15 years ago I visited Memphis, Tennesse to promote some wines. It was during Hurricane season and I was lucky to catch the last plane out of Memphis before the airport was closed for several days as a storm was approaching. Ever since that day, I’ve felt extremely lucky to live in a country that never experiences these extreme weather conditions.

12 days ago, a tornado that developed from a supercell just after Poysdorf hit southern Moravia, a part of the Czech Republic with 330km/h wind speed. On a width of 500m, the tornado destroyed everything. It tore down houses as if they were made from paper, it piled up cars and injured and killed people. The same afternoon, the same weather condition destroyed half of the houses in a village only 10 minutes away from us. Hailstones as big as tennis balls hit the village and caused chaos. Our own roof was hit by several of these hailstones but luckily, the damage was minor compared to what happened just across the border in the Czech Republic, not much more than 30km away from us. Again on the same day, hailstorms across lower Austria destroyed hundreds of hectares of agriculture and vinyeards.

Looking around the vineyards, the vegetable field, the orchard and the gardens, we feel so extremely grateful and blessed. It is hard to believe that we got away almost completely unscathed and we appreciate the wealth and abundance nature offers us more than ever before -but we do feel a lot less safe these days.