I spent most of the night sitting in front of this screen thinking what to write .. so many things have happened since I first moved to the US to Oklahoma - what I have considered my second home from almost the moment I moved there from Brisbane, Australia.
Close calls with tornadoes, shitty landlords and losing everything we owned to an apartment fire. All things we learned from, grew from, recovered and moved on. We moved in June of 2012 from Oklahoma to Pennsylvania for hubbys work and were finally away from the really bad tornadoes - although they do happen here apparently.
However the events that happened today broke my heart beyond words. Having good friends and family still in Oklahoma I have my weather apps set to Oklahoma as well as where we live now & when May hits I know I am able to stream my favourite Oklahoma news station on the internet to find out what is happening and contact people back there in case they aren't in front of the TV or getting any warnings on their phones.
I plugged in the laptop to the TV and started watching the weather broadcast - things were just starting to get really bad. It went on and on, worse and worse and all anyone could do was just sit there and watch it.
People were losing all they owned, houses, cars, possessions and for quite a few people ... their lives. There is no greater feeling of helplessness than watching all of this unfold in front of you on the TV.
You never really understand the effects of a tornado when you see this on the news - you think to yourself "wow that is so sad/bad/horrible". I have actually seen tornado damage up close and personal at a place where hubby used to live when we went storm chasing and it is mind blowing - you can't really describe what it is like other than seeing a home, now scattered in trees, shrubs etc. Big strong trees snapped like twigs at the base. Peoples photos, belongings, childrens toys flung as far as the eye can see. When you are there in the middle of something like that, looking at everything - that is when the destructive nature of a tornado hits home.
Seeing housing estates - MASSIVE housing estates with nothing but the cement slabs where all the houses were are left, the remnants of the homes looking like nothing but a massive match box that has been opened and all the matches thrown on the ground.
What really got me were the schools that got hit - primary schools flattened - with children inside, many of them would not have survived - that is when I lost it and broke down crying. It hits home so much more when you have a child of your own. You drop them off knowing they are at school and should be safe yet something like this happens and your child won't be coming home with you at the end of the day as planned. It got to a point where I had to walk away from the tv because I just couldn't watch it any longer - the parents of those innocent children and the families of the other people that were killed don't have that option.
I check the updates on what happened now and then but I can't sit there and watch it all unfold, it truly is heartbreaking.
My thoughts are with every family that lost loved ones and anyone else that lost things dear to them in this whole horribly cruel situation nature has forced on to Oklahoma .......
51 lost to the tornado so far, 9.40pm EST
EDIT: Death toll as of 2.44pm EST is now 24 with 234 people injured and many, many animals having to be killed - as heard from a brother in law who is a cop in Oklahoma, he said he has personally had to use over 100 bullets on animals with injuries such as horses with 2x4's through their necks :o(
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