Last night was beyond terrifying. Ready for story time?
First of all, I live in NE Iowa.
I was talking to my sister on the phone, when all of a sudden the sky was turning super dark. I could tell we were going to be hit by a bad storm, but I was not prepared for how bad it would be. I had to put her on hold while my boyfriend (Phillip) and I shut all windows because it started to get really windy. I got back on the phone with her and within a minute it started pouring.
When I say pouring, I mean we couldn’t see out our windows because it was like the ocean was being drained over our apartment. I knew it was getting REALLY bad, so I told my sister I had to go.
Phillip and I hurried to find our two cats, Bane and Piper. They were freaked out by the loud rain and wind, so they ran under our bed. Then the hail started. We had no basement to seek shelter in, so we locked ourselves in our hallway and grabbed blankets to help protect our bodies.
The hail was intense. I’ve never heard anything like it in my 26 years. It was like thousands of the pitching machines you find at a batting cage pitching baseballs directly at our apartment. The noise was so intimidating. I experience severe anxiety, and I was totally freaked out. But I tried to remain calm for Bane and Piper.
The whole thing lasted about a half hour. When it started to die down I told Phillip to stay with the cats while I investigated. We had some leaking around the windows, all our screens were either blown off or damaged and we have a minor crack in one window. It could have been worse. I heard my landlord (who lives downstairs part-time) outside, so I went downstairs.
I first noticed the bits of hail on the ground. Then I saw glass. I looked over and saw our landlords window broke and his stuff was blown around inside. I went to the side of the building and saw the house two lots over with all its window on the side blown out and the siding dented up. It looked like a machine gun was shot off at it.
Pretty much instantly we had departments from at least four different towns helping homeowners board up their windows. It was amazing to see so many people gathered helping each other.
Today it was confirmed that 70-80% of my towns buildings/homes have some sort of damage. It was also confirmed that there was a EF0 tornado about 3-5 miles east of us. No one was injured or killed.
While we were laying down towels around the windows, we checked our belongings to make sure nothing important got wet. When we reached our spare bedroom/rec room, I looked at my book shelf. I sighed with relief and said, “Thank goodness my books didn’t get wet. I would be crying right now if something happened to them.” My boyfriend stared at me for a moment and then walked out while shaking his head.
RANDOM CONFESSION: I ACTUALLY ENJOY STORMS. I LIKE GOING OUTSIDE DURING A THUNDERSTORM AND WATCHING THE LIGHTNING. HOWEVER, I DO NOT LIKE TORNADO-LIKE WEATHER. THAT’S WHEN MY ANXIETY SHOOTS THROUGH THE ROOF.
The Nerdy Bookworm 