The siren

First of all, we’re okay.  For those of you back home, the storm alert system here works, and Jeff and John drive around and check on everyone who might not have heard it.

Last night at midnight the siren went off in Gore for the first time since we’ve been here.  Mark and I jumped up and got dressed, tried to shut the kitties into the bathroom area of our RV since we don’t have cat carriers, and went outside.  There was a long line of cars driving out of the park.  We ran across to Clyde and Cathy’s RV because we know they are sound sleepers and I banged on their door till Clyde answered.  We told him about the siren and he said they’d come to shelter.  By the time Mark and I got to the club house, there were already several campers there as well as three small, frightened dogs.

Mark had his rain gear on and a flashlight, so he stood outside and directed campers inside.  I directed campers into the inner bathroom.  Fortunately it’s a quite spacious bathroom.  Cathy and Clyde showed up with their bird and two dogs.  People were trying to get online with their phones but weren’t able to get a signal.  Mark came in at one point and tried turning the club house TV on, but that wasn’t working either.  The lightning was putting on quite a show and it was pouring down rain, but we never got hail.  I guess that would be the precursor to a tornado.

Jeff came in to see if everyone was alright and he said the storm was already moving past us.  Then he continued to make his rounds of the campground and particularly the shelters.  Mark went home and grabbed his radio so that he could be in touch with Jeff.

People started to relax a little.  Everyone was joking and laughing.  Several people were out in the larger room and I even saw a couple of girls spread a blanket out on the floor in front of one of the large windows.  Finally Mark came in and said that he’d heard the worst of the storm was now east of Salisaw.  One of the campers, as he was leaving, put his hand on my shoulder and thanked me for caring.  He said he could tell I was concerned for the campers.  That felt good!

We still had lightning and thunder, but it wasn’t raining much.  The ground was flooded so Mark shown his flashlight for Cathy and Clyde as they left the road and made their way to their door.  Then we picked our way to our RV.  Inside we found that the bathroom door to the living room area was still shut, but the cats had opened the door to the bedroom area.  At least that part of the RV is somewhat sheltered by the woods at the back of our space.

This morning I woke up forty-five minutes before the alarm went off because of the lightning and thunder.  I’m curious to see whether campers pull out today because of the weather or whether they’ll all come in to the Activity Center.

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