Dan and Michele Gross

Lake HS & Surroundings Photos SEE IT, SNAP IT, SEND IT - WTOL
I live in NW Ohio and today my little world is the subject of news stories around the country--all because of a tremendous, destructive storm that ripped through our area last nite, bringing with it a tornado, and death and destruction. The news stories give the facts but what they may not tell you that a local high school was destroyed--on the eve of the graduation ceremony for the class of 2010. Or that the father of the valedictorian was one of those killed. It may not tell you about the mother and her 4 year old son who went to a neighbors for dinner, and then came home and were killed by the storm. And the young parents with their newborn who were frantically seeking shelter at the police station----the father and infant made it to safety but the mother was sucked into the storm and killed. And the young woman who was frantically talking to her dad on her cell phone, seeking advice on where to go for safety---and she too was killed by the storm. And then there is the kindness of neighbors and neighboring communities. The storm was barely over and volunteers were going around picking up debris and cutting fallen limbs. The local police station's building was devastated and the neighboring communites police force offered them space in their offices. Other area schools have offered their facilities for use for the high school graduation.
This devastation happened about 5 miles from us and we were lucky to not have any damage. I have been thanking God all day for keeping us safe. As soon as the first storm went through around 11:30pm, the news service said another storm would hit around 4am with tornado potential. Needless to say, we did not sleep and thankfully the second storm spared our area but brought a tornado to areas of Michigan.