Just had e-mails from brother Jack in Big Stone Gap, West Virginia, which I will reproduce here:
Hi all,
Just in case you've seen reports of our town being hit by a devastating storm on Tuesday, that IS correct! Thankfully we had very little damage - just some roof shingles off and a piece of aluminium trim from the eaves relocated to the back yard. Not so lucky were other residents, however - 5 lovely old houses were reduced to rubble when big old trees fell on them and LOTS of other old trees were uprooted blocking many roads. We were away when it happened and only found out when we stopped at a gas station on the way into town an hour afterwards. Needless to say our hearts were in our mouths as we drove through the devastion wondering what had happened to our house/shop and animals. It's rather ironic that we lived in Florida for a couple of years and never experienced any serious storms and now this here. No one can remember the last time anything like this happened here - let's hope it doesn't happen again for a while.
The police and fire brigades from all around were on the scene very quickly and Tuesday evening was like a scene from a war zone as they cleared debris and checked on the safety of residents. Our power was out for a couple of hours, but because we are near a number of traffic lights we were first to have it restored. The tornado hit about 5 pm after hours of torrential rain and emergency teams were toiling all night. As I write (Thursday morning) one of the main roads through town is still cosed to through traffic while fallen trees are dealt with.
Stay well and keep safe,
Jack and Wendy
Actually the old stone building in the photos is the museum where Wendy used to work (she is now events director and fund-raiser for the East Tennessee Red Cross based in Kingsport) and although you can see it lost some big old trees it isn't actually damaged. Amazingly no one was killed or seriously injured but about 5 or 6 houses were destroyed including (as you can see in the photos) a couple of lovely old Victorian ones.
Jack
-----Original Message-----
From: MARGARET WOODCOCK <margaret.woodcock@btinternet.com>
To: jbeck69087@aol.com
Sent: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 10:55 am
Subject: Re: Big Stone Gap aftermath
Fortunately, I had no idea you had had a storm but I'm very relieved that you didn't sustain too much damage - looking at these pictures, you were very lucky. Apart from the material damage, I hope no people were injured and that there were no children in that playground when the storm struck. How about Wendy's workplace? I wonder if we are getting some of the same weather - we've had gales which are down to gusty winds now - thankfully, no tornadoes, but a few lorries have overturned on motorways and main roads over the last two weeks.
Love to you both
Big Sis x x
jbeck69087@aol.com wrote:
Here are pictures of the aftermath - http://picasaweb.google.com/raymoor/StormAftermath/photo#s5174376972342948290
Jack
Tales of the Lonesome Pine Used Books and Music
404 Clinton Ave E Big Stone Gap, VA 276-523-5097
SPECIAL EVENTS
March 14 Ceilidh Dance 7 pm
March 15 Easter Ornament Making for Kids noon-2
March 28 INTERNATIONAL NIGHT: INDIA 7 pm
All the TUESDAYS in APRIL Fiona teaches knitting classes 7 pm
(call for info and fees)
DROP EVERYTHING AND READ Day Saturday April 12
Murder in the Bookshop II: Death among the Cookbooks 7 pm Apr 12
MONTHLY EVENTS
Sunday Sing First Sunday Monthly 1 pm
Writing Group First Monday Monthly 7 pm
Needlework Nights First Thursday Monthly 7 pm
STOMP (theatre) Second Thursday Monthly 7 pm
Book Club Third Thursday Monthly 6:30 pm
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This is a picture of my family at Mum's 90th birthday party
From l to r back row - Alison, Alastair, Roy, Philip, Carol, Chris, Vicky
Front row - Jack, Amani, me, Mum, Alison with Adam and Ellen 
The two small pictures show Caroline,sister to Chris and Vicky.and Wendy, Jack's wife.
Sadly, this was Mum's last party; by the time her next birthday came round, she was too ill for another and we lost her on 15th July 2000.
Pictures of my new improved backyard circa April 2003.
I really should have taken some" before" pictures, to emphasise the huge improvement!
Pictures taken of Caroline and Clayton's wedding Jan 2006
For pictures of Vicky and Guy's wedding (which, unfortunately, we were unable to attend) click here
For Ruby Wedding Pictures,click here. For a new page detailing Kathleen's European travels (very entertaining) click here
Chris has a website at www.geocities.com/chrisditchfield ; try clicking this link for some lovely photos of his family, constantly updated.
.Try these - courtesy of Alison - click here (use the "back button" to come back)
This link takes you to the site of brother Jack and Wendy, who are now settled in Big Stone Gap, West Virginia (yes, it is the place that features in some quite famous books by Adriana Trigiana). They run a bookstore from their house,and have a lot going on. Click here for their website.