Tornado and Aftermath

[OnlySunshine]

Last night, we had a HUGE squall of storms race by at 60 mph which is the perfect weather for tornadoes.  Unfortunately, we were in the path of destruction.  Last night, at 10:30pm, the weather service announced tornado warnings and, right after, I looked out the back window because I thought I heard hail.  I saw swirling trees and bushes and ran to get my mom and she was running to get me.  All of a sudden, we heard a ROARING noise and a huge crash which made me shriek!  It scared the crap out of me.  All of a sudden, my mom and dad noticed that a tree limb was poking through my dad's bedroom ceiling.  I had my bedroom door closed while I was out and my mom opened it to find a HUGE gaping hole in the ceiling with rainwater POURING in!  My laptop was on the floor open and got ruined.  Fortunately, my bed is OK and my mom immediately got some plastic to lay over the furniture in the area.  We had to wait for the rain to stop so we could move the furniture out of the way and put huge trash cans down to catch the rain.  My dad got the ShopVac and soaked up as much of the water as he could.  A lot of the insulation from the attic fell down from the ceiling which caused my dad and I to get asthma attacks.  The ceiling smelled like horrible mildew after getting soaked.  My mom and I moved my mattress set into the living room and I slept in there during the night.

I woke up this morning and found the destruction to be much worse than what we saw in the dark.  After I fell asleep, my mom and dad heard a huge crash again and my ceiling proceeded to crumble further.  I didn't hear it, but it happened around 2am - I slept thru it.  Anyway, the elm tree in the front yard was the cause of the destruction and was yanked up BY THE ROOTS and fell over towards the two front bedrooms.  The disaster in front of the house was astonishing.  The roof looked like it had been crumpled into a million pieces.  The backyard had a LOT of damage, too, since the fences on both sides were broken by the wind - the wood was just splintered!  We can't find our bird feeder anywhere.  Someone's trampoline ended up in the lane behind our house.  Also, our neighbor's car was totaled by a huge tree limb landing on it and smashing the windshield and denting the hood.  We spent the whole day watching a tree service company cut and remove the elm tree from our house.  When it was done, it looked even worse!  The trusses underneath were snapped in half by the weight so they have be completely replaced.  The tree company put a tarp over the holes so any further damage will be mitigated.  It looks like I may have to wait a while to get my room back, which sucks.  We aren't allowed to go in that part of the house due to the damage.

Anyway, please say some prayers that we can get this mess straightened up pretty quick.  I am just so thankful that no one was hurt!