On August 1, 2009, I had laid down in our bedroom with the blinds drawn, trying to ward-off a migraine.  Just as I drifted off, I awoke to sounds I cannot even describe.  Medford Lakes NJ got hit with absolutely no warning by a tornado! Yes, a TORNADO in New Jersey!  Crazy, right?  What’s even crazier is that the tornado traveled right down our street!  It touched down just feet from our home, just one week after we had dead trees removed from our property, and just days after our new roof was complete!  We were one of just a few houses on our street that were spared completely – minus a broken flag pole out on the lake-side of our property.

When I woke up to excruciatingly loud pops and bangs, I ran out onto our porch to discover a house across the lake was on fire.  I still had no idea what was going on!

I immediately called Brian, who was on his way home from work at the time.  I was in shock, trying to describe what was going on – and Brian had no idea what I was talking about.  Where he was driving, only minutes from our home, the weather was a gorgeous August day.  I went out to the front of our home to see this:

The tornado some how by-passed our home, and traveled right down our street, causing awful damage to houses and cars!

Our home and my car were left untouched – with just a broken flag pole:

Our street was shut down, and the Red Cross delivered fresh water and supplies to all the houses due to power-outages and damage.

Just a few streets over, our town’s golf course suffered much damage as well:

I have never experienced a tornado before – and hope I never do again in the future!  We were very lucky to have been spared of damage from this disaster!