A Stormy Night

This was the scene from our front porch Thursday night around 7:30 p.m.!

The rain moved in around 7:00 Thursday night. It was raining, but not too bad. There was more thunder and lightning than anything. The kids were in the family room and Johnny and I were in the kitchen. We heard a loud boom and a huge flash of lightning! I jumped it because it was so loud! The lightning hit our alarm system and knocked it out. We just had to reset it, so it was no big deal.

Later 10 minutes or so we heard sirens. I walked by the front door and looked out and saw smoke coming from above the trees across the street. My first thought was it was on the street behind our neighbors. Then I saw our neighbors backing out their cars and I realized it was their house. Everyone is safe!

Johnny and I grabbed our umbrellas and went out to help. Our neighbors were out of town and her parents were there with their youngest child who is 1. They also have two girls ages 4 and 7 and they were with the other grandparents.

There were 4 fire trucks and several police cars blocked off the road. They got the fire out quickly. Afterwards a company came and put tarps on everything to keep the rain out and from doing more damage. Later a firetruck came back to double check everything.

I went over their yesterday morning to see how they were doing. Michael and Rachel got back in town the night before and were there looking around. Their insurance agent was there too. The lightning struck the corner of the roof and fire started in the attic.

All of their stuff seems OK. There was water damage to the main level ceilings in the family room and kitchen. The top floor roof in the back is gone and you can see sky. The roof fell in over the laundry room. The jack and Jill bathroom is gone. It was very eerie - the door frame and door was there. The door was standing open and it looked like if you walked through the door you would just disappear. The firemen did a fabulous job shoving stuff in closets and pulling the furniture away from the walls to protect it.

They will have to move out for a few months while they rebuild/repair the upstairs. Everyone is safe and their stuff is fine, but please continue to keep them in your prayers.