AAhhh Silence… Raleigh Tornado, April 2011
Where to begin… I feel as if I have been VERY neglectful about staying in touch with my clients, friends & acquaintances… BUT I do have a VERY good reason…
37 days ago our home was badly damaged by one of the tornados which hit the Triangle (Raleigh/Durham area) – in the overall scheme of things we had serious damage to the home we live in, and the land surrounding it… but there were other families all over the Triangle & Johnston County that were left worse off than us.
That’s our house in the background… the trees surrounding our house are upwards of 60 years old, if not more… they were HUGE thick trees that snapped like little twigs during the storm.
It took me till sometime last week to get the ability to actually begin to write this experience out, before that I had some writer’s block; I honestly think that was from my mind not wanting to revisit the actual events in order for me to describe it properly.
Nonetheless, the first REAL storm we had after the tornado was going to put me emotionally back in that moment whether I wanted it to, or not. I could hear the storm in the distance – it was a cooler day so all of our windows were open & I was looking forward to the smell of rain. Suddenly, I began to get uneasy; watching the sky turn dark black, then it happened… one really large CRACK of lightning followed by thunder. Instantly I was transported back to the moment I heard the tornado’s powerful noise barreling towards us.
April 16th, 2011
It was a Saturday afternoon, about 2:30 pm we had just said goodbye to Kourtney’s friends who had spent the night to celebrate her 10th Harry Potter themed sleepover (complete with Quidditch!)
I gathered all the bikes, toys, Morgan’s princess quad & my real estate signs (which had marked party stations & the Quidditch field) and put them away in the garage. Keep in mind, I NEVER put that stuff away & I would have been content to simply leave the real estate signs staked in the yard. (I Thank the Lord I didn’t – and I am not very religious).
Since I knew we were expecting serious thunderstorms – I also stopped outside the garage and decided to bring the dogs in from the dog run where they normally spend their days outside – I figured it would save me returning to them in a downpour. As it began to spit large, round drops the girls and I went into the family room & I returned to other tasks while they watched The Disney Channel. Maybe 10 minutes later the house phone rang with a severe thunderstorm warning, (we signed up for these alerts with our local news channel – they go to my husband & I at our home and on our cell phones.)
Here’s where it begins to get complicated, I was supposed to be leaving the house to pick up my mother & sister @ RDU within 30-40 minutes. They were flying in from Phoenix to spend Spring Break with us, and their arrival was a planned surprise for my daughters. The plan was to leave the girls’ with my mother-in-law who lives with us while I made that roundtrip to keep the surprise a secret. As the storm got worse, I realized if I left, and the power went out, everyone at home (including Grandma Pat) would panic. It was about that time I spoke to my husband on my cell phone (which yes, still had service) and I told him that when my family called to say they had landed, I was planning to load the girls, ruin the surprise and take them to the airport.
Then the power went out as it always does during a decent rainstorm. We live in a really old farmhouse – part of which was built in Civil War era, and anytime we have a decent heavy rain the power will flicker and disappear. Most times the phone line also goes out… so following the normal pattern of events shortly after we lost power the phone died. Moments before dying it rang, the recorded message on the other end told me that the severe thunderstorm had been upgraded to a tornado watch. OK, still no biggie… we had received that message before, no previous storm ever grew to be any worse.
So – now I have no power, and no hard-wired phone… and I’ve made the decision and told Tom (via cell) that I will be taking the girls’ with me to the airport… especially since the tornado watch message had just come thru to me. Once I hang up with him, what feels like moments later, my cell phone rings AGAIN – I’m beginning to worry now so I let the message roll to voicemail because I wanted to be able to replay it without background noise from the kids. (The phone rang at 3:27 pm according to the voicemail STILL saved on my phone)
Now I am afraid to play the voicemail back, I have the blackest sky I have ever seen looming over our front yard and wind that’s so fierce the whistling is a loud howl. I dial into my voicemail and play back the message. It is almost 2 minutes long and it continuously repeats, go inside, find a secure place away from windows, there is a tornado ON THE GROUND in YOUR area!! Needless to say, I am now panicking on the inside I hold my fear inside only to keep my kids from seeing it all over my face.
As weird as it is, the very next thing I think of as I look at my girls’ is they have no shoes on! Really strange I know, but the protective mom in me was thinking, if we actually get hit by a tornado and sustain damage they need shoes to protect their feet from glass or any other materials. My second thought is I have to quickly motivate my mother-in-law from her apartment out back to join all of us in the family room. I very calmly said to my girls put your shoes on now, then I ran upstairs and grabbed my 4 yr olds’ blanket and favorite stuffed elephant. I also grabbed special items for the 10 year old.
When I returned grandma had joined us, and I hustled everyone into the safest room I could think of, the bathroom which is not more than 6 feet x 4 feet. The girls’ sat within the porcelain tub, while my mother-in-law and I squeezed in on the floor at that very moment it dawned on me, it had been relatively quiet outside, eerily quiet.
It wasn’t moments later that the wind picked back up and the proverbial train sound began, moving closer and closer. I promised my girls that everything would be fine, I had told them we would be safe, then I began praying in my head. I have never prayed harder, I could hear trees snapping outside, windows breaking, and items being slammed to the ground.
When the storm noise stopped I told everyone to stay where they were and I went to survey any damage. As I opened the bathroom door, I realized I was hearing water pouring in thru the roof. It was soaking our dogs who were locked up in their kennels. Once I moved the dogs and our computers which were also getting soaked, I glanced out the windows… I couldn’t believe the damage I saw, huge trees down all around us, several on top of the house.
I allowed the girls and my mother-in-law to return to the family room and then I tried the front door which was completely blocked. At the time we lived on a 100 acre horse farm and our closest neighbor was almost ¼ mile up the road, I have no phone or electric I thought to myself what am I going to do now? Just then there was a banging on the front door, it was our closest neighbor Jeff he was able to create a clear path and open the front door. His first concern was that we were safe and not injured. He explained that there were trees down all around us including our main entry to the property, one thru the windshield of my truck we wouldn’t be going anywhere. It was apocalyptic.
Horse fencing, barns, 40,000 sq feet riding rings, a 2 car garage, dog pens and sections of a tin roof were scattered all over the place; some hanging from trees.
For the next six weeks I felt like I was going nowhere. Most of my time was spent traveling between an Extend-A-Stay, the elementary school my children attend, the house to meet contractors and if I was lucky the grocery store. It took almost 40 semi trucks to haul off all the broken trees from the property, earth movers and all types of heavy machinery took over my front yard.
The animals we normally saw disappeared into the woods, the girls had nowhere to play, and it took quite awhile for me to feel safe and secure again. Silence truly was not restored for almost 8 weeks, which left us living in this heavy construction area.
The tornado put many things into perspective for me within a matter of moments and to this day I remind myself several times a day. Nothing except your family is important! Every material thing can be replaced over time! Honestly all that matters is that you walk away alive.
Yours to Count On,
Erika Madsen
The Madsen Team ~ Our Trademark is Communication
Associate Broker/Realtor ®, CDPE, CLHMS
Coldwell Banker ~ Howard Perry & Walston
919.467.1882 office
919.520.6612 cell
919.653.4821 fax
