I knew the call couldn’t be good news
Posted on Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Even though I wear hearing aids (sometimes ), I heard this storm hit from more than 1, 200 miles away.
It happened two weeks ago when, as my wife and I were just sitting down to eat at a local pizza joint, my cell phone rang.
It was my mother calling from Culpeper, Va., outside of Charlottesville. I was immediately concerned because she never calls that number; she always uses our home phone. My first thought was something had happened to a family member, perhaps a sibling, maybe my stepfather or even her.
Because of the noise level in the restaurant, I took my phone outside so I could hear her.
After I said hello, she wasted no time in asking if Martha and I had been watching TV. I told her we hadn't, we had just gotten to a restaurant.
With that, she related to me the news that a tornado - apparently one of significant size, because she called it a "hell of a big one " - had touched down in Suffolk, Va., killing one and injuring hundreds of others.
Normally such a thing would have evoked only a minor amount of concern and maybe an "Is that right ?"But in this case, Suffolk had been our home prior to moving to Bella Vista, and we have several friends still living there.
When I returned to the table, I told Martha and noticed that one of the establishment's TVs was on the weather station. I thought we might see something fairly quickly, until I realized it was the local weather only. We would have to wait until we got home to learn more.
In the meantime, Martha took her cell and went outside to call our friend Kathy, or "Ducky," as she is known to us.
Ducky was a member of Martha's quilt group back in Suffolk, and we spent a lot of time with her and husband Harold. He was my golfing buddy, among other things.
She must have known it was Martha because her first words were," We're OK."
Martha said it was obvious she was a bit shaken, but the
A mile or two away, as the crow flies, things were a lot different.
As anybody who has followed this event knows, homes were literally obliterated, wiped out so that only concrete slabs remained.
One strip mall, built after we left, was destroyed and nearly flattened.
Cars were on top of other cars. I remember seeing one photo of a sports utility vehicle or pickup truck that had been lifted up and thrown through the brick wall of a nearby building.
All of this was happening within a few yards of the area's hospital, Sentara Obici, named after Louise Obici. She was the wife of Amedeo Obici, the founder of Planters Peanuts. Some of you may know that Suffolk is the world headquarters for the peanut company.
While the hospital dodged a direct hit, I understand dozens of windows were blown out, and cars were flipped in the parking lot and stacked like firewood.
Ducky told Martha she had heard from some other mutual friends, and they, like she and her husband, were just fine. In fact, the morning after the storm, Harold went to the hospital to help clean up. That's like Harold. He already spends several hours a week at the facility driving a golf cart to and from the building and parking lots transporting visitors and patients.
That same evening, and into the next day, Martha and I talked about what it must be like there now.
We remembered eating dinner at Ruby Tuesday's and working out at the YMCA, both located directly across the street from where the twister (s ) touched down.
Our favorite Mexican restaurant was a stone's throw from many of those flattened homes and crushed cars.
When we first arrived in Suffolk, we had looked at a few houses in one of the "direct-hit "neighborhoods. We eventually bought one about five miles away. As far as I know it survived, but then again, it no longer belongs to us.
The storm also caused significant damage to the small town of Driver, a few miles north and east of downtown Suffolk. We hadn't spent much time there, but we had driven through and by it several times traveling to Chesapeake, Va., and its indoor shopping mall. It is a quaint little place that had, until last week, several stores dealing in antiques and "gently-used "items. I think, from what I have been reading, that most of those stores are gone or heavily damaged, as are a number of homes.
I also have since found out there were no fatalities, something that is amazing to a lot of people who have seen the carnage. The 200 or so injuries stand, but I don't believe there were many, if any, serious ones.
Our friends, and thousands of others we do not know, were lucky. Whatever they have lost can be replaced. It will be a struggle for many, but it can be done.
If there is a silver lining in this very ugly, dark cloud, it is that all are alive today. That means they have been given a second chance. And I doubt that the significance of what has happened is lost on any of them. I know it would not be on us. We pray that all who have suffered in this tragedy find peace and comfort in their God, their family, their friends - whoever or whatever can bring that to them. And we wish them well in their recovery. We will be praying for them from here, 1, 200 miles away. Won't you ?
• • • Douglas Grant is managing editor of The Weekly Vista. He has been a journalist since 1987 and worked in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida.
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