Anyway, we had some severe weather come through a few days ago. I was watching TV and all my fave shows were broken into because of all the tornadoes and severe t-storms that were making their way through our area.
Most everything was way north of us but I told one of my neighbors that if the sirens went off, I was coming over. We don't have a basement and the closet that had been designated the "tornado closet" the day we moved into the house was now full of items for the care of my husband's 450 gallon fish tank, including a smaller "frag" tank.
So about 9:30 I was laying in bed watching the reports and the storm was looking like it might clip our little community. All of a sudden, the TV screen went blue (like the "blue screen of death" that you get on computers) and a voice came over the air that said "This is the (local) fire department. Please take cover immediately." So I jumped up and threw on some slippers and headed toward the door. By the time I grabbed Bailey's leash, my neighbor was banging on my door. The sirens were going off as we walked out the door.
I sent my husband a text message to let him know where I was since he was at work. I got a text from a girlfriend who lives 45 minutes southwest of us saying "Tornado heading your way!" My neighbors still had power so we kept watching the weather reports for about 3o minutes. Then all of a sudden everything was over. The sirens went off, the weather people were like "its over, see you later" and the regular programming resumed. So Bailey and I went home.
With a fish tank as large as ours, there is a lot of background noise in our house. Since I knew we were in for some more severe stuff later that night, I left my bedroom window open so I could hear the sirens if they went off again. Our house is semi-subterranean so my husband told me to take shelter in the bathroom that is mostly under ground if we had anymore warnings. I left the TV on in the bedroom and Bailey and I went to sleep.
About 2am, I awoke to a soft growl from Bailey. I wasn't sure what she was growling at until I realized the window was still open and the roar coming from outside was just like the "freight train" I hear folks describe after they have been through a tornado. I pulled Bailey up next to me and covered us with the blankets. There was no way I was gonna walk through our living room with the large glass fish tank if there was a tornado about to hit. The TV folks were not reporting any rotation at the time but they said they had reports of 70-80 mph straight line winds.
I laid there with my dog and waited for the storm to pass. There was lightening and thunder and rain that went sideways, but no sirens or actual tornado warnings. But the sound of that roaring, steady-state wind will be with me for a long time.
Here are some pics of the damage 4 blocks from the home of a co-worker:
********************
52.1 lbs on 5/4
No comments:
Post a Comment