It has been a whirlwind since last Thursday, June 17. Storms, well, actually tornadoes, blew across parts of the county I live in, Douglas, as well as in Otter Tail County and other parts of the state. One word…devastation.
It seems as if my life, for a short period, was consumed by the storms. Our county and area, fortunately, didn’t get hit bad, but in Parkers Prairie, which is where my in-laws used to live and where my husband grew up, got hit. And as most people know and have probably read or watched on TV, Almora and Wadena also got hit hard, really hard. It’s almost unfathomable. You know, I have seen devastation on the news before, but I’ve never been up close and personal with it. Until now.
After the storms blew through, my husband and I, who both work at the newspaper in Alexandria, drove up to areas that were hit (Parkers and Almora) and I got to see with my own eyes the destruction those tornadoes caused. My husband took all the photos because all I could do was just sit in the car. The look of shock and sadness on the faces of the people in the town of Almora was almost unbearable. It is at times like this that I question my abilities of being a reporter. I think I have too much heart. Fortunately, those times are few and far between.
My heart truly goes out to the people in Almora who lost a loved one, the family in Parkers Prairie who lost their turkey farm (coincidentally, the owner also works at Weight Watchers and is the person who trained me in) and the entire community of Wadena…along with anywhere else the tornadoes struck. I truthfully can’t imagine what it is like and what they are all going through.
As a reporter, I did do my job and write stories about the devastation, even interviewing my friend, the turkey farmer, but it was hard and definitely not something I liked doing. Again, my heart goes out to all the people affected by Thursday’s tornadoes.
May God be with all of them at this time.
