Thursday was a first for us. We experienced what appears to be our first tornado. South of us had one confirmed, and another area about 5 mins from us also has been confirmed. Both were categorized as low on the scale, but still, we don't get that type of storms here. We were watching outside as the clouds started coming in. It was very freaky and different, and when they started to have some rotation, we ran in and took the kids & animals to the basement. The kids mom was here and said she was waiting till it passed to go home, so we left her settled in the basement while we ran up to the kitchen to see what was going on. It was very dark, trees were blowing around like I've never seen before. Then I saw some limbs dropping, and hail had started so I went back down. I never heard the major wind like they said we would, but maybe it's because our home is the middle townhouse. We checked out the basement door a few times, and the air just smelled like cut wood. Pretty freaky. One time we peeked out, some chunks of hail flew in. The bunny was furious that I shoved her into a pet taxi carrier, and the dog was freaking out because she doesn't like the basement. Kristopher did pretty good, but was worried because we had the news on tracking it and the tips they said about tornado's, scared him. He was worried about when we would eat, since it hit right before I start supper. The little kids were horrible to try to keep contained and calm. They were not having any part of being held and sat with and the baby was into EVERYTHING. I really hope we don't have to experience hiding in the basement again like that with everyone. Or at all would be nice too.
So the damage here was pretty light compared to the big ones that are on the news lately. The place across the parking lot from us had a tree fall on their car. We use to live in that unit years ago, and that was my parking spot. There was also a tree that fell into the back part of that side as well, and pulled a street light out on the way down. The street light caught on fire, and caught the tree too so we had some fire drama. It went out before it reached the building, but when we first went out after the wind stopped, we saw a ton of smoke coming from the roof.
Shortly after we were checking damages here, my husband got a phone call about damage at work. That's where the other tornado was confirmed, and work had some things that had to be taken care of. So we all loaded up, including the dog, and went to work with him. The streets were flooded pretty bad, but he has a Xterra and decided we were going thru it anyway. Pretty high water, but we splashed on thru. Trees were down all over the place, and streets were completely closed in town. At work, there was more flooding and a lot more damage with trees and fences.
Kristopher and I took a walk first thing yesterday morning to assess the damage in town, and the park we like to walk at a lot has trees down and trails blocked. And I haven't seen the baby ducks since the afternoon before it hit.
Here's a picture of the cloud right before it started coming towards us:
So the damage here was pretty light compared to the big ones that are on the news lately. The place across the parking lot from us had a tree fall on their car. We use to live in that unit years ago, and that was my parking spot. There was also a tree that fell into the back part of that side as well, and pulled a street light out on the way down. The street light caught on fire, and caught the tree too so we had some fire drama. It went out before it reached the building, but when we first went out after the wind stopped, we saw a ton of smoke coming from the roof.
Shortly after we were checking damages here, my husband got a phone call about damage at work. That's where the other tornado was confirmed, and work had some things that had to be taken care of. So we all loaded up, including the dog, and went to work with him. The streets were flooded pretty bad, but he has a Xterra and decided we were going thru it anyway. Pretty high water, but we splashed on thru. Trees were down all over the place, and streets were completely closed in town. At work, there was more flooding and a lot more damage with trees and fences.
Kristopher and I took a walk first thing yesterday morning to assess the damage in town, and the park we like to walk at a lot has trees down and trails blocked. And I haven't seen the baby ducks since the afternoon before it hit.
Here's a picture of the cloud right before it started coming towards us:
We had the same thing the other day. Funnels and tornados everywhere. We only had a funnel cloud develop in our area and I didn't see too much damage. While we were in the basement Michael found the toys that we still haven't given him from his birthday and he shrieked until I opened a tractor toy for him. But it was great entertainment for him. It's taller than his other tractor toys and he could bend over and push it and zip around the basement. Lots of fun. Until I had to keep him from the cat box. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteI used to live on the 4th (top) floor of an apartment building and we had a TON of tornadoes that year. And I was a little freaked because there was no shelter for us to go to. And I had a roommate from Florida that really flipped everytime the sirens went off. But people make fun of us Midwesterners. Yes, when the sirens go off we all go outside and look around. When I lived in that apartment we everyone would be out on the railing speculating together (except my roommate who would jump in her car to go hide in the basement of the dorms on campus). It's kinda a practicality because tornado season usually equals a lot of sirens but very few real threats. And the sky usually looks pretty cool too.