On April 11th, 2011 most of you know we were hit by a tornado and will forever be in our memory. Camryn and Connor will never forget what it was like getting picked up in the middle of the night and put in our bathtub praying that we didn't get hit. Our house didn't get missed and we ended up with so much damage.
Because of this, Camryn has become an experience Weather lady after being in a tornado.
On Saturday, December 26th we were leaving our house on our way to visit our family in Rowlett for Christmas. Jason's 2 brothers both live in Rowlett.
As, we were getting in the car around 3:00pm Camryn said, wow the sky sure looks weird and it's warm but some cool air coming in too which means tornados! Which weren't even in the forecast of course for the day. Only storms were.
We get to Rowlett around 5:00 and visit and take pictures with the new baby calves Greg has on his land.
Camryn just got her iPhone and was taking selfies with the cows 
The brown momma is in charge!!
Selfies of course!!
Love her so much!!!
She is the most beautiful little girl to me! 
Of course being silly!!
Love the little white one, we named him Blue Bell, not sure if Greg calls her that, but we do :)
Of course got to love on my baby girl Cassidy too! Love being a Great Aunt to all of these little babies!! Keep them coming :)
So, about an hour later it gets really dark out side :(
All of our phones are going off.....
I keep going outside and the weather is just getting worse, and I go back inside and I tell my kids and Carol, I think we need to get things prepared just in case. meaning Closets, bathrooms etc.
We have the news on but everyone is just going on and visiting.
I go outside and look up, it gets really quite and I go back inside and grab Jason!
My nephew Gregory comes out with us and he says What is that noise?? I said it's a Tornado!! Now if you've never heard or seen a tornado...basically it sounds like a large train coming through your backyard!!
We all started to run into the house and said there is a tornado lets go!! At the same time my brother in law was out back as well and came in saying the same thing!! There were about 15 of us..not even sure and we ran into the bathroom with our kids, Gregory and his new wife Melissa and Nana (Jason's mother). Everyone else was either under the stairs or in the pantry. Immediately after getting in the bathroom the house starts to shake, I get down on my knees with Camryn, we hear a loud bang and all of the lights go out. All we can do is pray.
This may sound all dramatic to you, but I'm here to tell you I really thought this was it. I was about to go to Heaven with my husband, kids and my entire Duncan family. My eyes are tearing up just writing this. A Tornado is a very mean and demolishing storm, doesn't care what it takes down or who it takes down with it!
I'm here to say, thankfully after 10 minutes we hear Greg say, it's in front of us, you can come out now. The lights are still off and we run outside to the front. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture of it but I've never seen a tornado that size and it was just tearing a path in the neighborhood in the front of us. I will post a video below of the neighborhood. (well one of them)
My husband and Father in law left to go check on my inlaws house that are a few streets over, and my friends house which lives next door. They were on a flight home from Disney when all of this was going on!
My Brother in law left to go check on their house as well, at this point we heard the tornado went right over their house which is by the highway.
Thankfully everyone's house was missed!! God was so Good!!
Others weren't so lucky.
Yesterday was the first day we made it out to Rowlett since the tornado and I must say it was very emotional...viewer discretion is advised.
This video shows the destruction that happened in the neighborhood in front of my Brother in Laws, the house we were at and my inlaws house. As well as my Best Friends from high school, Tricia Brewer.
The pictures below are from a neighborhood on Chiesa and 66.
I wanted to share this, as it's a daily reminder of how quickly all of your materials can be taken away, and maybe help you focus on what's really important.
Goodnight,
Kristi
These are the homes Seth and I were appointed to help clean up. We worked so hard and our hearts broke for those families. It was humbling to stand in a gutted out living room and look across the street to see our neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteI have been thru a tornado and major flood. We lost everything in the flood. Had to swim out of my house and that same night as I'm swimming out of my house a tornado passed over us. We could see it in the air. I remember thinking that this was it for me. I also have been in a tornado in Oklahoma. I don't do storms well.
The flight home was a nightmare. We are in the Dallas area when the tornado popped up. The plain dropped so long and hard everyone was screaming. The plain was shaking and we heard the train. The plane kept making sharp turns and then it started a steep uphill climb. We were flying around in the air in Dallas for 45 minutes before we were allowed to land. It was a Wifi plain... to be honest I wish it wasn't. I was getting texts asking me if I was ok. My dad texted me wanting to know where in the air I was. My poor dad is at the airport worried about my mom in Rowlett, worried about our safety in the plain in the air with the tornado, and worried that his Dr's home being damaged. He just knew it hit our area but didn't know if our home was hit. We happened to be on the plain with Seth's brother and his family. I couldn't help but think poor Kathy (Seth's mom) what she must be feeling knowing that we were in the air playing dodge ball with the tornado. She had 11 lives in that plane. I'm sure we were safe.... who knows... I just know it will be a while before I will fly again.
I just wanted to get home. Know one could tell me if my home was ok or my dogs. We had to detour because of flash flooding. Long night home. Thank you for checking on our home.