tornado outbreak

Lord, We pray that You will comfort, heal and meet the needs of those who have been devastated by these tornadoes!
Lord, may You be glorified even in the midst of this disaster! In your loving name, Jesus. AMEN raying::1_grouphug:

 

Amen... Reports are coming in, over 130 tornados and over 100 lives lost. raying:

 

I just got word that much of my hometown of Pleasant Grove was destroyed and at least four people confirmed dead. About half of our family is accounted for and we're still trying to round up the other half.

My mother is frantic and I'm not doing a whole lot better, myself.

If we don't hear from the rest of my brothers and cousins by tonight, my son and I are probably going to drive to Alabama to help find them.

 

We just heard from our last unaccounted family member. Just as I suspected, she was fine but was unable to get in touch with us due to phones and cell service being down.

Thank God for His protection.

On a somber note, this picture was taken about two blocks away from the house I grew up in:



I haven't been able to find out, but I can't imagine my childhood home is still standing.

 

Our area of East TN didn't get hit as bad as other parts of the south, however, the storms were still reported to be the worst this area has seen in nearly 30 years. Sadly, there are at least 7 confirmed deaths in the County where I live, dozens sent to the hospital emergency rooms, and significant property damage. By God's mercy, the tornadoes that moved through my area were either directly north or south of my home.

 

Praying...raying::1_grouphug:

 

Hey JDF, I didn't know you were from Pleasant Grove.

They've been hard hit a couple of time in the last 10 years or so by tornados. My kids still remember sitting in the hallway of our house (4 rooms and the bath shared room with the hall) eating strawberries while tornados blew all around us and then hit Oak Grove High School and Open Door Church where Wednesday night services were going on but no one in the church was harmed(33 people if memory serves). The church was demolished.

My kids umbrella school is in Concord which was also hard hit, but our church sponser and school family as far as can be determined are okay. I'm still trying to get better info, but everyone over there is busy with search and recovery or clean up.

Something specific to pray for: Children's Hospital has MANY children whose parents can't be located. The kids aren't injured (or at least not all of them are), they just can't be identified.

 

Yes. If you know where the swimming pool is, we lived about a block away on 8th Place.

We lost two cousins in the Oak Grove tornado in 1998.

Incidentally, my cousin, who lives on the outskirts of Hueytown, near Concord, found hymnals from a church in Tuscaloosa in her front yard.