**I'm sorry this will be kind of long.**
One of my biggest fears are tornado's, they are one of the most destructive forces of nature.
On Sunday August 21st just after 4pm the town I live in during the week was hit by an F3 class tornado. It's path of destruction spanned 500 meters wide with winds reported to be between 240 - 300 Kmph (150-186 mph). F3's account for about 6% of all tornado's, amazingly only one man was killed while several others were injured.
I was not home when it happened, I was at my mom's getting ready to leave to head back. As I get closer to the south of town I run into a road closed sign, with mostly clear sky and the sun shining. My first thought is there was an accident, until I try to get into town the back way and run into another road closed sign. Now I'm wondering what is going on. So I switch from my CD player to the local radio station to hear that a tornado had ripped through town, destroying much of the downtown core. I sneak my way in to the south end of town where I work, which is untouched and shows no sign of a tornado going through this small town of 8,000. Coined as the "Prettiest Town in Canada".
By midnight the power comes back on at work and I quickly hit the internet. There are lots of pictures online of the destruction, none show where I live so I have no idea if I have a place to live or if I've lost nearly everything I own. Some of the buildings are destroyed, 100 year old trees are gone, roofs and walls are missing, windows blown out, vehicles destroyed, it looks like a war zone. The town is placed under a state of emergency and is sealed off completely with a strict no trespassing rule.
The south end of town has most of our major shopping centers and is the only safe place to travel. After work on the Monday after I head to the grocery store and Walmart to stock up on supplies and clothes. Everyone is in a zombie like state, just going through the motions. Even the checkout girls at Walmart find it impossible to tell you to have a nice day. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before, nothing. No one knows what do, they just do. I run into a client of mine, who I couldn't remember his name, he looked so out of it, his eyes were red. He stopped me to talk asking if everything was fine where I work.
I spend the next 9 days (except the weekend) living at work, we have a second floor that doesn't get used, and my boss had a shower installed when the place was built, in the upstairs washroom. I can't get in touch with my landlord who was apparently forced out of his home as well, and was staying at one of the shelters. After a few days it was really starting to get to me, I usually go home to get away from work and unwind, now I'm there 24 hours a day. I go to sleep and wake up at work.
They say that pictures just don't compare to seeing it with your own eyes, and they are right. When the main highway was finally opened back up later in the week I took a drive, all the side streets were still blocked off so I couldn't get to my apartment. Having studied the images online still didn't prepare me to see what I could. Going towards the path of destruction it looks like an open wound exposed.
I'm a very empathetic person, and I have a very good imagination. As I travel around where I can, just trying to do day to day stuff, I talk to people who were here when it happened. The descriptions are mostly the same, it sounded like a freight train, some say several freight trains. Some tell me their stories of when it happened and what they were doing. Many say I was very lucky not to be here, and I guess I am.
The town was finally opened up 9 days later and I was finally able to go home to my little apartment. The building is safe, not even a shingle missing or piece of siding. Which is good since the landlord had just done the second floor. Inside my apartment it's exactly as I left it, except the curtain in my living room knocked a few things off a shelf.
I just had a customer today who told me of his incredible story. The day of the tornado he got his son and wife into the family van to get to his mother-in-laws since his place didn't have a basement. Little did he know he was traveling towards the tornado. One his way he sees the hydro polls begin to sway back and forth and huge balls of hail started to come down, he knew he had to turn around, he didn't want the hail to come through the window and injure any of them. He decides to head to where he works, which just happens to be the Evaporator Plant. He thinks they'll hide in one of the truck bays and ride it out. As he gets there a large tarp is ripped off one of the salt piles and shredded as it swirls through the air. He sees the roof being ripped off near one of the truck bays so he decides to head to where they store the hardened salt blocks and ride it out there. His wife was hysterical throughout. Amazingly they weren't harmed, and he told me when it was over he looked up at the plant and thought, I'm out of a job for awhile. He knew there were people working there so he had his wife call 911, after she did telling them that people might be injured she lost her signal. He took his wife and son to the mother-in-laws and then headed back to the plant to help.
So for the past week now I have traveled my normal route back and forth to work. Except one morning they had a detour set up around through the next street over. A street that was hit by the tornado, homes are destroyed, I see one house with big windows much like the main one in my living room, it's windows are collapsed inside with much of their roof missing. I can't help but go by this destruction everyday, I have no other option since I live north of the where the tornado ripped across and work on the south end of town.
I find everyday a challenge to go to work, seeing buildings being torn down, seeing so many homes with boarded up windows, tarps on roofs, and so many trees that have been cut down. Everyday I see these homes and businesses I think how lucky I am, I feel guilty about how lucky I am. There are some people who have lost so much, lost their homes. One ladies home, that is seen in some of the images online, was 185 years old, it was destroyed and is nearly gone now. The old Victoria Street church is slowly being torn down little by little. Some businesses have relocated for the time being, while others remain closed for an undetermined time, some never to reopen again.
The main downtown core is still closed off, it's hard to explain what it is like to see it sectioned off by large concrete walls and construction fencing. I've walked through the town square, shopped at some of the stores there. Everyday I go home I can clearly see the large courthouse that was once surrounded by tall trees. I never realized how ugly of a building it actually is. There are barely any trees left, and I have yet to actually go up to the town square to look around. I'm afraid to.
I'm not an outgoing person as some of you know, I'm a very private person and keep to myself. I'm known around the community, people sometimes stop me and chat a bit. They had support groups for people to go to and some were offering individual sessions. I didn't go to those, I felt like I would be taking up room for someone who needs it more. Those who were here went the tornado hit and experienced the destruction first hand. Not someone who came after.
That's it, just about done. If you've read through this all I thank you, I just wanted to get this out and share my experience. I'm sure there are others who have been through something similar, if not a tornado, hurricanes, earthquakes, nature is a powerful force that can change everything in an instant.
One of my biggest fears are tornado's, they are one of the most destructive forces of nature.
On Sunday August 21st just after 4pm the town I live in during the week was hit by an F3 class tornado. It's path of destruction spanned 500 meters wide with winds reported to be between 240 - 300 Kmph (150-186 mph). F3's account for about 6% of all tornado's, amazingly only one man was killed while several others were injured.
I was not home when it happened, I was at my mom's getting ready to leave to head back. As I get closer to the south of town I run into a road closed sign, with mostly clear sky and the sun shining. My first thought is there was an accident, until I try to get into town the back way and run into another road closed sign. Now I'm wondering what is going on. So I switch from my CD player to the local radio station to hear that a tornado had ripped through town, destroying much of the downtown core. I sneak my way in to the south end of town where I work, which is untouched and shows no sign of a tornado going through this small town of 8,000. Coined as the "Prettiest Town in Canada".
By midnight the power comes back on at work and I quickly hit the internet. There are lots of pictures online of the destruction, none show where I live so I have no idea if I have a place to live or if I've lost nearly everything I own. Some of the buildings are destroyed, 100 year old trees are gone, roofs and walls are missing, windows blown out, vehicles destroyed, it looks like a war zone. The town is placed under a state of emergency and is sealed off completely with a strict no trespassing rule.
The south end of town has most of our major shopping centers and is the only safe place to travel. After work on the Monday after I head to the grocery store and Walmart to stock up on supplies and clothes. Everyone is in a zombie like state, just going through the motions. Even the checkout girls at Walmart find it impossible to tell you to have a nice day. It's like nothing I've ever experienced before, nothing. No one knows what do, they just do. I run into a client of mine, who I couldn't remember his name, he looked so out of it, his eyes were red. He stopped me to talk asking if everything was fine where I work.
I spend the next 9 days (except the weekend) living at work, we have a second floor that doesn't get used, and my boss had a shower installed when the place was built, in the upstairs washroom. I can't get in touch with my landlord who was apparently forced out of his home as well, and was staying at one of the shelters. After a few days it was really starting to get to me, I usually go home to get away from work and unwind, now I'm there 24 hours a day. I go to sleep and wake up at work.
They say that pictures just don't compare to seeing it with your own eyes, and they are right. When the main highway was finally opened back up later in the week I took a drive, all the side streets were still blocked off so I couldn't get to my apartment. Having studied the images online still didn't prepare me to see what I could. Going towards the path of destruction it looks like an open wound exposed.
I'm a very empathetic person, and I have a very good imagination. As I travel around where I can, just trying to do day to day stuff, I talk to people who were here when it happened. The descriptions are mostly the same, it sounded like a freight train, some say several freight trains. Some tell me their stories of when it happened and what they were doing. Many say I was very lucky not to be here, and I guess I am.
The town was finally opened up 9 days later and I was finally able to go home to my little apartment. The building is safe, not even a shingle missing or piece of siding. Which is good since the landlord had just done the second floor. Inside my apartment it's exactly as I left it, except the curtain in my living room knocked a few things off a shelf.
I just had a customer today who told me of his incredible story. The day of the tornado he got his son and wife into the family van to get to his mother-in-laws since his place didn't have a basement. Little did he know he was traveling towards the tornado. One his way he sees the hydro polls begin to sway back and forth and huge balls of hail started to come down, he knew he had to turn around, he didn't want the hail to come through the window and injure any of them. He decides to head to where he works, which just happens to be the Evaporator Plant. He thinks they'll hide in one of the truck bays and ride it out. As he gets there a large tarp is ripped off one of the salt piles and shredded as it swirls through the air. He sees the roof being ripped off near one of the truck bays so he decides to head to where they store the hardened salt blocks and ride it out there. His wife was hysterical throughout. Amazingly they weren't harmed, and he told me when it was over he looked up at the plant and thought, I'm out of a job for awhile. He knew there were people working there so he had his wife call 911, after she did telling them that people might be injured she lost her signal. He took his wife and son to the mother-in-laws and then headed back to the plant to help.
So for the past week now I have traveled my normal route back and forth to work. Except one morning they had a detour set up around through the next street over. A street that was hit by the tornado, homes are destroyed, I see one house with big windows much like the main one in my living room, it's windows are collapsed inside with much of their roof missing. I can't help but go by this destruction everyday, I have no other option since I live north of the where the tornado ripped across and work on the south end of town.
I find everyday a challenge to go to work, seeing buildings being torn down, seeing so many homes with boarded up windows, tarps on roofs, and so many trees that have been cut down. Everyday I see these homes and businesses I think how lucky I am, I feel guilty about how lucky I am. There are some people who have lost so much, lost their homes. One ladies home, that is seen in some of the images online, was 185 years old, it was destroyed and is nearly gone now. The old Victoria Street church is slowly being torn down little by little. Some businesses have relocated for the time being, while others remain closed for an undetermined time, some never to reopen again.
The main downtown core is still closed off, it's hard to explain what it is like to see it sectioned off by large concrete walls and construction fencing. I've walked through the town square, shopped at some of the stores there. Everyday I go home I can clearly see the large courthouse that was once surrounded by tall trees. I never realized how ugly of a building it actually is. There are barely any trees left, and I have yet to actually go up to the town square to look around. I'm afraid to.
I'm not an outgoing person as some of you know, I'm a very private person and keep to myself. I'm known around the community, people sometimes stop me and chat a bit. They had support groups for people to go to and some were offering individual sessions. I didn't go to those, I felt like I would be taking up room for someone who needs it more. Those who were here went the tornado hit and experienced the destruction first hand. Not someone who came after.
That's it, just about done. If you've read through this all I thank you, I just wanted to get this out and share my experience. I'm sure there are others who have been through something similar, if not a tornado, hurricanes, earthquakes, nature is a powerful force that can change everything in an instant.
