I don't like tornados

[SFG75]

I wasn't online much yesterday when I got home from work, I have a good excuse. At 5:30, power went out in my town as a tornado cut it's way through a town eight miles west of me. A large dark-blue and black horizon swept over us and when we were in the middle of the storm cell, you could see brown and mud colored cloud strands hanging down from the edges of it, going in a giant circle. It felt like being in the middle of a carousel. The kids and I huddled in the basement as the sirens went off and the window wells quickly filled with about two and a half inches of water and hail. The sirens fired up again after a five minute lull and we were very fortunate as the only damage done was to power lines and branches scattered all over. There wasn't any structural damage, though west of us, the damage was greater.

My kids were great throughout the whole thing, they just played their littlehand-held leapster games and sat on my lap the whole time, paying no mind to the wind, beating hail, and sirens. I think they were better composed than I was about the whole thing. The joys of living in "tornado alley." Here's an article about the damage done to my county.

 

[RAC42]

Glad to hear you came through okay. It can get pretty scary.

I don't like tornados either. Went through a couple when I was a kid growing up on the farm. Once when I was 13, part of the roof of our house was ripped off. Lots of cleaning up and repairs, but thankfully, no one was hurt.

 

[Flor]

Yikes, no fun at all, SFG. They are pesky devils, aren't they? I was in the 1967 tornado outbreak in northern Illinois as we lived for a while in the little town of Grayslake. The sky turned dark green and the air smelled like rotten eggs. Never seen anything like it since but I could probably sleep through one if it were at night.

 

[FoxxyDeda]

Happy to hear you and your family are OK.

I come from a land without hurricanes, earthquakes or active volcanoes... There are 2 live volcanoes and supposedly a huge deep fault right here where I live so now these things scare me so much! I guess I am luck we don't have hurricanes or tornados... at least not that I know of...

 

[Lady Reader]

Myself, never having been through one, love tornadoes and hurricanes. I was at one point studying to be a meteorologist, and I find them fascinating. I would actually love to see one / both at least once in my life.

 

[Rien]

Ironic

We just had a minor tornado (read: big storm, not really a tornado at all) pass by, here in Chicago. It wasn't too bad as far as I know; the sky got all green and pretty, lots of rain came down hard, the winds weren't that great, sure. But, as far as I know, property damage and injuries were all low. I tried finding articles on it, but they were sparse, and this one gives the most details. It doesn't sound that bad, does it? Sorry to hear yours was much more serious.

 

[abecedarian]

Glad you and the tater tots are fine. Talk about too much excitement!

 

[Samerron]

Glad to hear you're all okay. Nature can be rough, especially with global warming that is changing the weather pattern and making it extreme. Almost everyday there is some natural disaster!