Today is Good Friday and I can’t help be reflect on the events of last year. I know it’s not technically the exact same day but the holiday itself will be forever etched in my mind, unfortunately. This time last year, two tornados touched down in my home town of Murfreesboro, TN. The first one was estimated by the National Weather Service as an EF-4 which was then followed by a smaller EF-1. There were 42 minor injuries, 7 critical injuries and 2 fatalities. The tornados damaged 794 homes. It destroyed 98 homes, severely damaged 227 and caused minor damage to 156 homes, along with damaging 23 commercial buildings.
This time last year, I was at work and extremely pregnant. Tim was on call and at home with our pets. I decided to take a later lunch as my mom lives nearby and was off work. So I went to her house to relax and put my swollen feet up. The weather was awful and you could just feel something coming in the air. We watched the news as they tracked the storms and as they first were estimated to hit my workplace vicinity and headed towards my home. It wasn’t until I made it back to work that things were starting to get scary. Pictures were starting to roll in of the first tornado touchdown in Murfreesboro and the images were breath taking. Tim, after challenging nature with the camera, had packed up the animals and was in the bathroom as the EF-4 hit the interstate, just a few miles away. Houses were moved, cars were overturned and many homes, including one that I grew up in, were completely leveled.
You can imagine how, in my then emotional state, stressful that day was. They let me go early but my town was on lock down. They had to shut down the interstates going in and out due to the devastation. I waited around the quiet office for about 30 minutes before deciding to brave the traffic and face what the news was making out to be the worse tornado in Middle Tennessee history.
I spent 2 hours in traffic trying to complete what usually is a 25 minute commute. Cars were backed up on the interstate trying to get into town. Police and emergency vehicles were flying by on the shoulder of the road to a destination I had yet to see. Many people simply left their cars on the side and walked into town as many roads were closed and/or impassable.
I only had one bar of battery on my phone and was attempting to make as many calls as it would allow. The news was reporting the path of the tornado as Sulpher Springs Road. This is was were my childhood home stood that my dad was attempting to sell after the divorce. Many of my childhood memories still sat in the garage as my dad is a chronic procrastinator. He lived in Nashville but was desperately trying to do the same as I, assess the damage to our homes. I also could not get a hold of my brother. What seemed like millions of text messages went out and a thousand redials. Everyone eventually became accounted for except for my brother, who works at Red Robin, just down the road from the start of the tornado path. No one was answering at the restaurant and he wasn’t answering his phone. You can imagine the panic I was getting in as I did not know whether the building was even still there or not. Did I still have a brother??
Thank God our house was untouched. Tim put the pets back in their places and went out in search of Nathan. This ended up being easier said than done. The EF-4 tornado that hit that day was on the ground for roughly 15 minutes and left a 23.5-mile path in its wake. There was devastation unlike anything I had ever seen or anyone else in Murfreesboro, for that matter.
I finally had the thought to call Pei Wei, which was across the street from my brother’s work, just to see if the guy could look out the front window and tell me if the building was even still there. That ended up being one of the most memorable moments of my life, thus far. Waiting to hear whether the building I knew my brother was in was even still standing. Thank God it was and my brother was just still huddled in the bathroom with all the other employees and customers. Phone lines were jammed, power was out and getting a hold of friends and family felt near to impossible.
I wish I could say that all of the news I received that day was positive. But the next phone call I received was from my dad telling me that the street I use to live on took the brunt of the hit and that my old home was completely leveled. This is what has hit me the hardest and still does today as I remember all the times we huddled under the staircase during such storms in what was now nothing but a foundation.
Tim spent the bulk of the weekend volunteering to clean up, mostly at my old home. The plus side was that it was on the market and so no one lived there. However, this did not mean that it was empty. Childhood pictures, artwork, stuffed animals and such were strewn all over the neighborhood. I cried when I first heard and my heart stopped when I first saw it for myself. A southern belle doll my mom had made was sitting on the neighbor’s mailbox as a marker of that address. Policemen were blocking off entrances and the neighborhood looked like the EF-4 played a game of hopscotch down our street.
I wish I could say that there were no fatalities that day but unfortunately, I can’t. A mother and a 6 week old baby girl were killed just down the road. But I am grateful for the limited fatalities and injuries. That day could have ended so much worse with so many people off work and school out. It’s amazing to me how, in just a year, we’ve managed to bounce back.
Sure, there are empty fields now where trees once stood and bare lots were once was business. But what scares me the most is the thought of all of those nights we spent under the staircase during similar storms. A staircase that is no longer there.
Below is what was left of my father's house.
My old neighborhood from above
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