I hate tornadoes.

Tornadoes are awful, awful, awful. They make one of the top three things I am the most scared of (followed by snakes and math, ha). Growing up in eastern Colorado, it was a given you were going to encounter a lot of them during the summer months. The town whistle would go off, you'd haul your ass into the southwest corner of the house, and wait. I can remember being asleep in my bed, my dad coming in and in one big fail swoop, taking me downstairs in the middle of the night because a tornado was coming. He would stand at the door with it cracked a little, listening for the tell-tale sounds of the tornado coming. If the wind would stop (which was NEVER good), he'd come back, remind us to pull blankets over our heads, and we'd pray.

I hate tornadoes.

A tornado once wiped out my girlfriend's home and farm. They lived twelve miles north of our town, and there wasn't any town whistle to go off, absolutely no warning. It just fell out of the sky and crumbled what little of the house they had in the first place. It caused the fridge to fall on her grandmother. It tossed their van into an irrigation sprinkler. And the irrigation sprinkler had been jerked into a curly q and and the van was stuffed in the middle. My girlfriend told us a few months later, someone in Kansas had sent back some homework of hers that had been thrown into their yard. Miles and miles away.

I hate tornadoes and I hate them ever more this week.

A tornado hit a small town south of where I grew up a few days ago. They believe the winds with the tornado were around 199 mph. The town whistle didn't have time to go off, it just dropped on this little town. I recognize a lot of names and faces. I can understand the destruction this would cause had it happened in my hometown.

If you'd like to help out this small community with a monetary donation, here are some links with information on how to:

"... Financial contributions are being accepted and can be sent to the following address:

Prowers County
301 S. Main Street, Suite 301
Lamar, CO 81052

The Mile High Chapter of the American Red Cross is also encouraging people to donate through their Web site at www.denver-redcross.org. You can also call the local Red Cross volunteer coordination line at 303-607-4757

You can also help through the Salvation Army. Click here for the Salvation Army Web site. You can also call the Intermountain Division of the Salvation Army at 303-861-4833 or toll free 800-357-0856.

9NEWS has also started a Heal Holly campaign. Click here tfind out more about how you can help Heal Holly."


Keep in mind, too, that this is a community that has been through a LOT in these past few months. The winter we had in eastern Colorado was horrendous. There were a lot of livestock lost, and again in this tornado, many ranchers lost even more of their already depleted herd.

Any help will help.

Labels: charity, holly colorado, tornado