What I have Learned from the Tornado Outbreak

It's been over a week since the tornado outbreak hit Alabama. Where we live, we were under a tornado watch from about 2:30 a.m. until about 9:00 p.m., non-stop. A good portion of that time, we were under warnings. The following are a few things I have learned that hopefully will remembered the next time Mother Nature strikes.

1. Be prepared: Okay, I knew we could be prepared for being out of power for a few hours, but what about days? The only time I think about being without power for a couple of days is if there is a possibility of an ice storm. I wasn't thinking about a tornado taking out the TVA lines that supply our area with power. Lucky for us, we had enough gas in the car to make it the Shoals area and a few dollars on us until we made it to an ATM machine. Sometimes, we get too dependent on debt or credit cards, so we have to remember that you don't always have electricity for those things to operate.

2. Battery powered TVs: This is one I was kicking myself over. I had a battery radio that we used during the storms, but would have loved to had the battery TV that I had seen in either Sam's or Costco. When I was looking at it, my thought was that we wouldn't need it because we could use the computer instead. It's hard to do that if you can't access your Internet provider. I want to be able to see where the storms are moving. Radio stations around here do carry the TV feed when the storms get close to the area, but you are not able to see the radar.

3. Battery powered lights: We have already corrected this issue. During the storm and after, we had oil lamps, flashlights and candles, but wanted more light. We picked up a couple of lights on our way back to Alabama in case our power was not on when we returned home.

4. Clean house and do laundry before storms. I use to make fun of myself for doing housework the day before or of a predicted storm. I would make the joke that if a storm hit, I would have wasted my time. Well, this time, I have spent a couple of days cleaning after being gone for five days after the storm. It was hard to pick up without power, then on Thursday morning, we were busy throwing away things out of the refrigerator, packing and getting out of town.

5. Be thankful for what you have: As we learned last week, it only takes a few seconds to lose everything you own. When I started to complain this morning about the garage door not working, it dawned on me that there were a lot of people in our area that wished that was all they had to worry about. I've been about to see all the people volunteering to go out and help people that they do not know. I've taken time to go help our church in serving the volunteers food. We always have to remember to be helpful and serve others.