Easter 2020- Your Classmate's Experience

After the last challenge posted, one of your classmates chose to write about their experience during the tornado that devastated Covington County. I was given permission to publish it here anonymously.

I challenge you to use them as inspiration and send in your writings of your experiences during this time. 

Easter 2020

  Easter 2020 forever changed my life. I’ve never cared much for bad weather. Living in South Mississippi, we get a lot of it this time of year. We always get tornado warnings but they almost always miss us or never touch down. This Easter, however, that was not the case. I will never forget what it was like in those excruciating moments before the tornado, during the tornado, and after the tornado.
Just like any other time that there is bad weather, me and my family went to my grandparents house, which is located right across the road from our mobile home. We left around 2 P.M. to walk over there. About an hour and a half later we started hearing what we thought was thunder but we quickly realized  it was actually a disastrous tornado in Bassfield. As soon as we realized this, me, my brothers, and two cousins got into the bathroom as my mamaw started putting things on the counter of the bathroom in a box. This was to be sure there would not be anything that could hit us. It was terrifying to be in the moment of possibility and unknown. We stayed in there for about twenty minutes before things got really scary.
After about twenty minutes of sitting in the bathroom I got up to walk out. As I was walking into the hall my aunt pushed me back into the bathroom and in a frantic terrified voice said, “It’s coming!” just as the power went out. There were ten of us in the bathroom all trying to cover up with pillows and thick blankets.  I could start to hear debris hitting the house and creaking and cracking. The walls started shaking and then there was a big bang. It was at that moment I thought me and my family were all about to die. I had never felt so hopeless and scared in my entire life. What felt like forever only lasted a couple seconds and things strangely got calm.
Once we were all sure it was over we got out of the bathroom only to realize the big bang we all heard was a tree that had fallen through my grandparents' living room. We walked to the front door and all you could see was trees that had fallen and the destruction or demolition of homes. We were trapped in and had to climb out through trees. We only had one vehicle left out ten that were parked before the storm. When we left we were trying to get somewhere else out of fear we were going to get hit by another tornado. We watched people get pulled out of rubble of what used to be their homes. The next day people started showing up and helping and everybody came together. Even though we had just experienced something that will stay with us forever, it was great seeing the community come together to help each other in this tough time.
In conclusion, Easter 2020 is a day that I will never forget, especially the short amount of time before, during and after the tornado. It was terrifying hearing everything and even harder seeing my family's homes destroyed. \it was also truly amazing seeing everybody who came together to help and who cared for us, that is the beauty that comes out of disaster.