Tornado in Tupelo
May 8, 2008
We were awakened this morning by an enormous clap of thunder followed by lightning followed by extremely high winds followed by the sound of the warning system blaring in the distance. The tornado that passed through Tupelo around 8 AM came through our subdivision. It blew down a tree in the backyard between our property and the Blackwells who live right behind us. There was quite a bit of tree damage in the neighborhood, some damage to homes on our street, serious damage to a building about a half-mile away. And more damage to the Barnes Crossing Shopping Mall. Some debris but no damage to our property.
Between our fence and our neighbor’s fence
Two blocks from our home4:02 PM update. We have been reminded today of the power of the media. Marlene’s brother Dale called from Montana and Harry Bollback carred from Florida because they had seen the report of the Tupelo tornado on TV. Plus we have gotten emails from various friends checking in. We’re happy to say that we are doing fine. Mark and Vanessa are fine also.
4:08 PM Mark and I went out this morning to take some pictures, which he then uploaded to iReport on the CNN website. He got a call from CNN to verify that he had in fact taken the pictures. You can view those pictures on the CNN website:
At the moment Mark’s pictures are listed on the CNN frontpage under the iReport section. He is also listed in the Latest News section under “Twister in Tupelo.”