So, we had ourselves a little bit of excitement here the other day. It was an unusually warm morning with a strong warm wind (apparently that's a tell-tale sign that it might be tornado weather), but we were carrying on our day as per normal. I (Bradd) went off to seminary, Ashleigh and Sam went off to school (it wasn't a home-school day), Jack was at pre-school and Sonia was at home catching up on some of her own study.
It was 11:30 in the morning, and I was walking into a lecture when the emergency sirens started sounding all around the city. One of them is at the top of one of the seminary buildings, so it was hard to miss. Everyone around me stopped for a moment, shrugged their shoulders and then started heading down to the basement. I figured that this must be regular enough for everyone to not be at all phased by it. However, anyone with a mobile phone also immeadiately started calling spouses/children/schools etc. to make sure their loved ones were taking shelter, so it was obviously significant enough to be taken seriously. I didn't have a mobile phone on me so just wandered down with everyone else to take shelter in the basement. The little child in me desparately wanted to get outside and look around for a big twister forming in the sky. But everyone around me kept saying "better safe than sorry", so I stayed put.
At school and at pre-school, the kids all had to go to the basements of their buildings as well. Sam reckoned it was pretty boring going down there and waiting, practising getting down and covering their heads with a book, and about 30 minutes later we were given the all clear and headed back.
The tornado did touch down along the Ohio river near downtown Louisville, but did little damage other than a few downed power lines and trees.
All in all it was a bit of a fizzer. No huge tornado ripping through the landscape. No cows flying past as they're swept up into the atmosphere (as I assume usually happens with most tornados). No debri smashing windows and crushing cars. I guess that's a good thing, but none the less a little boring compared to what happens in the movies. And I missed 30 minutes of what is always a great lecture.
Oh well, I'm sure there will be another one before we end our time here...
