I just saw a report of a tornado in Kearney, Nebraska... on the Platte River where Sandhill Cranes gather in spring and fall migrations--and the site of Richard Powers', The Echo Maker.
Because I will never forget the tornado that destroyed the neighborhood where I lived, friends who lost parents, the devastation that drops from the sky... for the hundreds of unexpected visitors to this site because of this post... I assure you, the connection was more than a book. My heart goes out to those caught in the wake and to all of you concerned for the safety of relatives and friends .
Tornado links on this blog:
HERE
and
HERE
Yes, and I hear there are people there too...(somebody's mother, daughter, father, son, grandparent... get it)
ReplyDeleteIf you go to my post on the Ruskin Heights Tornado of 1957, you will see that I am acutely aware of what this means to those in the path.
ReplyDeleteA half century after--still haunted by dreams of that storm.
Why I posted this... I feel them, every account of a tornado, in my gut--as though I were there.
Yep, there are people here alright. 28,000, or so! I remember the 'wind storms' tearing through in '93. But...there is something much different when, this time, an F3 touches down on a street five blocks from you and you are crouched under your basement stairwell holding your 2 year old and 4 month old, praying to God that, not you and your husband, but THEY are safe. Even so... people always remark how we are foolish to live here, yet tornados are so random and few an far between, while hurricanes and earthquakes seem to ruin everything in a much larger radius!
ReplyDeleteThere will never be a hurricane in Nebraska, but tornadoes occur almost everywhere. Though far more common in the North American Midwest and Southeast, there have been tornadoes --believe it or not--in London, in Moscow; central Italy is something of the European "tornada alley." The very geologic and atmospheric dynamism of the planet makes life both possible... and dangerous.
ReplyDeleteI read about the Ruskin Heights Tornado..it was a great story..and the photos as well...experiencing such tornado activity will be really unforgettable plus whenever it happened again it will be totally freaking scary..the past is really a traumatic one..
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