The sky was gray and evil-looking as we drove home from school thatspring afternoon. There had been a storm earlier in the day with rain and hugehailstones. I did not know a storm this big could strike in such a vicious way,but Mother Nature's temper again appeared when least expected that sameday.

Suddenly, as I looked out my window, a gigantic burst of wind sweptin front of me. At first I was astonished, thinking it was awesome. It let up forthe tiniest second before a second burst came. My mom got scared as the phonewent dead. I ran to the kitchen and all I could say was, "Look, it's likehurricane wind!"

We ran to the basement as fast as we could. A bit offear swept my heart because I knew we now had no connection to the outside world.I was also scared because I really wanted to know what was happening. I realizedthis was serious.

My mom began to pray. After three long minutes, wecould see a little light peeking through our small windows and decided it wassafe to go upstairs. My white house was green with smashed leaves.

Acrossthe street I saw blinking lights and a fire engine; five very tall pine trees hadfallen on a power line across my neighbor's driveway. I instantly regretted goingoutside because it looked like a war zone. Trees had fallen through roofs andblocked our street; no one could go anywhere because the power lines were down.One tree fort crashed to the ground halfway across the yard! Some trees weretwisted and torn from the ground.

The next day school was cancelled sorescue crews could clean up. We were even declared a National Disaster Area! Ididn't realize Mother Nature could strike twice in the same day and create suchturmoil. People could have been killed. Now I am scared of tornadoes and hope Inever see winds like those again.