Easter Tornado 2020

This month I thought I’d be writing a post to celebrate our one year anniversary in our new home. However, things don’t always go as planned!

A little over a month ago on Easter night our home was badly damaged in a tornado. So badly damaged that it was deemed unable to repair and we had to demolish it! This has been one of the most difficult things we’ve ever dealt with but we are so blessed to be alive and well and even more blessed that Lukas wasn’t home that night! Read on for a recap of a crazy night..

Our Easter was awesome although a little rainy. We had an indoor Easter egg hunt which Lukas loved. Later that evening we went to visit my in-laws. During our visit Lukas informed us he was staying the night. We thought it was so funny HE was trying to make the decision but we ended up agreeing that it was fine.

We came home, child free! Tracy made some delicious chicken parm because I had been craving it. We ate dinner, relaxed & Tracy didn’t even play the video game!

We went to bed with no idea of any possible tornadoes. Nothing about severe weather had been said on any news, just thunderstorms. Then randomly around 10pm our neighbor came by to alert us to a flooding issue. We thanked him and went back to bed but Tracy was awake and alert after that.

I dozed off but around midnight Tracy bolted up out of bed and went to the window. He told me it looked bad and we instantly ran downstairs. Our goal was to make it our downstairs bathroom but we couldn’t. Suddenly it felt like all the air was sucked out of the room, our ears were popping and it was strangely quiet. As we made it to our kitchen all of the windows on the front of the house blew out (including the one in the kitchen).

We ducked around the wall into the corner of our dining room and stayed there until it ended. It was the SCARIEST thing. I could see an hear it raining in the house. All I could do was pray and cry.

When it seemed clear Tracy found some shoes, after cutting his foot, and went to check on our neighbors. That’s when he saw the house and knew it was pretty bad. Once we knew everyone nearby was okay we threw a bag together and left the house.

Even driving to my in laws house was treacherous. There were trees in the road and everything. We made it to their house and tried to get some sleep but it was nearly impossible.

The next day we went back to see the house in the light and it was heartbreaking. Some fireman came by that morning and painted a huge “X” on it which didn’t seem like a good sign. Sure enough we would later find out the home was unrepairable.

We are truly blessed to have insurance and amazing friends and family taking care of us. We are in a rental and will soon start to navigate the homebuilding process. (All tips appreciated!)

We told Lukas the house was broken and he said “It’s okay, I get my hammer and screwdriver. I fix it!” 🥰