The Aftermath

Well when I got home on Friday afternoon I realized our power was out and by the looks of the power poles and lines near my house, it wasn't going to be restored anytime soon. So after surveying the damage around our house, which just consisted of a lot of debris from houses that were destroyed around us, Brett and I headed to my parents' house in Franklin. We spent the night there and the next day came back to Murfreesboro to see if our power was on yet. It wasn't. So we drove around the surrounding area a little bit and what we saw was heartbreaking. So many houses were completely destroyed and people were scrambling to clean things up and do what they could with what was left of their property. I wanted to take pictures, but I asked myself if I'd want people taking pictures if it had been my house that was destroyed. So I didn't. After driving around the area a little more, we were beginning to realize how close we actually came to having our house destroyed in the tornado. Once I got a good look at the path of the tornado on a map, I realized it had hit and destroyed houses about 2 streets behind ours.

The National Weather Service is still finishing their report, but last I heard it was an EF-3 tornado and got up to an EF-4 in some parts. It had gained wind speeds up to 165 mph and ripped a path of destruction 23 miles long through Murfreesboro. It completely destroyed over 100 homes, majorly damaged almost 300, minorly damaged about 200, and those are just the homes that are uninhabitable. In total the tornado destroyed or damaged over 700 homes.

I just feel so blessed that it wasn't me or my house. I don't know what I would have done if I had come home to a destroyed house. We came so close to losing everything and I just feel like God really watched out for us that day. Now I feel like I should reach out to others that weren't so fortunate. They say it will take 6 months and over $35 million to clean up and fix everything, so they probably could use my help. I feel bad for not getting out and helping yesterday, but I was in Franklin spending Easter with my family. I was thinking of making a whole bunch of sandwiches for all the emergency workers since I may not be able to help out as much physically as I'd like. I just feel like I've got to do something. If anyone else is interested the Red Cross of Murfreesboro, TN is taking donations. I know I'll be donating something, because it's my community. Anyway, if I do get more pictures, I'll make sure to post them. Thanks for the support.