My family and I, over Easter weekend, headed out to St. Louis to visit the grandparents. On our way we stopped at the St. Louis airport to pick my dad up when he came in from out of town. It was 7:00 PM, and rainy outside. My dad's flight was scheduled to arrive at 7:15, and the status on the ARRIVALS board didn't say otherwise. We waited until 7:45, at which point the board had the dreaded delayed status following his flight number. The flight was rescheduled to come in at 8:25 PM.
We switched from the first floor to the higher second floor balcony to watch and wait for my dad's arrival. We heard that a bunch of planes were on the tarmac and that they were waiting for the lightning to subside before letting the passengers disembark. The lightning outside was insane- we saw the frequent flashes through the many windows on the 2nd floor, but our only thought on it was, It'll be forever before he can come in.
The lights started to flicker, and suddenly the power to the entire airport was gone. I was annoyed at the loss of light and started to tell my friends so on Facebook. Before I had even logged on, however, there was a huge shattering and a gigantic burst of wind. Somebody screamed, "HURRICANE!!!!" and in my panic, I didn't doubt them. I felt the enormous torrent pushing us with inhuman strength; I grabbed my sister, and our family stumbled as fast as we could to the nearest safe place in sight- a concrete and metal elevator door. The tornado whipped through the building and scattered debris and glass everywhere. I huddled with my family against the elevator doors and prayed for our safety and for my dad, who was at the mercy of the biggest storm I had ever seen- and in a plane.
As soon as there was a break in the winds where we could hear, a TSA agent yelled, "Get downstairs! Get downstairs!" We rushed down the stalled escalator, but I stopped to help a bleeding, elderly lady down the steps. The airport police and TSA personnel seemed confused as to what to do- I was being left behind. After being yelled at by my mom, they came back, but I couldn't help but think, These people are so unprepared.
Stop with me for a moment and think. Below is a picture of the parking lot directly under where I was. Compare it to the lower picture of the destruction in Japan.
If it is so hard to be prepared for a relatively small disaster such as a tornado, how much harder is it to be prepared for such a horrific event as what happened in Japan? The United States was definitely not prepared for this to happen to Japan, and as a result, our involvement there has been minute. I think we should get more support to our ally- help them rebuild their lives.
I am so thankful I have my life.........let's be prepared and ready to help Japan get theirs back.
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