Tornadoes Hit the South

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US Government

This is the landing page for the government site ready.gov/tornadoes

Kaki Williams, Reporter

Many devastating tornadoes whipped through the Deep South, late on the night of April 12. Parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina were all under tornado watches and warnings for most of the night.

One city that got hit very hard was my hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga, located in Hamilton County, has not had such a destructive tornado since 2011.

A few people have been wondering if social distancing and self isolation are more important than being safe from a tornado. The answer is that social distancing and self isolation are not more important than safety. A tornado is guaranteed to happen (when there is a tornado warning). Nobody is guaranteed to get COVID-19. Therefore, it is more important to be safe from a tornado than to be socially distant.

The local hospitals, which are already packed with COVID-19 patients, are even more full with patients who have injuries related to the tornado.

It was very hard for me to hear and accept that Chattanooga had gotten hit by a tornado.

So many questions raced through my head: is everyone okay? What got hit? Are the churches still standing? I was worried about the livelihood of my friends, my relatives, my neighbors.

Since the tornado hit late at night, when I sent out text messages to everyone asking if they were okay, I did not get too many answers. It was worrisome, to say the least.

The storm bearing the tornadoes came to my local area, so we all went into our downstairs hallway and shut all the doors so we would be as safe as possible (for all you people who don’t know, you need to be in your basement, or, if you don’t have one, you must get to a room on your first floor without windows, such as a bathroom, hallway, or closet). It was a long night for the people of the Deep South.

One of the things that made this storm so scary was that there were tornado warnings for most of the area that the storm was in. A tornado warning is when tornadoes are spotted in the area. This is different from a tornado watch, which is when a tornado may form in the area.

The tornado was a scary event. It is absolutely devastating for all the people involved.

There are power lines down, trees have fallen, and lives were lost. It is a time when the community must come together to get through.

It is a hard time, but it is a time when many people will grow closer together. We must pray for everyone who is affected by this disaster, as they are rebuilding their lives, their cities, and their homes.