What an EF4 Tornado Can Do and Not Do

Some weeks back we had a category EF4 tornado blow through our little town of Harrisburg IL. This is the timeline of that morning:

4:59am -Tornado hits the south part of Harrisburg staying on the ground for approximately 26 miles into the little town of Ridgeway

6:15 am -My phone rings. My neighbor, "Tracy is our homes ok there?" "Yes...why?", I respond. "Well a tornado just hit Harrisburg!" she states. "What...where did it go through?" I ask. She explains the path it took...I ask.."Do I still have a place to work?" She confers with her co-workers, "I don't think so Tracy." I am just stunned.

6:20 am- I call my boss..she seems dazed and confused. She tells me to wait and not come into town that she needs to try to go and see how the Optometry building faired.

6:30 am- I tell my husband the path of the tornado. My husband is so worried about his cousin Bo, e that he throws his chainsaw into the back of the truck and takes off.

7:00 am- Bad cell service because of the storm damage but my hubby calls and breaking up he states that he can't even get into town because they had all main routes into town blocked off. He says to me that it resembled a war zone....he was saddened by all the destruction.

9:00 am- I speak with my pastors wife about the tornado...she asks me to pray for one of ladies (Linda) I go to church with...the pastor was trying and trying to call her to see if she was ok, but no answer. She was living in the hardest hit areas.

9:30 am- Andy comes home we are watching the TV non-stop and our hearts were crying out for the people in Harrisburg, IL

10:00- My hubby goes back to town with his equipment with a neighbor (Jim)  to see if they can help in the relief effort.

10:00-3:00 pm....I wait...no news

3:30 pm- I call my boss at work...she says we still have a building but 3 doors down those place are completely leveled.

4:00pm- I run into a neighbor she says there was 21 year old girl that died...I used to babysit her when I was teenager. My heart breaks for the family.

4:30pm- My pastors wife called...they found Linda...her son found her...she was gone. I cry...I will miss her and her great personality and great sense of humor.

5:00 pm- My hubby and Jim come back they helped an older couple that was living in a trailer. The old man told my hubby and Jim that one minute he was in the bathroom the next minute he was standing outside and his house was gone. His son came to help find his mom and she was under the rubble,stunned, asking what was on top of her. The son says "the whole dang house is on you mom!"....she simply states, "well get it off me!"

7:00pm- Death count is up to 5

9:00 pm- Volunteers from all over the US begin coming in.

10:00pm- An EF4 tornado can destroy much, take lives,  but it can not destroy compassion.

To be continued: