My thoughts are with all those poor people. What a nightmare.

I've been close to a couple, but never THAT close.

I drive an 18 wheeler and driving onto one at night is something that really worries me. There have been a few times when I've been driving where there was debris flying sideways across the road. I have no idea if there was a tornado near or not, but I sure as hell don't want to end up in a ditch!

Anyone that is in danger of being in the path of one has my complete and utter sympathy. I hope anyone in such a situation has a way to get and stay safe.

Hard enough job without tornadoes. I have to say he loves his job though.

I completely understand if you don't, BTW.

I wish him many safe miles.

I just had come home from the hospital with my newborn son and my little daughter. My brother burst through the door of the trailer I was renting at the time and yelled that I needed to get the kids into his car so he could get us to safety. I looked up and out the bedroom window to see a funnel cloud ripping through the field to the west of the trailer. It travelled to the edge of the field and lifted up and came back down across town about a block from my mother's home. Just trashed that area. I remember thinking that there was a train sound and struggling in the moment to understand why there was a train since the railroad had torn out the tracks a few years before. Funny how your mind processes information in times of crisis. Don't care to meet up with another funnel cloud but since I live on the prairie, the chances are good that I might just do so before I die.

Tornadoes and tsunamis both!

At least we receive warnings days in advance.

They can and do predict the storms (as I'm sure you are aware), and even that they'll be severe, but individual Tornadoes?

You're shit out of luck!


I agree, having been a Floridian on and off most of my life; Give me a Hurricane.

Thing is, Tornadoes are spawned on the arms of Hurricanes too! So we're all screwed.

That said - when nature decides to show who is boss, we are mostly helpless.

I have some shots my mom took in the days after. I'll have to scan them and put them up one of these days.

The forces of both wind and water just stagger the mind, honestly.

And as we head into yet another Hurricane season, You stay safe down there, sweety.

but my sis and her family's home was one of two town houses standing in their Kendall complex.
She was convinced that by following my advice about cracking windows at various stages of the hurricane, she and her neighbor had very little structural damage. Of course Gilbert had destroyed Jamaica four years before Andrew.

their house was just SW off the corner of 87th Ave (Galloway Road) and 112th St. (Killian Dr.)

The house was a late 1950's build and the concrete hard hardened like granite. What blew off was a new section of roof my dad had installed. I was there during the construction and it was up to and over code. Strapped and bolted to the concrete risers, etc.

It ended up 65 yards across the back yard. 20,000 pounds plus of 2X4's, plywood and shingles, thrown like it was a paper airplane.

It's amazing how far well built structures travel in hurricanes and tornadoes

were standing but the inside was like a wild wind had destroyed it. Doors on safes were ripped off. Remnants of what I saw stay with me all the time.

You can't believe what you see.

The damage a good one does can remain visible for years afterwards. Trees get stripped of leaves and branches in a way that is unmistakable. I currently live in NM, used to live in KS, my son went to college in Tulsa, so I've driven by plenty of tornado-devastated landscapes in my time.

The only good thing is that as awful as they are, the damage will end abruptly. One house totally destroyed, the very next one untouched. That doesn't make the total loss person feel any better, but that's how it happens.

I think there was a time when most people didn't really understand how destructive they are, but now with the news coverage that can occur anywhere, we get these incredible pictures and video, and we pretty much all get it.

There was an very strong F-4 (3km/hr away from F-5) that passed close by my house when I was 12. My parents drove around the damaged area at the crack of dawn the next day (my mom worked a couple days a week at a different office that was in the path and she wanted to see how the office was) and it was unbelievable. Really hard to understand unless you've seen it.

27 years later, if you drive by those same areas, you can still see broken trees sticking out of new growth.

The word "denuded" came to mind.

I hauled a couple of damaged cars from Joplin that were sold through junkyard auctions. It was if they had been picked up and thrown by a giant, which in essence, they were. Sand and grit and leaves and twigs stuck in every crevice and nook and cranny.

Greensburg, Kansas, was destroyed by an F-5 tornado on May 4, 2007. I'd driven through that town a number of times, travelling between Kansas City and Santa Fe. Never even paid any attention to it. I'd of course seen the news coverage and pictures of the aftermath. My next time going through Greensburg was about two months after the tornado. When I crested the low hill to the east of town I simply could not take in what I was seeing. I stopped my car and took pictures. There was nothing but neat piles of rubble, signs asking for medical volunteers, and a couple of other things. It looked as if the tornado had happened just a week before.

I continue to make that drive every so often, so I've watched the rebuilding of that city. The population according to the 2010 was about half (777) of what it had been 10 years earlier. But the fact that the city didn't just totally disappear is remarkable. I last drove through a year ago. You can still recognize the tornado damage of the trees, and if you pay attention you'll notice that every single building is brand new. I always buy gas there. It's the least I can do.

relief worker right after that one ripped up that poor town. Never forget what it looked like... and I lived up around the lakes for years and saw quite a bit of tornado damage and danced around a few but I never saw anything as devastating as what happened at Greensburg. It looked like some giant, mythical pencil sharpener had descended on every tree and crudely ground each down to a height of about 6 feet. Even stout brick buildings were mere rubble.

The relief workers' camp was at some park/athletic field, about the only place on the edge of town where it appeared the twister lifted off the ground, and I was glad to have sturdy hiking boots because there was so much shrapnel-like pieces of heaven-knows-what in the grass that it was kind of scary. I think I met half the police force of Kansas while I was there as they kept a security detail going 24/7 with all departments in the state doing rotation.

And there was a line of dump trucks hauling off rubble that went all the way to the horizon all day from sun-up to sundown... it was totally surreal.

I was thankful for the long drive home after my tour was over... having been a semi driver for many years it kind of helped me touch base before I got back to the cabin.

I pray for everyone in that region, I look at the pictures and the weather map with my hand over my mouth... just unbelievable.

Darned tornado went right for those houses.

Extreme

I do have a storm shelter....but honestly, when one bares down on you in the middle of the night, the chances of getting everyone up and out and in are pretty slim, and we do have alternate plans.

So we have sleepless nights while the storms pass....days this week where we were told that we were going to be in the middle of all of this...and luckily at the last minute, they veered off.

Tonight, my brother is in the way of these storms...and we begin the vigil until they pass and we know everyone is safe and accounted for.

The storms are becoming monsters...the ones that I heard about tonight in Birmingham left me speechless.

People around here are actually starting to have plans for these--this is a new thing...generally the plans were just to get to an area without windows but it seems that just isn't enough with these monsters and now the majority of the ones around here are rain wrapped so you won't see them until they are right on top of you.

I have a friend who has started putting life jackets and bicycle helmets on the kids during the warnings. Not a bad idea.

but you are more likely to be killed by execution by the state, than you are by the forces of a serious weather event.


http://www.nsc.org/news_resources/injury_and_death_statistics/Documents/2014-Injury-Facts-43.pdf

Please, PLEASE don't think for a moment that I am ignorant of your concerns - I live in Florida, I know what severe weather is like.

But if nothing else, you should be able to take some solace...some comfort in knowing that you and your family will be OK.

All the best

I live in a fairly highly volatile area and there have been several deaths and lots of destruction within a 50 mile radius.

I don't live in a state of being terrified but I do have a fairly high degree of concern. We have had tornadoes here in the last year and one of the largest tornadoes to ever hit the state was a stone's throw away.

I agree not all of Texas is this volatile. However, for some reason, we are.

But if the mortality rate from severe weather events was so high as to be a major threat.....



how many people do you think would be living near you?

Look....I know it is scary, but you'll be fine. You must think and know that.

If you don't or can't, you have to move.

Plain and simple.

Edited because of dumb