On Monday, Paul and I were out running some errands. We knew a storm was a-coming, but we didn't know how bad it would be. As we headed home, the sky got dark and then... our phones started alerting us that there was a TORNADO WARNING!
Whenever there is a tornado alert, I never remember which is worse, a tornado WARNING or a tornado WATCH.
Holy shit!!!!!!!!!!!
As I raced home, I made Paul scan the sky for tornadoes. There was substantial thunder and lightening but no rotating clouds he could see. My heart was pounding.
Guys, I am so scared of tornadoes. I'm afraid of mass shootings. I'm afraid of falling out of carnival rides. I'm afraid of dying in a plane crash. I'm afraid of someone breaking into my house and stabbing me to death. I'm basically afraid of everything.
Thank goodness our phones have alerts to warn us of tornadoes! I mean, if only I could sign up for alerts to warn me of all the things I am afraid of...
We got home and charged into the house. Paul turned on the TV to see what was going on. I checked Accuweather on my phone.
"Tornado Watch: Take cover NOW!!!" it said.
I looked out the window. Why was my neighbor moving her garbage cans? "FORGET THE GARBAGE CANS!!!!" I wanted to yell at her.
We lured the cats to the basement with treats. We picked Jelly up and put him in the small basement bathroom in the "back room" of our basement- it's basically the unfinished part that is a storage room. We put Chrissy in his carrying case in the back room and we all just hunkered down.
This is my "I'm about to die" face.
Thank goodness for phones, because we watched the news and followed the storm. Within no time, the tornado type clouds were past us and the storm was heading toward Lebanon.
Did you ever experience a tornado!?
Its so scary to see those tornado warnings! When I was in Florida last year there had been a tornado touch down just blocks from where my in-laws house is a few days before we got there. I saw all the damage when I was out running. Then while we were there we got another warning! They don't have a basement so we were in the laundry room which is in the middle of the house. Luckily nothing came of it, but it was pretty scary!
ReplyDeleteI don't know what I would do if I didn't have a basement! But a lot of people don't, right?
DeleteI have experienced a tornado and it's so scary. When I was a kid we had one hit. Luckily we only had light damage to the roof and some trees torn down. Some of the neighbors on our same straight were not as lucky. I remember hunkering down with my family in the bathroom since we don't have basements here in FL. It came and went really quickly. The sun was back out in no time.
ReplyDeleteAnother time my family and I had gone to the mall on a Saturday. It never even rained near the mall, which was about 30 mins from my house, but when we were driving home there were homes pretty messed up just two blocks from our house because of a tornado that hit. Luckily our home was not even touched.
I'm glad you guys were okay and nothing bad happened. I bet your neighbor was moving the trashcans so that if strong winds did come they wouldn't fly through her window! Down here we have at least one hurricane warning every year and the first thing they tell us to do is to bring in anything that could become a projectile like trash cans, pool chairs, kids toys on the lawn etc! Supposedly we're going to have a more active than usual hurricane season this year :/
WOW, was it really loud and did it sound like a train? That is so scary. I figured the lady was moving her trash cans so they didn't blow away but I just felt like she should've done that 10 min ago, not right when a tornado could be coming! She was all calm about it too. Sometimes I get mad when people aren't as alarmed as I am. ;)
DeleteI grew up in Oklahoma so we had a lot of tornadoes nearby but thankfully none that hit us. Most people don't have basements there, so when I was little we pulled a mattress off the bed, leaned it against a wall in the most center part of the house and hunkered down. By the time I was in junior high we'd installed a storm cellar (basically a mini basement, but just outside the house) so that was the new spot. During one bad tornado, we came out of the cellar to see debris covering the yard, and we found mail from a town that got hit 25 miles away from us!
ReplyDeleteOkay, this fascinates me... When I think of states with lots of tornadoes, OK is definitely one I think of... yet no one has basements! I think I would feel very comfortable in a storm cellar because there wouldn't be like a collapsed house on top of you. Even though we were in the basement, I worry about the house collapsing on top of us. I don't know if this is a valid worry or not. Mail from a town 25 miles away??? That is insane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteThe soil there contains a lot of clay, so I think that makes building basements difficult. I've never actually confirmed that, though! I think any worry when it comes to tornados is a valid one. Hopefully you don't have to deal with many of them!
DeleteI hated spring in Texas because my town sounded the tornado sirens for practically any kind of thunder storm. I knew it was bad to ignore, but when they cry wolf so many times, I can't rust them. They say to stay away from the windows, but that was my first destination to see if there was any danger.
ReplyDeleteI was researching tornadoes last night and saw Texas gets the most!
DeleteWe've had some warnings but nothing ever happened. I'm pretty confident i'd be safe in my house but I worry about all the outside structures and accessories that would cause damage like patio furniture and our deck flying off and stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteDo you have a basement?
DeleteIt was scary that day! I was about to go to lunch, when I got the alert on my phone! so I had to wait it out!
ReplyDeleteThe site admin at my office wouldn't let anybody leave, and two of our participants got mad ! they said they wanted to go get their children, and we told them that they would be safer staying at the office, and we offered them to call their daycare... it was crazy for a little bit here.
I don't blame them for having the instinct to get their children BUT logic says that's too dangerous! Remember my story about a tornado disrupting my school concert and all of us going to the basement of the school? Well that night some parents left with their children!! And there were ACTUAL TOTNADOES. A bunch of trees got uprooted on front street.
DeleteI know!! I remember how much destruction there was! I can't believe people sometimes have no common sense!
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