A Dozen Twisters

Today started off in a very typical fashion.  The kids and I got up and got ready, then the baby I babysit was dropped off and we all had breakfast.  The day progressed from there, with everyone eating, playing and napping (the baby - not Norah and Justin).  I wasn't paying any attention to the news and didn't even have the television on.  Then a little after 1:00pm my phone rang and my friend asked if I was watching the the news.  I took her advice and turned it on to see a tornado in the middle of the city.  While we occasionally get potential tornadic activity in the area, it usually doesn't progress beyond heavy (and very damaging) winds.  To see huge 18 wheelers being tossed about the sky like toys startled and quite frankly scared me.  The news reported that severe weather was going to be ongoing and moving throughout the area.

Then I heard the tornado sirens go off.

I immediately gathered the kids, grabbed water bottles and blankets for everyone and headed to the closet.  While these sirens will go off for other reasons (wind/hail) I didn't want to leave anything to chance.  The first sirens I heard belonged to the city to the south.  So when the second sirens went off (much louder this time) I knew that the storm was moving into our area.  By this time I spoke to one of my brothers, received a text from Jeff, and was keeping in touch with my friend (who lives further North).  I knew that while we were unlikely to get hit with a tornado, there remained a small possibility that we could.  The system was huge, stretching across multiple states, and brought with it severe weather that lasted throughout the day and into the early evening.

The kids did a great job listening to me and staying in the closet when I would run go check the weather reports on tv.  They were curious about what was happening, but didn't seem overly concerned.  We were hit with heavy hail and winds later in the early evening, but were fortunate that nothing more damaging came our way. 

By the end of the day the sirens went off 9 times and it was confirmed that 12 tornadoes touched down in the D/FW area today.  While the damage to property was extensive and people were injured, miraculously no one was killed.  We were thankful to have a stress filled day came to a close with everyone home safe and sound.