Helicopters and ambulances and sirens

I may have mentioned that the night of the tornado devastation I heard ambulances all evening and at night in bed. The next morning I awoke to helicopters and chain saws. The window ac usually drowns out all noise and distractions since I have a hard time sleeping.

Since then, helicopters are still in the air. Usually, I hear one each weeks or so. Ambulances are running more often. Is this my imagination? Possibly. Only two people were killed in our county. I wonder if people are suffering from stress-related or stress-exacerbated problems so that there really are more ambulances with sirens blaring. Or, am I extra sensitive to the sounds that were accompanying the disaster? I wonder.

Every Wednesday at noon, tornado sirens blare over the whole county. This last week, one week after the tornado, the "practice" sounding of the sirens was cancelled. I do believe that the well-orchestrated sirens and constant information about tornadoes helped us the have a low mortality rate. Plus, in the last 40 years, many people have been killed in our county.

Any tornado in the area of Smith Lake follow highway 69 to the City of Cullman. Sometimes, the tornado takes a path a little to the north of the city; sometimes the path is a bit to the north. In either of these instances, it rarely touches down.

The last tornado in 2008, I think, hit an entirely different section of town, a bit to the north and in an area with less affluent residents. This time, the more affluent areas of town were affected.

I was thinking today that our preparation, maybe over-preparation to some, accounts for the lack of a high death toll. Maybe it is like many things in life, preparation makes the difference between a poor outcome and a less traumatic outcome.

Your turn
Does your area, your family, and you take seriously the preparations and warnings for your local or area natural disasters?