Wednesday morning, I was awoken by a 1-800 call. What telemarketer is calling me at 5 in the morning? I dismissed it but when my cousin called me from Sacramento, KY, I sprung up. David, my cousin's husband explained that a tornado was spotted in Henderson and was headed to Newburgh. He was very calm about the whole thing - I immediately switched into 'hysterical mode.' I live just on the other side of the treeline of Downtown Newburgh and remembering the path that the last tornado took in my area and poked my head out the front door to have a look. My neighbors were sitting on the front porch. They waved. That was weird at 5 a.m...

I came in and called my daughter downstairs. My husband kept watch out the backdoor after a warning call from his mother who lives east of us. He yelled, "Get in the bathroom!" So three people and two dogs (one is a 100 lb akita) piled into a half bath. Both our front and back doors whipped open from the pressure and we heard the terrible screams of the horror out back. Like the last tornado, the leap year tornado could either go up and around into the neighbor's backyard or down into our backyard. It chose the upward path. I get flooding, they get tornadoes. Fair trade, right?

With the morning light came a visual of exactly where it had traveled. By 6:30 a.m. I was getting reports of severe damage only a mile away on Outer Grey and Peachtree St. Ann Albers was already on the scene getting pictures and I was posting them as fast as I could.

Two days later, I wanted to see how far the progress has come along in my neighboring neighborhood and share with you so I made my way to the area.

I spoke with several construction workers who are diligently trying to clean up the area, secure roofs from leaking and repair the damage to homes in the area. The seasoned professionals gave me a rundown of the last few days. Looters were a big problem the first day - especially earlier in the morning. Several roofs were ripped from homes. Several onlookers were trolling the streets taking photos and impeding the efforts of the reconstruction crews. PS - it's always most respectful to allow the media and residents to get the pictures and steer clear of all the emergency personnel when a disaster strikes.

Please feel free to run through the gallery and we wish all the residents of Downtown Newburgh the very best in their recovery efforts. We are also very glad that no one was injured during this early morning storm.

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