April 27, 2011
by Cameron Hunt
April 27th started out as a regular day. We knew it was going to be stormy, but we didn’t think much about it. I went to school, and we ended up getting out early. I went to my grandparent’s house in Concord and waited with my cousins for a while until my mom got there. Right when we were about to leave, it started getting real bad and we turned the weather on and listened to James Spann.
We went into my grandparent’s basement. We heard the sirens, and my mom made me and my cousins put on hard hats for protection. We weren’t really worried about the tornado. We were all laughing and cutting up. That all stopped when we saw huge pieces of tin flying through the sky. The sky was a greenish color, and you could just tell it was going to be bad.
When we heard the all clear my mom was freaking out. She heard Pleasant Grove was hit, and she couldn’t get in touch with any of our friends from there. Some of my family and I went to my cousin’s street. We saw where the tornado touched the ground on their street. My cousin’s trampoline was wrapped around a power pole. We drove through Concord and saw that my grandparent’s church was completely gone.
My family and I went to our church in Pleasant Grove to help with the relief program. The first night, we spent the night on the floor of our church’s gym. We were afraid that if we left, we couldn’t get back in to Pleasant Grove. Our first job was delivering food from our church to people who couldn’t get out and didn’t have any power. We stayed in Pleasant Grove for at least three days. We went to all of our friends and helped clean up what was left of their homes. It was sad to see the streets I played on when I was little and friend’s house completely gone. It was amazing though to see how many people actually cared and helped others.
The Sunday after the tornado, our church had a service for anyone who wanted to come. I hadn’t seen my friend Hannah since the tornado. When I saw her I just started crying. I was so happy she was okay.
It was a terrible time for all of us. A lot of people are still recovering and building new homes in Pleasant Grove. Even though it was a bad time, it was great to see everyone come together and help the community. Through all of this, you can see how great our God is.
3/14/2012