Tornado

Wow!
Jen grew up near Tornado Alley - in Iowa, but we thought we wouldn't have to worry about those things down in New Orleans; hurricanes are enough. Well, we were wrong. This is the second winter in a row that the New Orleans has been hit by tornadoes. This time, our house was dead center for the path.

The car on the left was parallel parked. When the storm sucked out our rear windshield and the front door of our house, including the frame of that door, the car was spun around to where you see it.

We live in a townhouse with two units. This is the other side of our building. Thankfully, the young lady who stays on the third floor there was out of town. Our side doesn't look quite as bad from the outside, but the interior betrays that the side wall has been pulled away from the roof and the main structure of the building.

The tornado hit around 3:05am Tuesday morning. We were sleeping, and awoken by our alarm system. As the rear french doors were being blown in and out, in and out, the alarm system picked sounded. We thought someone was breaking in, but the way the doors were moving, and the eerie sound made it seem like something paranormal was breaking in. Then there was a huge 'boom' as the house 'exploded'. It was the most terrifying 5 seconds of my life. Jen said she was trembling for the next hour. It was traumatic...

We are safe. Our house has some pretty serious structural damage, but insurance should cover everything. Several students from Tulane and UNO came out to help us during the day as we cleaned up our own mess, and helped some neighbors. We are blessed. Thank you for your love and prayers.

see pictures we took for the insurance company here.

see pictures of the spontaneous work day here. [I hope to have this link working soon.]

Here's a picture from across the street, and one house down on the same side. (Our 'corner bar' is no more. Thankfully, there were no injuries in our little area where the storm 'touched down'.)