Last night, while I and 6 guests enjoyed our Shabbat dinner, a whopper of a thunderstorm started flashing outside. We all stood on the front porch and watched in wonder as lightning streaked the sky and rain fell. Observant Jews actually utter blessings upon seeing lightning and hearing thunder and they are lovely:
For lightning: Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech ha'olam, oseh ma'aseh bereshit. Blessed are you, lord our god, ruler of the universe, who makes the act of creation
For thunder: Baruch atah adonai, eloheinu melech ha'olam, shekocho u’gevurato malei olam. Blessed are you, lord our god, ruler of the universe, whose strength and whose might fill the world.
Cabbagetown Damage
While watching the sky show, we had no idea that at that very moment, a tornado had touched down in Cabbagetown and the Centennial Park area of downtown Atlanta. Damage was extensive. The Georgia Dome was hit while the Hinman Dental Show was in progress. (My agency is exhibiting at Hinman, but fortunately we took our exhibit out on Friday afternoon.) The CNN Center, Omni Hotel and Cotton Stack Lofts also were damaged. I had just looked at a 2 bedroom loft unit at the Cotton Stacks!
The city remains under a tornado watch until 1:00 am Sunday.
This tornado was incredible. Thank goodness the damage wasn't worse -- and the death toll wasn't higher. These unpredictable storms are frightning.
Posted by: Daisy | March 17, 2008 at 08:44 PM
A few hours before you got your proper scary tornado, I looked out the window here in Cumming and saw that the sky had turned green. Suddenly, we had hail landing on our deck, pinging against the windows and roof.
My parents were here, and my mother nervously said "maybe we should turn on the local news." I switched on the kitchen TV (we were eating lunch at the kitchen table) just in time to hear "For those of you in Cumming, take shelter, take shelter, take shelter immediately..."
I made my two eldest go to the basement, carried the baby down, followed by parents and husband. We then watched the incredible coverage for the rest of the night, hearing of storms passing only a few miles away from us, but thankfully not touching down.
What we had missed though, maybe 15 seconds before we turned on the TV, was the meterorologist saying "It is now over..." and listing the two roads that intersect less than a quarter of a mile from our house.
Our storm radios failed to play a warning at any time that afternoon.
I think we need to say some blessings as well.
Posted by: HeatherErin | March 30, 2008 at 10:48 PM