Amazing…ly Scary

We all know that Mother Nature, even in her finest, can be a force to be reckoned with. Monday, we were hit with another round of sever weather. Its been a rough summer for us. Monday’s storm brought one small tornado to our town with an eight minute path of destruction. There were others in the area as well but this one was too close for comfort. Understand, there is really nothing small about any tornado, they go from bad to horrid. Fortunately, no severe damage was done that I know of and I have not heard of any casualties but I do know some people had to be rescued after the storm.

My house faces east, so the back yard was in full onslaught as the storm made its approached. Pictures don’t really show how black the sky was.

The tornado that was in Davenport was one block from my church and in a last ditch effort to destroy, the tornado took one of our beautiful trees that lined our sidewalk. The storm a few weeks ago took out a tree on the other side of the church by breaking it in half. They will usually do that or completely knock the tree to the ground. But when surveying the ground, I feel the funnel cloud was lifting when it hit this tree and twisted it with the 100 MPH force of the funnel, lifting it into the air. Look at the pictures and see what I mean. I could be totally wrong but this is what I feel happened.

You can see from where the tree was planted, the dirt is not really heaved to one side like they do when knocked over. The hole is rounded and somewhat smooth. The base of the tree also suggests it was twisted off like a bottle cap as no deep roots are present and the roots still attached show a twisted motion.

You can’t tell from the picture, but there is an indention under the trunk. I think the tree was dropped here and feel backwards toward the sidewalk. It left drag marks from it’s home. The drag marks are small as if it was from the trunk, not the tree limbs.

It was moved a good 30-40 feet before falling back to the ground.

Here you can see where the tree was originally planted on your right and now where it lays, 180 degrees from a normal fall direction. As I said earlier, I am no expert, but in my opinion, taking in the size and weight of the tree, plus the direction it is now laying, suggest it fell from the sky. Mother nature can indeed be a scary beast. Remember when storms are coming, please be over-safe to make sure you can take crazy pictures like these once the storm is gone.

And as always, I remind you to be extra kind when you can. You may be that light of sunshine someone needs.