Tornado

When I went to bed last night, it was raining.

I went upstairs about 9:30 and read for a while before dozing off. Wife had left in the late afternoon to go to Huntsville, with plans to go to Atlanta later today.

I heard it raining and thundering pretty strongly during the night but slept fairly soundly. A friend texted me just before 6 a.m. to ask if we were OK.

It was then I learned a tornado had touched down a few miles north of here. The damage is substantial, with eight people confirmed dead so far.

It's all that's on our local news coverage and it's sobering to see buildings and landmarks I'm familiar with that were hit.

We're no strangers to tornados here and our first responders are on sight. Just under 50,000 folks are without power. Relief stations have been set up. The mayor and governor held a joint press conference and apparently they've been in touch with the president.

Right now all we can do is pray for those who have been affected. I sent a text to a young friend who lives in East Nashville offering our home if they need a place to go. She said they were fortunate. They lost power for a few hours but it has been restored.

I'm on the board of directors for a local homeless shelter and life recovery center and our women's campus is without power, but the buildings were not damaged.

I learned a long time ago to respect these storms but I am probably not careful enough. I was unaware of anything other than strong rain until I got up this morning.

Down here south of Nashville we dodged another bullet. We're praying for our nearby neighbors.