Spring in Texas also means some wild weather. I live in Tornado Alley -- that swath of the country that is prone to tornadoes. We had rain forecast for today, but it has escalated to tornado warnings. Now, let me educate you a bit....a watch means that conditions are optimal for a tornado. A warning means that tornadoes have been spotted on the ground. Actually, we are under a tornado emergency this time.... a couple have touched down with a few more forming.
This is not my first tornado. About a hundred years ago (in college) I dated a guy from Amarillo. We were visiting his parents when a huge storm blew through, with tornadoes bouncing all around us. We drove around the next day and I was indeed humbled by Mother Nature. She's not a bitch you want to mess with (I'm pretty sure she eats her Wheaties!). There were holes where trees used to be and trees with no holes nearby.
My next experience was in 2000 when an F3 tornado crashed through downtown Fort Worth. It formed about two blocks from my home (no shit!) and blew through town, making the area look like a battlefield. Broken glass and debris littered the streets. A billboard bent over at an almost 90 degree angle (it's still there and serves as a sculpture/reminder of our adventure).Now, I'm watching the news....baseball size hail, tree limbs down, roofs ripped off. Good times! My safe place is the guest bath -- no windows!
I love the movie Tornado, but the real thing is not quite as much fun. The Husband was in a class in the path of it and is headed home. Whew! Keeping fingers and toes crossed that he makes it home, safe and sound. In the meantime, you can find me in the bathtub.
Have you been in a bad storm? Did you survive unscathed (sure hope so!)?
Have you been there?
Have I experienced any bad storms? Well, lets see… hmmm….
ReplyDeleteIn June 1972 I survived Hurricane Agnes; while living in Maryland (my birth state). Its residual effects flooded our newly carpeted home, tore off our chimney. I was 10 years old then.
While living in California I survived an earthquake, during my junior year in high school. Nothing like watching a thick cement floor roll like waves on an ocean, while the stage shifted effortlessly side to side. Creepy.
Then while living in South Carolina I survived Hurricane Hugo and its devastation. Lived under Marshall Law during that experience too. I never realized how BIG our Marines really are!!! And mean looking too. However, they smiled at my then 2 year old daughter – she was cuter then me I will admit.
While living in western Nebraska, I watched tornadoes form, touch down. Never experienced one – thankfully.
Now living in Michigan, the only threat is the huge population of mosquitoes. Can any one say malaria? However I do experience damaging winds from the lake and lake-effect snow storms (almost blizzards). Although inland (away from the lake coast) tornadoes are not uncommon, but blizzards are common, as are severe thunderstorms.
Wow! You have been through a few! Uh.....you're not moving next door to me, are you?
DeleteWeeeeellllll.... I was giving some thought to moving across the street from you. Why? Is that a problem? *batting my eyes lashes innocently*
ReplyDelete- Pamela
Uh oh..... Guess we're installing a storm shelter!
DeleteSo, did you make it through the storms okay??? Guess we live just off a tornado alley as well, but our alley is a one-laner. We recently had a tornado touch down and demolish a park about a mile northeast from our house. Right after we moved here, a tornado landed on a few houses about a mile east of us - same thing happened the very next year! We've been lucky so far.
ReplyDeleteWhen hubby and I visited a small town in Indiana a few years back, a tornado touched down and stayed on the ground for miles. Snapped trees and power poles, came "this close" to hitting a school filled with kids, picked up a tractor-trailer rig and set it down in the middle of a corn field. We were amazed that none of the zillions of tornado sirens they had mounted on power poles all over the town went off. Oh, no, we were told - those aren't tornado sirens, they're in case the nerve gas plant blows up. WHAT?!?!?! Nope - not going there again . . . .
We made it through just fine. Thanks!
Delete4 Hurricanes to date. Only one direct hit.
ReplyDelete"Batten down the hatches!"
"I did batten down the hatches."
"Well, batten em down again. We'll teach those hatches."
And you're just the one to do it, Bob! lol
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