Tornado within 1/4 mile of my house tonight

[Claudia1]

Even though we were under a tornado watch, we were not in the worst of the storms. At 8:45pm, the back door swung open and then immediately slammed shut. DH and I knew immediately that there were some significant pressure changes going on!

The twister did some damage to a retail area and some homes. The local radio is slowly giving the details and I don't know of any injuries yet. None reported, though.

Really, really wierd about the door! It must not have been tightly latched. We immediately checked the weather and the weather radio alarm went off 5 minutes later. Quite frankly, if it had come thru our area, we would have only had a 1 or 2 minute warning. I already had blankets, emergency supplies,...... and Pepsi & chips!..... in the basement, so it is just a matter of running down the stairs.

We are under a watch until 3am and it looks like I will be up DISing with the late-night DISers.

 

[daughter_of_amid_chaos]

yeah i have been watching these storms really closely since i go to school out there and my boyfriend is out there.

There were tornadoes in my boyfriend's town...he was under tornado warnings all day and even had sirens going off for a while.

There was also a tornado in my school's town and a girl i used to be friends with's town has extreme damage as well apparently.

I havent heard from my boyfriend since about 6 my time, 5 his time so I am hoping everything is okay.

 

[Pop Daddy]

just relax, get some pop corn and put in Wizzard of Oz

 

[Claudia1]

Wow, a long post from Pop Daddy! Thanks!

 

[Serena]

Hey Claudia, I'm glad you're alright. These storms have been pretty bad today.

 

[kilee]

Glad you're okay-- how scary to go through!

 

[Beauty]

Yes very very scary, the bad weather is about to hit us now. So far I'm only hearing of Severe Thunderstorm Warnings but I know there are quite a few Tornado warnings near Memphis.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Ahhhh, Spring in the Midwest, eh, Claudia? Glad all is okay by you. Similar here also.

 

[Duchie]

Been watching the storms today. My folks are currently on a Mississippi River cruise on their way up to Cincinnati. UGH!!! My poor mother is probably a mess right now. My dad's a retired Navy commander so he probably feels right at home Still, I'm worried about Mom......

 

[Kallison]

I could not live in tornado country -- how do you do it? I would be a wreck.

 

[Epcotgal8]

My thoughts are with all of you. I am scared to death of tornadoes and unfortunately we have lots of them here. Actually though the last couple of years have been better but we went 2 or 3 years in a row having tornadoes (one REALLY bad) on Easter weekend. We still could have them now but we're pretty much out of the dangerous season with temp. changes but it wil start again in the Fall. Someone had a thread about what you fear and tornadoes are high on my list. My parents and older brothers were in a bad one that hit Massachusetts in the mid 1950's and growing up I heard all the horror stories. We moved to Louisiana when I was 13 and were only here one month a deadly tornado hit where we lived (went up in the air only about a mile from where we lived thank goodness) but wiped out a lot of homes and businesses and it freaked me out. I hid in the closet if there would be any warnings come out. You kind of get used to them but in 1998 we went to a race in St. Louis and one hit near the track and we had to hide under grandstands and it was scary. Later that year we went to a race in Houston and tornado warnings were out. A week before a trip to WDW my dd and I were in the mall shopping at a store that has an indoor and outdoor entrance and dd is trying on clothes and all of a sudden you can hear hail pounding on the mall roof (you know it had to hard to hear it) and a woman comes running in from outside screaming there is a tornado spotted coming our way and they came on the speakers and told everyone to seek cover. It was like a scene out of a movie. I grabbed dd's hand and ran into the mall into a side corridor (didn't want to be in a store with an outside entrance and full of glass). Soon the corridor was packed and we all got down and put our hands over our heads and this lady started saying the Lord's Prayer out loud and everybody started to say it with her which was nice but freaked me out! Then there was a woman on her cell phone talking to her husband who was relaying what was being said on the news and he said that the tornado had passed over the mall but was now headed towards - and they named OUR neighborhood! My dh and 2 sons were at home so we went from worrying about ourselves to worrying about them and dd started crying. I'd left the cell phone in the car (brilliant) so the lady offered me hers to call and check on my guys and I was shaking so badly she had to dial for me and it took a while to get through which had all kinds of terrible thoughts going through my head, and finally dh answers and says he knows about the tornado and he has the kids in the bathroom and to let him go so he could go back in there lol. See, nobody has basements around here because of the rain we get but we need them! After all was clear I stopped on the way home and bought a bottle of wine because I needed it lol. Went to WDW the next week and there were tornado warnings and it looked bad but turned out ok. DD and I were starting to think they follow us! Needless to say, this is why I have a phobia about them.

 

[Nutsy]

I've seen footage on tv of the devasation these things cause.

Mammoth devistation

Hope everyone is ok & stays that way

 

[Megan's Mom]

We are in for a long night here I am afraid. The 10 o clock news showed pictures of the tornados in the mid section of teh country and one picture from Indiana was amazing. It was a field taht the tornado went across and these large circular rings were cut out of the fields so that you could see where the tornado touched down every few feet. Having seen the destruction that they can cause locally I don't take tornado warnings lightly. Be weather alert tonight folks.

 

[treesinger]

I hope everyone in town is ok.
That storm is headed our way tomorrow but I haven't seen the severity update. Don't get many tornadoes, but we do get them occasionally.

 

[treesinger]

Pray hard. There is a tornado heading towards the Nashville area at 65 (!!!!) mph. Just reported on weather channel. That is damn fast. I hope a warning gets out fast enough to the target areas.

 

[Jenn Lynn]

Today I am grateful for cold temps.

 

[Claudia1]

I'll never forget one trip to WDW. We saw Chuck Lofton, local weatherman and the Channel 13 crew doing a remote broadcast at the MK. We spoke with Chuck and noted the ominous clouds. We chatted with a CM that assured us that no funnels would be coming thru. Chuck disagreed and we followed his lead.

We went back to our BVVV and a tornado waring was already in place. I call the front desk and asked about procedures for tornadoes. She kept saying that we did not have anything to worry about. I explained to her that we were from tornado country and I was worried. She assured me that, "we never get those kind down here."

The next morning we woke up to the horrible news of the night time and early morning devasation around Kissimmee, including some deaths, from the tornadoes.

I have a healthy respect for these acts of nature.

 

[Poohlovr]

The sirens have been going off around here all day today, with who knows how many tornados,

As a matter of fact, I hear them (the sirens) starting again now.

Neighborhoods that got hit earlier today. got hit again tonight.

Some towns had several tornados pass through today, 1/2 hr or an hour apart.

Freaky weather.

Everyone in the path of these storms, stay safe

 

[disneyfuntime]

My prayers are with all of you who live in areas of tornados, I wouldn't be able to live in your area. I'm sure many of you see I'm from Ca and we live with earthquakes, which to some is scary. It is, I've been through the 89 quake which really did quite a bit of damage in No. Ca.

I've been at WDW when we had tornado warnings I was very scared, together with such intense lightning which I have never witnessed.

BE SAFE

 

[froglady]

My thoughts are with you.

At least I can "prepare" for a hurricane. Tornadoes also frighten me! When I first moved here (from new England) I was amazed at how nonchalant people were about tornado watches! Now I know that they're issued every time a severe storm is approaching.

A tornado passed about 4 blocks from my house several years ago. The sky got a peculiar color before getting black, and it was accompanied by horizontal rain. Whenever that happens now, you can bet I grab my son and head for our interior, windowless, bathroom, while wishing the water table was low enough to allow a basement!