On Aug. 10, I called my mom and jotted down her grocery list for the week. I told her I’d see her soon and left for Fareway in Newton. When I started; my vehicle the song that was playing was “I Called Mama” by Tim McGraw. I really like that song so I turned the volume up a little more.
I arrived at Fareway and was almost done with my shopping when the storm hit. As the winds got dangerously strong and the power went out, we were told by Fareway staff that we needed to go to the back of the store and then led into the cooler. I knew from all the ones on their cellphones that the storm was widespread and it had produced dangerous wind speeds where my mom lives in the country between Colfax and Prairie City.
As the skies brightened we left the cooler but the storm-ravaged on and we could see vast tree and power line damage.
It was really dark in the store but I found Amber Fisher who works there and I asked her if I could use a phone to call my mom. She, with the help of another employee using her light on her cell phone, guided me to a phone in the back of the store. My mom answered the phone and started crying as soon as she heard my voice. She was fine but so worried about me;. I waited quite a while until the winds died down some more to leave.
I would like to take this time to than Fareway for shelter that day and a big “thank you” to Amber for helping me call “my mama.”
LuAnne Steenhoek
Reasnor