Wind, Rain, Hail: Early Morning Storm Tears up the Town

Around 2:15 am, we awoke to the sound of the EAS Evac alarm sounding. Not like we had really been asleep with all the thunder, lightening and rain. We turned on the TV to see that a Tornado was heading our way. Ruben went and grabbed Natalie from bed, as I took the dog. We all camped out in the downstairs bathroom till about 3:00 am once we heard the storm had passed. Luckily the Tornado didn't touch down near us, but did go on to hit 3 other towns in Jefferson Parish and Orleans Parish. For a rather small twister, it certainly caused quite a bit of damage. It tore through a motel, flipped a firehouse, reduced lots of houses to nothing but sticks, and not only injured several, but managed to kill one (that we know of.) The storm left 30,000 people without power this morning. The storm reminded me of when I was a child growing up in Illinois. It seemed like half my life had been spent in the bathroom. There's times I remember my mom calling me from work, telling me to go sit in the tub until she called back and told me it was OK to get out. Luckily I've never experienced a Tornado first hand, although I have seen one fairly up close and personal while watching an air show on Scott Air Force Base. Getting up at 7:00 to get Natalie ready for school just was not an easy task, as I don't think I ever went back to sleep. Actually I was quite surprised to find that school was in session today, but I guess that's kind of a good thing, she needs all the school she can get. Ruben and I are both extremely upset with both the NV School System and LA School System. After enrolling her in 1st grade (where she should be, she graduated kindergarten in 2006), they determined that she did not meet the requirements of the LA School System. I always said that 2 hours and 45 minutes of kindergarten in NV was a waste of time, and it appears I was right. The school wanted my permission to send her back to kindergarten. Ruben and I got the impression that none of the 1st grade teachers wanted to deal with her to try to catch her up, which is why we're so pissed, but according to the principal, the kindergartners here are on NV 1st grade level - meaning they can already read and write. The 1st graders here are expected to read a book each night, write a 5 sentence paragraph daily, and do math which included beginning Algebra. Hell I wasn't even taught Algebra till 7th or 8th grade! I know every school or state is different, and we know we enrolled her in the highest ranked school in the district, but still to be reduced to a nap time at 7 is so upsetting to us, because we know she is much smarter than that. UGH! I just try to remain focused on the positive, being in a top ranked school means a much better education than she could get anywhere else!
Anyway, check out the damage done to this motel: