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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Mississippi
    Posts
    692

    You just never know...

    Whewwww!

    Last night, I went to my daughters graduation from the D.A.R.E. Program at her school. The entire 5th grade has a mandantory 17 week course, taught by the local Poice Dept.

    All was well, at the program, if you don't count the fact that the lights were knocked out by some severe thunderstorms moving through the area... Had to happen, just as they started to pass out their certificates, right? Yeah... the kids got a big hoot out of that for sure, they moaned when they quickly came back on.

    So anyway, by the time it was over, the rain had subsided for a short while... No wet arse going to the cars, Kewl!

    I get in around 8:30, call her to tell her again, how proud I am of her and tell her to sleep well... the bad weather has passed us by. Yeah... Right!

    An hour later, she calls (30 minutes past bed time) and says, Daddy, we are all at Walmart because the weather alarms went off. She lives only 15 minutes from me, with her scardy cat mother... and I've always hated the fear my X has instilled into our daughter over bad weather, and those daurn alarms.

    Well my daughter calls back twice more, still at walmart, wanting an update on the weather. I was watching it closely on the news, the fact was, it really was bad enough to get out of the house. An F0 tornado had touched down about 30 miles west of us, and heading our way... direct line from the first touch down, over my house, and heading straight for theirs.

    The second time she called, was almost the very minute that the same tornado (increased to an F2) touched down less than 1 mile (as the crow flies) northeast of their house. It took about 5 minutes for the news of touchdown, to hit the airways, and it broke my heart! I swore at that minute of hearing this, that I would NEVER resent how my X runs for cover at the sound of the alarms. It doesn't take but a split second, and your family can be ripped apart. My kid and I are extremely close and I was slapped in the face with reality again last night, of just how much I would miss her should anything drastic happen to either of us.

    On the positive side of this though, there were only 20 injuries in both touchdowns of this tornado... all of them in her city, none of them serious enough to require hospitalization though.

    Well, that's it... I just wanted to share the close encounter. I know this isn't really WHT material and that I should of written this in a personal journal... or kept it inside.

    I hope this doesn't have an adverse effect on anyone that may have not been so fortunate as we were. I also hope this has a positive effect on someone that may have distance in their family, for whatever reason.

    You never know what the future holds in store.

    1- Don't dwell on yesterday.
    2- Make the best of today.
    3- Plan for the future!

    Peace Out! I have to sleep now, it's been a long night!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Victoria, Australia
    Posts
    36,939

    Re: You just never know...

    Originally posted by shoney
    You never know what the future holds in store.

    1- Don't dwell on yesterday.
    2- Make the best of today.
    3- Plan for the future!
    Great idea Thanks for sharing Steve, and I am glad you are all safe. Mother Nature can be cruel at times.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Omaha
    Posts
    2,127
    Wow where do you live ?
    Sometimes life seems like a dream, especially when I look down and see that I forgot to put on my pants

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    7,954
    Steve I can relate to that story. Two days before my daughter was born an F2 ripped through our area less than a 1/4" from the house. All power and phone lines were down and the mobile circuits were busy.

    I was about 30 minutes away fighting my way home through traffic. All I could do was listen to the news reports and eye witness reports on the radio. Listening to reports of semi-trucks turned over, roofs ripped off, and house torn apart just made things worse. That was probably the longest half hour in my life.

    When I finally got home, my wife didn't even know how close the tornado had come. Since the power and phones were out she had not heard the reports.

    I started going back to church that Sunday.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Ohio
    Posts
    3,155
    Yikes...

    Sounds like a close encounter my family had with a tornado several years ago. At the time, I lived near a city (less than a mile from downtown Jacksonville, FL) a F1 tornado (sustained winds at 104 gusts to 130) touched down for ~40 seconds and when it dissipated, it dissipated on the house we were staying in. In the 40 something seconds it was on the ground, it uprooted about 30 oak trees, damanged many roofs, caused about 6 accidents, ripped the metal face off a nearby billboard and relocated the billboard face a block away and all our house had was a busted window ... There was a tornado watch, but by the time the "seek shelter" advisory was announced it was too late.

    The odd thing about tonados though, they can destroy trees, relocate/destry buildings, and yet after our close encounter our garbage cans and a pepsi can remained where they were before the tornado occured...

    Anyways, glad you're all ok. Tornados are serious stuff and sometimes people don't understand what they can do in a short period of time. For those of you that don't know the Fujita scale (F scale), you can read a chart here.

    I bet this will turn into a "close encounters" thread.
    Don't like what I say? Ignore me.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    California
    Posts
    2,005
    I'm glad their aren't any Tornados in California. And there hasn't been a major earthquake where I live....mmm...not ever that I know of. You get used to the little ones, but I'm not that close to any major fault lines (San Andreas is about 100 miles away). Just have to hope there aren't any tidal waves that go about 30 miles inland
    I wish all my traffic went through AS174.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Lake Arrowhead, CA
    Posts
    933
    Shoney, I am glad that all turned out well for you and your family.

    I know all of you in tornado alley will think I am crazy but I will take an earthquake over a tornado anyday. I have lived in California for all of my 45 years and I have been in some major earthquakes but tornados still seem worse to me.
    Dale Poncy
    Retired from Zana Web Hosting

  8. #8
    Wow, I was just reading about it on Fox News.
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,85162,00.html

    Glad everything turned out OK for you and your family.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Mississippi
    Posts
    692
    Jan - Your welcome. Thanks for the well wishes...

    MarcD - We are in MS - Daughter is in Brandon, Richland for myself.

    Rox Off - WoW -- I can only imagine the range of emotions you felt during that seemingly endless, 30 minute ride.

    MGCJerry - Gessssh guy, 1 second more huh? Thankfully for you all, it stopped when it did. Regardless the scale of a tornado, you never want to experience one that close.

    Surely in all areas prone to tornados, the warning sysytems are much improved of yester-year. Doplar Radar, Storm Chasers, and Meterologic experts are helping to increase the 'know how' to predict and spot tornados on radar with greater accuracy.

    Solid Joe - I'm glad for two things, for you. 1- You don't so close to the shoreline. 2- Your at least 100 miles from the San Adreas Fault.

    Dapron - Thanks guy! I am not sure I share your preferences. Both times I've been to California (San Diego for Naval RTC & Redondo Beach for training) there was a small quake. None-the-less, I am glad you've been ok through your bouts with the Earthquakes.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Mississippi
    Posts
    692
    Thanks for the thoughts HostOrb, and the link.

    You can see some images here at a local stations website: http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp...7&nav=1L7tFRuq

    This local station provides a news story video, requires realone to watch it and more images: http://www.wjtv.com/front/MGBFI0J4YED.html

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