Tornado...

These are the thoughts that ran through my mind in bed last might after watching the news with the terrible pictures of the devastation in Oklahoma. So many dead; surely they could see it coming. They must have had time to get away, why didn’t they run? Outside the direct path of the tornado buildings were left standing, people stood on the fringes and watched videoing the devastation with their mobile phones. It wasn’t fast; the half mile wide tornado moved slowly taking over 30 minutes to cross the town of Moore.

I can’t imagine the violence inside that huge funnel of wind and whirling debris. If I was hit by a tornado would I whirl, be lifted into the air tumbling over and over, passing magpies, cows and old ladies riding bicycles. Would I remain conscious as the wind whirled me upwards and upwards?  Would I scream, and if I did would I hear myself above the deafening roar of the wind? Would the breath be sucked out of me by the hot, humid air, suffocating me before it dashed me against the tangle of trees and broken detritus it had whipped up and lifted from the ground?

It took a long time for me to fall asleep and when I did I dreamt of tornadoes. For me though, it was just a dream. For so many others it was just the beginning of a nightmare.