Tornado hits home

It wasn't until after the tornado hit southern Indiana early Sunday morning that Sarah Napier, an IU senior, decided to travel home to Newburgh, Ind.\nNapier loaded up her dark green Toyota Camry and made the nearly three-hour drive home in hopes to reassure herself that her family and home were indeed OK.\n"After I talked to my family on the phone, I decided that it just wasn't enough," Napier said. "I was homesick, so I decided to go home and visit my family."\nNapier remained at home until early Monday afternoon to visit with her family and drive around the area where she found the streets engulfed in fallen power lines, demolished homes and debris. \nThe deadly tornado twisted through resulted in a death toll of 23, including an eight-month-old unborn child, according to local police and health officials. More than 200 people were injured, with approximately 50 in critical condition.\nThe natural disaster led Gov. Mitch Daniels to declare an emergency in Vanderburgh, Warrick, Dubois, Gibson, Pike, Posey and Spencer counties.\n"There was no in between," Napier said about the destruction. "What didn't get touched was perfectly OK, but what did get hit was absolutely destroyed."\nNapier said tragic events, like the tornado, really remind her of what she's thankful for.\n"It's one of those things that when you realize it, I thought that it could have been me," Napier said. "All I could think was that could have been my family that died yesterday."\nBut not all IU students' families were as lucky as Napier's.\nMichael Pigman, an IU sophomore, said he traveled home to Evansville last weekend for his monthly training with the National Guard.\nThe storm left Pigman and his parents' home untouched. It wasn't until the next morning when Pigman was on his way to meet for his training that he heard a tornado had hit this southern Indiana region. \n"I didn't hear a thing that night or see anything when I was driving that morning," Pigman said about the tornado damage. "I was too tired to have heard anything. I'm just lucky it didn't hit. I wouldn't have stood a chance."\nIt was his extended family who were struggling to stay alive in the early hours of Sunday morning.\nAnd as the tornado ripped through their Newburgh home, the ground-floor bathroom held together just enough to keep his cousin's family alive.\n"I don't know how, but they are OK," Pigman said slowly as he reminisced back to how lucky his family really was. "I know that they lost their home, but I'm just thankful they are alive. A lot of people aren't OK."\nIndiana state Sen. Vaneta Becker, R-Evansville, said her role in the recovery process is to be available and accessible to anyone in need.\n"I was very pleased to see the positive and heart-warming response the city has had," Becker said.\nBecker said Indiana has not seen a tornado like this in nearly 30 years. It is very possible that everyone in the southwest Indiana region knows someone who lost their home, neighborhood or their life, she said.\nWhen it comes to whether or not residents could have been informed earlier about the natural disaster, Becker said she wasn't sure if it would have been possible to help the people ahead of time.\n"I think with it being 2 a.m. when the sirens went off, people didn't have much reaction time," Becker said. "I have heard that people had less than two minutes to react to the storm."\nNearly 155 National Guard members, 34 members of Indiana Task Force One, 21 state police troopers and 25 members of the Indiana Department of Homeland Security joined together with hundreds of local residents ready to go to work with supplies, chainsaws, food and ladders, she said. \n"Disaster can strike anywhere, no matter what state you live in," Becker said. "But after seeing the Hoosier response I have seen, I'm very glad to say I live in Indiana"