De Ja Vu - MORE tornadoes??

 Another round of wild and crazy storms is passing through - lightning flashing everywhere....so far we've missed any damage....but not so Ooltewah, Cleveland (again) and other local places - I think 4 confirmed touch-downs (later: I think final count is 6) with lots of damage and more than a dozen people taken to area hospitals.  Brother G and wife are traveling down from Indiana today....or are they?  I can't imagine them traveling along with the storms, and I-24 East and West blocked and backed up due to huge powerlines across the road....We shall see. (later:  yes, they were west of the storms and saw lots of damage, especially in Indiana, got stuck on the freeway for an hour or so, etc...)

I thank God for sparing me today too - was driving home on I-75 from downtown (Eastgate) with the storm pretty much chasing me all the way home.  Don't tell anyone, but I was seriously breaking all speed records! (I'll let you know WHY I was at Eastgate in a future post).  I had to do a lot of Scripture quoting to calm down - but it worked - trust in the Lord!

Here are some photos of today's damage taken by various people - they're not mine at all:

Uh-oh, I think we'd better turn around! (Notice how the cloud looks green)

I presume these lines are "dead"! 

Is this the truck I passed just a few minutes before?  Guess not.

Several houses were moved off their foundations.

The boat marina suffered heavy damage.

Hold it RIGHT there, buster!

Definitely de ja vu   -   sigh.....a lot of clean-up in our collective future.

hmmm, a neat little problem to solve....

This looks like April 27!

And this too.  This is over by Harrison Bay/Tucker Rd.

Here's more in a link to nooga.com:

Better Tornado photos

An entry in Facebook by the Open House Volunteers.  It seems like more houses were destroyed than I thought!

Open House Volunteers

At least 30 homes destroyed in Hamilton County. Volunteers organizing chain saw gangs and aid distribution. Watch site for opportunities. Lowes sending supplies overnight. Doug Walter

Later from the Chattanoogan.com: 

More Than 50 Homes Damaged, 26 Injured In Hamilton County In Friday's Storms

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The Sheriff's Department reported that more than 50 homes were damaged and 26 people were injured when tornadoes touched down in Harrison and Ooltewah on Friday. Of the injured, one was airlifted and eight transported to area hospitals with serious injuries.  No deaths have been reported. All roads in the affected area with the exception of Shortail Springs Road, Snowhill Road from Heron Drive to Shorttail Springs and ... (click for more)


(And the updated count I saw THIS week (as of March 6) was 77 homes destroyed in Hamilton county alone, 6 tornadoes confirmed and $19 million in damages.)

Photo by Jim Ashley

Clayton Adkins of Heron Bay, Ooltewah, shows the board that was blown through the window of his mini-van during the tornado that wreaked havoc in the area on Friday.

This too shall pass!  So it's 3 for 3 now (an inside joke....)!!

We saw and heard that Calhoun,TN was getting hammered and clobbered by this storm and downtown CHA was getting golf-ball sized hail.  Ouch! The hail below was in Ooltewah.

Ooltewah Walmart parking lot (taken by a friend)

This is funny-looking snow....oh, wait......

If you want to see how Apison is getting all rebuilt from LAST year, check out this video:

Update video on tornado repairs...

Praying for safety...for us and all others who have to face the brunt of this line of storms unprotected!

On a different note yet, we celebrated an 11 year milestone today!  Made those cupcakes in icecream cones!  The kids enjoyed them at school - but then they were let out early due to the storms....oh well!

A memorable day, yes!