Straight from the Storks Nest: Hail damage...again

Earlier this month we had really bad storms move through DFW. I was about to leave the house to pick up Caitlyn from school when Brian called to warn me about the weather. A few minutes later the tornado sirens started going off. Slightly panicked, I headed quickly to school to get Caitlyn with plans to take shelter at a neighboring church with a friend. The rain was pouring and when we pulled up to the school, the teachers highly recommended we stay since a tornado was headed to the area in 15 minutes. One of the teachers helped me bring the babies and gear into the school and we took shelter in an interior room. We could hear what sounded to be large hail hitting the building and strong winds. Given previous experience from last May, I was on the phone with the body shop and the car rental place as we were taking shelter.

I'm sitting with Caitlyn and her teacher trying to keep Chase and Emmy occupied and the power went off. Flashlights went on and the teachers and older students started singing 'Jesus Loves Me'. A lot of thoughts, none too pretty, flashed through my mind and I struggled to keep it together. Caitlyn was pretty oblivious, although she was not very happy when we were told to get in the tornado position. After about an hour and a half the bad weather moved on and we were finally released to find significant damage to our cars in the parking lot. The rear window and drivers side back window were completely shattered. Baseball and golf ball size hail, glass and water were littered throughout the back of the van. The front windshield was cracked and the entire car was dimpled. The damage was done on the opposite side from Caitlyn's car seat so I was able to get everyone back in the car safely and drive home. We taped up the windows for the night and I was the first person on the list at the body shop and rental car place.

After the fact, we found out that a tornado had touched down two blocks away from the school. While not happy with the over $10,000 in damage to the van (thank goodness for insurance!), we are so thankful that it was just the car that was damaged and no one was hurt.