I wrote this on May 10th...after the inital hit of the tornado...

So, we were in WalMart today doing some last minute Mother's Day stuff (I know...bad.) Anyways, half way through our shopping trip about 6pm...over the loudspeaker the person is telling everyone to get to the middle of the store because there is a tornado that touched down. So we all move to the middle of the store...sit there for about 20 minutes and then the lights flicker and go out. I am a little freaked at this point. We have the kids calm...surprisingly. Then it gets really quiet. REALLY bad sign when there is a tornado around. Then it starts to rain HARD! I mean, you figure we were in a huge WalMart and it sounded like the rain was coming through the roof. We could still see the doors from where we were standing. It went from where we could see the stores across the parking lot, to dark and we couldn't even see the lights in the parking lot. The wind and rain lasted about 10 minutes...then it was gone. So crazy. We were then ushered through the lines (no electricity still) to pay since the registers were on backup...but what chaos. It was just scary. We came home to (thank goodness) no damage. We did hear that it hit VERY close to our home, yet again. And that sadly, three people had been killed. What a scary thing... We came home to no power...but I was just thankful we were all together when it happened and that we were all safe.


So...after the tornado hit on the 10th, we kept calling around to people we know and relatives to make sure that everyone was alright. As of last night, the death toll was to 13...just in our county. They say it registered at least an F3 tornado with winds 160+ mph.

The road that one of James' cousins and her family live on got hit hard. She lives down the right side and the entire left side of it...all the houses are gone. Also after James did some investigating, we saw that the tornado also hit about a mile north of our home! Many homes and trees were flattened and uprooted. Its a terrible scene.

The house that James and I used to live in with his mom and younger brother was flattened with John (Mom's ex boyfriend) still inside. He was pulled from the crushed house with just a broken ankle. Thank God! The entire town that James lived in for three years and me for about six months is gone. I haven't gone to see the damage...but I can't imagine the scene.

This is our local paper with some of the headlines from around here.

Homepage - Neosho, MO - Neosho Daily News

This is a slideshow of the town we lived in. We still have friends and family that live there and we have not heard from them. We need prayers!!

Tulsa World: Slideshows - Picher_Tornado

I hope that if anyone lives in this area or has family that everyone is okay. My thoughts and prayers are with all.

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Lateshia - I'm so sorry to hear that, what a scary thing to be going through. I was just watching on the news last night that the tornado count is WAY higher than normal for this year.

We had an F3 tornado hit in Suffolk about two weeks ago - one of my companys buildings was torn apart, luckily the girls that were working that day hid in a closet and it saved their lives. Thank God no one here was killed but the damage to the community is pretty bad.

I'm praying that you hear from your relatives & friends soon and that all is ok.

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Ugh, wow. That brings back SO Many memories. We were caught in an F-4 in Oklahoma one year in Walmart!! It was clear when we left, when we got there they started yelling CODE BLACK everyone to the middle of the store now! It got so loud we couldn't even hear each other talking within 6 inches. It was sooo scary! I'm so glad you guys are ok though!!!!

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Oh My Goodness. I'm so glad to hear that you, dh and the boys are okay. I hope and pray that the rest of your family and friends are also okay. What a scary thing to go through and also be pregnant! I'm glad to hear that nothing happened to your house. It's unfortunate that your Dh's mom's house was flattened. Are they going to be staying with you? GL!

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Omg, how scary! And the ceilings are really tall in Walmart, so it's not necessarily the safest place from a tornado, but I'm so glad you're ok and your hose is OK. I'll def be thinking of all of your friends, keep us posted!

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OMG! How scary is that.....glad your okay!

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So glad that you are OK, that would be so scary and not sure that I would have been able to remain calm, I would have been flipping out.

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Aliya Chantel

I must admit that I get sick to my stomach when I look outside and see any clouds at all. Especially since dh is back to work now (an hour away)...I have the kids with me all day...ALONE! I keep getting up in the middle of the night and thinking of what I would do if the sirens went off...just playing it over and over in my head. ugh!

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