Sunday, January 2, 2011

Sundays in My City - Bad Mama Nature



Welcome to Sundays in My City, St. Louis Style! I did not take this picture as I did not want to interfere with the clean-up, or more importantly, I wanted to give residents the privacy they needed during this very unfortunate act of nature. The pictures used in this post are from the files of the St. Louis Dispatch.

Missourians, as well as "ians" of bordering states, are well aware that a tornado could occur at almost any time there is a strong weather system passing through. Just as Californians are aware that an earthquake could occur at any time, as well. However, there is a bit more warning time for tornados.

The above picture was taken in a neighborhood about 20 minutes from where I live. The tornado also touched down in a neighborhood within five minutes of where I live. My neighborhood had no damage whatsoever. That's how it is with tornados; they are sort of hit & miss.



This gentleman and his wife escaped serious injury by way of what I consider to be divine intervention. The wife was running to her basement when a tree crashed through the sliding door window and blocked her from the basement door. She was knocked under the kitchen island by the refrigerator which broke free. She hid under the kitchen island and was spared. The husband was across the street moving a car into the garage. He hid under a tractor in the garage and only suffered a minor gash in his head.

Mama Nature...you were a bad, bad girl! There are some good things happen after these tantrums, over which Mama has no control. People immediately come together and help those in need; service organizations jump in and find those in need; and people get down on their knees and pray.

I lift up each and every person who has been affected by this event.


My thanks to Unknown Mami, who sponsors this wonderful meme where bloggers can visit and learn about places all over the world. Please click on the below logo and see what interesting places there are to visit!

Unknown Mami


I live in St. Louis, Missouri! Welcome to my City!

11 comments:

Jeanie said...

You wrote about this weather event with such feeling and empathy, Liz. I grew up in Oklahoma so I am familiar with tornados and the horror they can bring. It is wonderful to see everyone coming together to help after this kind of event.

Vodka Mom said...

holy CRAP!

I think that this incredible event reminds us all about how precious life is.

Thank God you are safe.

Claudya Martinez said...

Thank you for writing about this event. The image of that man walking after having survived is unbelievably touching.

Marla said...

Having survived an Oklahoma tornado while losing everything, this post really touched me. Thanks for sharing it.

qandlequeen said...

We were glued to the TV after we heard the sirens go off. I heard some sort of groan in the air that definitely was not thunder, but I was in the basement by then. Strangely, there wasn't a lot of debris in my neighborhood. A coworker lives in Fenton and said she didn't have any damage either but there were flipped cars in her neighborhood.

It was a crazy storm, that's for sure. Glad you're okay.

Happy New Year!

Joanna Jenkins said...

I yiyi, I saw this on the news-- it's heartbreaking.

Sending hugs and prayers to all involved.

Cheers, jj

Sonya said...

That second photo really makes you choke up. I'm constantly amazed at what mother nature can really do at any given moment.

Jen said...

wow, you captured the beauty and chaos so well together.

Chris H said...

Mother Nature sure can be cruel sometimes... that man and his wife were very lucky.
We recently had a large earthquake in New Zealand and luckily no one died!

Jenny said...

I heard about this. What a horrible time for so many people! I'm glad you all escaped safely.

Kim Lehnhoff said...

Since I live in the area, AND I live in a trailer, I had the live feed from a TV station on my computer the whole time. We really don't have anywhere to hide.

And it did not ease my discomfort when I heard that all four deaths in MO occurred in mobile homes.