We had hoped this approaching sunset storm would be the last of it.
However, far worse storms did hit. It was impossible to sleep with the Weather Alert Radio going off every few minutes. So I stayed up until 4AM until the storms had passed. The next morning, I then awoke to a Tornado Warning. Frankly, I never realized that tornados could hit in the morning before the heating of the day. With no bad weather predicted until evening, these morning tornados were a complete shock to most of the city. Nevertheless, tornado sirens went off around 11AM while I was putting our dogs out to go potty. The dogs and I (and most of the Region) spent the next 2 to 3 hours in our tornado "safe area". Funnels were spotted close to our house. After 2003 http://www.pbase.com/britestar/image/16288065 I no longer reach for a camera when a tornado is on track for where I am. Thus, I have no photos taken during this week's tornado warning. Having once witnessed a F-4 hit close to home was just a bit too sobering. Just two blocks away, huge 6,000 square homes had been shockingly reduced to merely a pile of rubble. House after house. A half mile away, several trucks had been thrown on top of 2 to 3 cars already piled on top of one another by the winds. A little farther away, very large warehouses had also flattened and tracker trailers piled up on top of them like match stick toys. Although two different tornados did touch down this past Thursday and did some damage in the Metro, things could have been far worse. Our home was very luckily spared from everything but the heavy rain. We didn't even have hail damage.

These storms unfortunately grew in intensity as they moved on. They went on to do major tornado damage to the city of Sedalia. All this started last Saturday night with a tornado tearing through the town of Reading. All 200 homes and businesses there were destroyed or else severely damaged. Reading was pretty much wiped out with deaths reported. Late the next afternoon, the massive f-5 hit Joplin. The entire Country knows that story. Now, the Region is very nervous every time the weather radio goes off. Even more so when the Tornado Sirens sound. It's been a brutal week. Today is the first day in a week that we haven't had a Severe Weather Warning.