With everything going on in the world, the Rapture wouldn’t be surprising. As a Christian, I’m ready and waiting, and I was pretty sure it had arrived at 5:00am on Easter Sunday 2020. Every April seems to bring one good (well actually bad) storm through central Texas. In the past we’ve been caught off guard with high winds and hail in the middle of the night, but this time we prepared a little bit better for a storm that was coming with lots of rain, wind and possible hail. We made sure that all vehicles were under cover and nothing could blow away. We’re still living in our camper, since our home isn’t quite done. Riding out storms in the camper is about like riding on the front car of the Rattler roller coaster at Six Flags, seat-belts should be required.
Well, we went to bed late Saturday night knowing that the storm was coming, and we felt prepared. Then, at 4:47am the alarms sounded! The tornado warning alarms. Not a tornado watch, but a warning! The difference being that a watch means weather conditions are just right for a tornado, and a warning means that a tornado is brewing or has been detected on radar. I don’t think I have ever mentioned that tornadoes are my biggest fear. I don’t do well when I can’t properly prepare for things, and a tornado is always a surprise. I had also had two nightmares about tornadoes the previous week. So, when the alarms sounded and I realized it was a tornado warning, I bolted up out of bed like my hair was on fire. I flipped the TV on to our local news and then did what any sane person does when they wake up at 5am, I went to the bathroom. While I was in the bathroom, I could see through the window this flickering light, like a streetlight that was going out. When I looked out the window, I realized it was the lightening illuminating the entire sky. I then went back to bed and I could tell by the look on my husbands face that things were not good. Then I heard the meteorologist repeatedly say, people who were in Elm Mott need to seek shelter immediately. We were right in the middle of Elm Mott, and in a trailer!
My husband looked at me and said, what should we do? I’m pretty sure my face said it all, RUN!! However, this wasn’t that easy. We had two cats and a dog to get into the car, that was behind a fence. I jumped out of bed, wrapped our most nervous cat in a blanket and bolted out the door and into the car, while my husband ripped the fence from the ground and threw it to the side. I then looked up to see my husband running out of the camper holding the second cat in the air by his scruff and shooing the dog to the car. He opened the door grabbed the dog by the collar to help her into the car, tossed the cat in and ran around to hop into the driver’s seat. As we were rushing out, we noticed several other residence of the campground doing the same.
We headed south, away from the worst of the storm. The rain and wind were coming in so hard, and neither of us grabbed our glasses, we could hardly see. Both cats sat wrapped in my lap for a while, eventually going limp. After about 5 minutes on the road we were out of the worst of it. Finally, the cats went into the back seat and settled down next to the dog. I think them all being together gave them some comfort. This is about the time that I realized I had no shoes, no bra, and no pants! This was great, if we made the news I was going to be “that lady”.
We made it to a parking garage out of the tornado warning zone and waited about 30 minutes. The storm lessened, and we decided to head back to see if we still had somewhere to call home for the time being. But not before running through the Whataburger drive-thru, after all of that we were starving! Thank the Lord, no tornado ever actually touched down in Texas and all was spared. Louisiana and Mississippi were not as fortunate as we were. Later in the day tornadoes touched down in Louisiana and Mississippi killing 22 people and destroying tons of homes and businesses.
We are very lucky. Easter tuned out to be a beautiful day. The storm and darkness passed, the clouds parted, and the sun shone bright. We spent the day with our son as we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. While it wasn’t the Rapture, it was definitely a symbolic Easter that we won’t ever forget. We were blessed that the tornadoes missed us, and we are now looking into having a storm shelter buried in our backyard for future storms.