On Saturday we went to Toad Suck Daze, a street festival in Conway, Arkansas. The railroad runs through downtown Conway, and while we were there, we got to watch a freight train rumble down the tracks and past us.
For the record, the EF-5 tornado that ripped through Harvest, Alabama about a mile from my house didn’t sound like a freight train. It sounded like a long, continuous grumble of thunder. At the time we thought it was thunder, caused by the near-continuous lightning strikes occurring ahead of the tornado.
We were lucky. As far as I can tell, our house wasn’t damaged at all. We’re all safe, as are all of my friends. We did lose power, since TVA scrammed all three nuclear reactors at Browns Ferry and the storm destroyed some two hundred poles, steel towers and transmission lines, not to mention many of the 500 kV and 161 kV lines.
(Photo courtesy of the TVA)
We were able to flee to Arkansas to stay with family, at least until rising flood waters in central Arkansas sent us elsewhere. I promise, I’m not related to Jim Cantore.
If you want to help out, you can donate to an organization like the Red Cross, although I recommend not specifically earmarking the money for Alabama. If you’re near us, consider donating blood or needed items like water and tarps.
Actually, you’re the inverse Cantore. He was in Arkadelphia on Tuesday and was talking about coming to Huntsville on Wednesday, and I chirped him on his pronunciation of Ouachita. In light of everything, I feel bad about that. I went back through his timeline to find that tweet, and reading his tweets from the peak of the outbreak was chilling.