Tornado causes massive damage in my town…..
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Damage in my town.
Pretty intense moments as a tornado touched down 4 miles from my house Wednesday early evening.
I had picked my son up from wrestling practice at 5:30pm and headed home. A tornado watch had been in effect for the past 30 minutes or so and sirens were blaring. When we reached the end of the school driveway I could see a huge dark area of the sky to the south. It was massive. I wanted to get home.
As we drove the 2 miles to get home I kept looking in all directions. At this time the radio announced that radar confirmed a tornado touched down just south of us. It was raining hard – but nothing out of the ordinary. That cloud continued to catch my eye with its darkness and mass.
As soon as we pulled up I realized my wife and youngest son was not home. She was picking my 8 year old up from dance class. I told my 12 year old he needed to help clear a spot in the garage for my wife’s SUV. We got out of my Ford P.O.S. and went in the house and into the garage. I opened the main door and looked and listened. That cloud was still there and clearly trouble. We made the space just as my wife pulled up. She drove in and we went inside.
Within 15 minutes everything had passed. It was then we started hearing news stories of the damage – and possible deaths and injuries. A man was found in a field by a neighbor searching through the rubble which was once peoples homes and property. The mans wife was missing – and was later found deceased.
Actual picture of tornado that touched down in my town.
My wife went with a friend to the area damaged. She said she has never seen anything like it. She went to deliver some help - including some packs of water bottles from our supplies.
To be honest with you – when I heard the tornado touched down to close – I felt naked. All my preps and supplies would do absolutely no good if we received a direct hit. Luckily we and my neighborhood are fine. My wife and I talked and will be donating more supplies. The local donation center for this disaster said the outpouring f help has been amazing. It makes me proud to be an American that people can come together in times of trouble. I just wish they would do it in normal times as well.
Here is a video with related information:
Take care all-
Rourke
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Tags: Current Events, tornado
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By Amy, November 18, 2011 @ 6:45 am
Glad to year taht you all made it through the storm safely. I have a lot of my preps down in my storm cellar, but space is limited so alot of it isn’t. It is one of those things that you have to balance and work to make sure you have at a minimum of the basics in a couple of places.
By BePrepared, November 18, 2011 @ 9:23 am
I know EXACLY what you mean when you say you felt naked. After our EF-5 in April, when I saw nothing but foundations left, I thought about all my preps getting swept away and ending in someplace like Knoxville TN. (Papers from son’s high school were found in Knoxville, high school took direct hit) Everything I had to survive after a tornado taken BY the tornado…
Can’t exactly surround the existing home with rebar and concrete, nor can I afford an underground storm shelter big enough for all the supplies…
You can look at pics and video all day of damage in “other” places and not understand the scope of damage until you see it with your own eyes.
Glad you and yours are ok. Keep those batteries in the weather alert radios changed out, make sure your smartphone has an app to warn you of warnings in your area and that it’s alert is not a chirp but a distinctive warning sound (I use a klaxon alarm from Starcraft II or the Red Alert sound from Star Trek.)
By Kandi, November 18, 2011 @ 9:29 am
I am really glad you guys rode the storm out alright. I might assume from your post that basements or storm cellars arent common in your area? We live in a tornado prone area also. We dont technically have a basement but do have a ‘lower level’ that still is somewhat above ground. I wish we had something that was totally below ground level. Most older homes around here have something but they kinda quit building homes with basements/storm cellars in the early 1960′s. Not a good plan to my thinking.
By Jeff Mills, November 18, 2011 @ 12:15 pm
Glad to hear it missed your family. I have wrestled with the problem of where best to stash my preps in order to protect them from fire, theft, natural disasters like tornado and hurricane strikes. I have thought of underground caches but that means digging at night and what preps do I put in the holes? What do I keep with me for BOBs and such? I am leaning toward a hybrid shelter that has underground tornado survivability with a covered and lockable entry area for abover ground in case of flood or hurricane. That is a big investment and I have not finished my food preps yet….
By Sundance WMC, November 18, 2011 @ 2:48 pm
glad you made it okay…. surprised to learn that you and I do not live that far apart.
I too am considering the situation of preps. Thinking underground.
By Ken (or Wyzyrd), November 18, 2011 @ 7:28 pm
Glad you and yours are safe, my friend. Underground may be the way to go in tornado country.
By Derek Walden, November 19, 2011 @ 8:29 am
This is an example of why underground caches work.Even if its only a “small” amount of supplies its better then nothing
By Ben, November 19, 2011 @ 12:15 pm
Rourke,
Glad to hear you and your family are self.
Tornados are a scary phenomenon aren’t they? We have them up here in the North country and they come on so quick sometimes that you have no time to prepare!
Glad you are well!
Keep the good stuff coming!
Ben
By Six, November 20, 2011 @ 8:18 am
Glad you guys are Ok Rourke. That’s some scary stuff. If donations are needed please let us know. We’ll halp and post any links provided.
Stay safe.
By Rourke, November 20, 2011 @ 9:02 am
Thank you Six -
The community has really come out for the people who lost homes. I toured the area last night – amazing. A very concentrated area of destruction. Large SUV’s flipped multiple times, houses off their foundations, houses gone all together.
Of course the loss of life is the worst of all.
Take care – Rourke
By Badvoodoodaddy, November 20, 2011 @ 2:37 pm
Bro, I am so glad that everyone in the family is ok. Looks like some horrific damage. My prayers go out to all those that were effected by the storms. It kind of makes you wonder how those that were unprepared for something like this will get along. It just goes to show that you can lose everything in an instant. Make sure that you don’t have all your prep’s in one place that way you will have something to fall back on.