Nine pm Wednesday night I get a call from a friend, checking on me, asking if we were all okay. I am so confused. Um...ya...Are you? Then she told me. Ringgold had just been ripped to pieces by a tornado. I hadn't heard from Jessie in quite awhile, and we had been texting earlier. I immediately got off the phone to call him. No answer. I called over and over and over. No answer. I was so TERRIFIED! "Samantha can't grow up without a Dad! What? No! I can't lose him!" My heart has never pounded so hard. It pounded so hard it hurt my chest. It was so loud I couldn't hear anything else going on around me. I was 5 hours away from him in Columbus, GA to see my brother graduate Basic. (Jessie couldn't come because he can't take time off since he just started his new job.)
Jessie eventually answered. Ringgold was pretty much gone. I only got to talk to him a few seconds. He told me he went back out in it to pick up people who were stranded because they were calling for another tornado. He packed our house full with family, friends, and even a few strangers. So dumb for leaving the house, but so brave for helping. I commend him for that.
I finally was able to have a real conversation with him the other day and he said that he had been at the Waffle House with a friend (which I knew) just minutes before it hit. Nobody listened to the warnings because Ringgold "doesn't get tornadoes." Jessie had left the Waffle House to pick a few things up from the house, and was getting ready to leave again when the lady up stairs started screaming for him to get back inside. The tornado was in view, ripping things to pieces as it passed. (His friend got a video.) The freezer from the Waffle House he was in was picked up and thrown across the street. The tornado picked up right before it hit our road. I am so glad he is okay, but at the same time, devastated for those who aren't. I want to do what I can to help. Luckily, our church is going to be helping, so I should get approved to do clean up or something. (Volunteers have to be approved.)
Here are some pictures of my home town, Ringgold:
I was not able to get a lot. They are not allowing people in that aren't residents. (We live right on the edge of the destruction.) But I got what I could. And here is a link to a bunch more on New Channel 9.
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| Most people were without power or internet for a few days. |
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| This is what most of the homes look like. |
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| This is what most of the business look like. |
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