much destruction. Although we took photos, they don't accurately show the extent of the damage. (Click on the pictures to see them larger on your screen)

Someone's house

The school

The National Guard's humvees and cases of water for volunteers

Another couple homes

A fallen tree. It was about 50 feet tall.

A home next to the medical clinic we were working on.

This used to be a church. The pastor and a few other people were inside but survived.

A drainage ditch and forest became the stop for a car and all kinds of debris from the town.

Yet another home.

This was a store.

 Never underestimate how strong nature's power is. Wind did all this. It's raining today with flood warnings in the same areas the tornadoes leveled. Unreal. Pray for these people.