Thank you both for that information. My daughter has looked into counseling, but nothing has been schuduled yet because they are still trying to recover from loosing everything they owned but the clothes on their backs. RockRose, the idea about starting a book is great. That might be something to kind of help her. Her father has sat and talked with her to let her know that will not always happen. I think it's this bad because of the fact that she saw it, and her father being caught in the wind, then the tornado hit the building they were in, then it hit the school where they were told to go, so initially she was thinking that the tornado was chasing them because it hit all of the places that they were. We have had warnings and watches since and a few weeks ago she said to me "Nana, God was cleaning up some mess in our apartments because it was a lot of bad stuff going on and he didn't like it", I really did not know what to say, but I told her that God also protected them and everyone else from getting hurt, because there were no death just minor injuries.
And I agree with tired, too. This is how phobias start - they start with an event, and somehow in our network of brains, that fear webs its way around into a bunch of unrelated things until a whole section of the brain is dealing with a fearful event. So counseling - to stop this from spreading - is probably a good idea.
What have you done with her so far, to help her process this? Sometimes, writing and drawing is very helpful. She could compose a "something scary happened" book that has her drawings, and writing, and she could even go take pictures with a camera to put in her book. The book could also include a family picture with everyone in it, smiling, at the tornado "ruins" site. If you're religious she could even write a prayer about tornadoes and include that. When she feels fearful thoughts she can add to the book. This is often very helpful just to express both the positive (all the family members are fine) and the negative (it was scary there for awhile not knowing eveyrone would be fine). You could write a letter to her about how you were praying during this time, and memory of another tornado you've lived through (or similar disaster) so you know how for awhile it's scary.
So far, her reaction doesn't seem abnormal. She was horrified - and that takes time. But seeking counseling might not be a bad idea if she continues to not be able to recover.
i would definitely suggest counceling. such a traumatic event could be harmful psychologically to anyone, especially a child.
she may know that rains don't mean tornado, but fears are irrational. ever have a phobia? i have. even as an adult, i could try to rationalize and understand all i wanted- it still didn't help the phobia. of course hers is more of a post traumatic stress situation. i just mention phobia because i can understand how a person can be aware of something, but still terrified.