First, let me apologize to you for not sending out info
that I was fine although 3 tornadoes ripped through my
area. Me and my home and property were left unscathed
except for the interruption of all utilities. Physically I am
fine but emotionally I am reacting in a way that I did not
expect. I am very teary every time I think or talk about
what happened and I am having trouble articulating what
I feel let alone what it felt like to go through it. My mind
and heart are a little clearer today so I want to write you
about this experience since it is certainly nothing I had ever
been through before.
I also need to explain to my fellow Wales townspeople that
I will be putting in more detail as many of my newsreaders
are from many states across this country and are not familiar
with the way a town with no sewers or city water or even
trash pickup works. Wales is one of the few cities(towns)
left without all these kinds of services.
My youngest son called me Wednesday, June 1 and said:
“Mom, there is a tornado com………..and the line went dead.
I tried to call him back several times but there was no reply.
I decided to turn on the TV and that was when I discovered
that a tornado was coming my way. I was trying to find the
safest place to be in my home but I have no attic or even a
cellar. I was going to go into the bathtub as that is what I
see on TV. My oldest son then called me and warned me
not to get in the bathtub as it was not a heavy metal one, it
was a one piece fiberglass unit hooked to an outside wall
which would sail through the air if the tornado hit me.
He helped me decide that a small closet not on an outside
wall and more to the middle of the house would be the
safest for me. So I hunkered in there and was very
grateful that it had not been necessary as it missed
most of my town but the three surrounding towns were
not so lucky. Devastation surrounded us on three sides,
East, West and North. My land line phone worked but
my cordless and cell did not and no computer service.
Our electricity was off and who knows for how long
(it felt like an eternity).
My granddaughter from another town called twice and
my sons who lived in different cities in the local area kept
me abreast of what was happening as the TV was also
down. Suddenly my land line phone went dead and I
was alone. There are 6 houses on my small street but
no one was home but me so I was completely alone.
That is an eery feeling to experience.
Finally, one of my neighbors came home and although
I did not get to talk to him, it felt good to have someone
else around. Darkness fell but I had flashights so I
tried to read but it was difficult so I finally went to bed.
Before I went to bed, I put out raw oatmeal covered with
water so when I got up in the morning it would be edible.
Do you know you can do that? It’s called Muesli.
I did not sleep very well but it did not make sense to
get up when everything was in complete darkness and
there really was nothing to do. I finally got up around
6 AM and still no power. My refrigerator had been
without power for over 12 hours and I was concerned
about water coming into my crawl space because the
subpump could not work and the alarm was ready to
go off as the water rose higher and higher.
A year and a half ago, I had been forced to go into a
shelter and that is when I discovered that they had
no food to feed me as I am a celiac and need gluten
free food. They have supplies for diabetics but
gluten free food has not made their list of need to have.
I decided right then that I would have to make my home
my shelter so I bought a generator and all that is needed
to run it. But…..I was terrified to put the gasoline in and
get it started and then hook up all the extension cords to
reach my refrigerator and subpump. I could not even
pull out my refrigerator from it’s cubby hole in order
to plug it in.
I did not even eat breakfast but set out to find someone
who could set it up for me. I went to the fire department,
police department, and highway department but they were all
out helping to clear the roads of either people or trees or
downed electrical lines. So I headed back home hoping
I could manage it myself.
As I was nearing my house, I saw two men on the side of
the road so I stopped and asked them if they knew how to
set up a generator and if yes, could they set mine up. They
were my neighbors Jay Durand and Mike Patrick who were
heading to bed after being up over 26 hours. They were
willing to help and along with Mike’s 12 year old son Nathan
came to my home and set it all up. I had never used the
generator before so I had them put it under my kitchen
window so the two long extension cords could go through
my window to the refrigerator and the subpump. My food
was saved and I no longer had to be concerned that the water
would flood my crawl space and even my home.
My toaster oven could be plugged in too so I had a cooking
source. One of them set up a two burner propane stove that
I had for emergency purposes but never used. I was given
instructions on how to operate it and to NEVER use it in
the house. I put it on my deck but the wind was so strong
that it was just battered around so I brought it in the house
for safe keeping but if I had to use it I would use it in the
garage.
These young men were life savers, willing to forego sleep to
help a damsel in distress. I am so grateful and know that even
if I cannot repay them, in some way I will pay it forward. I am
deeply saddened over the devastation that occurred, yet so
much neighborly love and assistance came forth from this
catastrophe and people have gotten to know their neighbor.
Before this I had not met Mike and had only a passing
acquaintance with Jay.
This small town came together to help everyone who needed
it and then they went to the neighboring towns that had so much
destruction. We all need to take pride in the caring
and resourcefulness of our townspeople who gave so much of
themselves when they were desperately needed. I do not know
all the people who helped but you know who you are. A big
round of applause for you and the people of Wales.
I keep telling you about all the peaceful features of living on a lake
but there are other great features also. When there is no power,
everything shuts down. We do not have city water so there is no
water to be had through the faucets, no working toilets either. So….
down I go to the lake with buckets to get water to flush my toilet, I
just need to fill the back of the toilet with water and it works fine. We
don’t have sewer hookups either in the whole town. We either have
a leach field or a huge holding tank like I have that holds every drop of
water that you use in the house until you have it pumped out. We also
have a wonderful, marvelous spring that gives the most delicious
pure spring water. The spring is on private property but the owner
lets us go and collect the water for our use whenever we need it.
During a power outage, no one in Wales has water from their faucets
as electricity is needed to operate the pump that brings it from the
well to the house, there is no water department to call if you have
no water. There were quite a few of us at the spring that day, in
fact, I noticed much more traffic on the roads leading there then I
have ever seen in the 14 years I have lived here. Wales has
everything we need except for gas to run the generators.
Houses were demolished by the tornado that was one mile wide
is some sections. Imagine one mile wide and 40 miles in length.
A tree farm and also a horse farm suffered destruction as well
as a steeple on a church and even a grocery store was affected.
People were left homeless and have lost all that they possessed.
I see it on TV but when you see it in person with your own eyes,
it is so different, it hits you deep in your soul.
There are stories upon stories of people escaping serious harm
sometimes just by a minute or one little event. I get the goose
bumps (truth chills) as I can see God and his angels or helpers
just orchestrating each and every person to be just where they
needed to be in order to be safe. One life lost is one too many
for any reason but a disaster as large as this one had only four
deaths. You can’t tell me that we were not being watched over
and guided to be right where we were at that time. It is said that
one hour earlier or one hour later would have accounted for many
more lives lost.
Wales was without power for over 24 hours but in lieu of the
forecast being 5 to 7 days, it was a miracle. Soooo many
people, first responders, were responsible for that miracle.
All pitched in and helped where they could with as many as
12 poles were down on just one street with live wires strewn
about on the streets. It was finally decided to cut all the
wires and start from scratch.
The National Guard was called in to help people and to
control the flow of traffic. The only way people of Wales
could go was south into Connecticut. The other ways out
of town were all blocked. Of course, communication was
quite difficult as there were no TV’s or phones so we
depended on other people to tell us what was happening.
Mike came back a couple of hours later and took my gas
cans to be filled up while he filled his own. What a guy!
His son Nathan, came back three times to check on me and
to add gasoline and restart the generator. I now know how
all of it is done but I am not sure I could do it myself. I
was able to set up a lamp so that I would be able to see
better to read at night . Nathan also asked if I had movies
to watch and when I said yes, he hooked up my VCR/DVD
player so I could do that. That was great as I had many
Spiritual cinemas DVD’s that I normally do not take the
time to watch. Then he realized that I had Direct TV, not
cable so he said I should be able to watch TV and he was
right. Duh? I would not have known all of that but after
this experience, I will certainly be more prepared and aware
for the next power outage.
Need I say more, many human angels stepped up to the
plate to help one another and I am eternally grateful to
the human angels who stepped up to help me. Perhaps
they feel that what they did was not much but to me,
it was life saving. I am forever grateful.
PS. Has anyone realized that this event happened
on an eclipse? I know we are in a triad series of eclipses
as well as the solstice and these events trigger many
energy crisis’.
Love and Light
Mary Grace
www.TheWoundedChalice.com
www.TheWoundedChalice.com/blog
[email protected]