Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Say a Prayer for Mike and Family

UPDATE-4/28/9:20 am: Just spoke with Mike--he and family are OK, although power is out and there is no telling when it will be restored. He'll try to get to a library today to log on and post to his blog.

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Looks like Tropical Storm Lanny is on its way to Sipsey Street.  I just got off the phone with Vanderboegh and they're getting ready to head down to the basement. He's telling me he heard they could get an EF5 with 200 mph winds, and the National Weather Service classifies the threat as "Severe-Dangerous Tornado Outbreak Ongoing." You can learn more here.

Here's the latest from The Weather Channel:


It's terrifying to go through these--I know--I've been in a building that was hit by one and had part of the roof torn off, and another one that missed a direct hit by less than a hundred feet.  Plus I've seen several others up close and personal. Probably about the worst feeling is being with your family and knowing that ultimately, the power to protect them is beyond you.  They're doing what they can and taking all prudent measures humanly possible.

If you're inclined to say a prayer, now might be a pretty good time. Not just for Mike, but for all good people in harm's way.

UPDATE (8:13 pm EST): Mike just called-- he says it passed them by, but area reports say the watch is in effect until 2:00 am.  As of right now, their power is out.

3 comments:

j said...

It was a gas - at one point the main cell with the first twister was over a mile wide as it neared Tuscaloosa, about 40 miles south of here.

We were OK, couldn't move anywhere due to a family illness requiring one of us to be in a hospital bed, but only damage was a few big trees down out back. Don't know what it was like in Mike's area, he's about 15 miles N/NE of here. But hopefully the bad stuff is gone now.

j said...

Update - though the bad stuff may be gone, the current count of fatalities in this state is over 55... so the prayers are still welcome around here...

Anonymous said...

Pay attention, we get some of this crap in WI and warnings mean Take cover. Last on was "Straight line winds" might as well have been a tornado . Took the power co 2days to get the town's power bac on and more than a week to clean up the mess. Stay safe! Steve III