Re: Tornadoes

Posted by gwstang on April 02, 2014 at 23:42:44 from (71.42.172.242):

In Reply to: Tornadoes posted by Mark W. on April 02, 2014 at 08:50:13:

Mark W. said: (quoted from post at 08:50:13 04/02/14) My daughter is terrified of tornadoes. No idea why, not typical in our area of NW PA. A post the other day made me think of this. Has anyone here lived through a tornado, have pictures or a story to tell? They fascinate and scare me as well.

On April 27, 2011 (my B-Day if that don't beat all! ) we had the worst night in the history of Alabama. Like some of our sister states, we were hammered badly F4's and a few F5's. Many died and many were injured many lost everything. There were several small towns that were wiped off the map. I was hit by an F4 that killed 7 of my neighbors and tore up everything. I lost the roof on the house and garage/barn and my poor 71 acres hardly has a tree left on it. It went right down the frigging middle. We were home and it had just gotten dark and the power had gone off from the first storms rolling through so we were just sitting and talking in the dark and this god-awful noise started. It was deafening and her little long haired chihuahua jumped off the couch and darted into the bedroom. Swmbo said it was a tornado and we ran into the bedroom and jumped into the double walk in closet and started praying for God's protection. Remember it was pitch dark so it's hard to really know what is happening as it is sort of like being in the twilight zone show...just surreal at the moment. The house started shaking like it coming apart around us, I mean jumping up and down and shaking uncontrollably. Then water started pouring in everywhere and it just added to the confusion of the darkness. Windows were shattering and it was just...well, confusing at the moment. Seemed like forever but was only a few seconds. When I came too, I was laying on her (I had crouched over her to protect her in instinctively) and her leg was broke. I was very dazed and wondered why my head hurt so. Remember it was pitch dark still. I started stumbling around to figure out what just happened and ran over some stuff that wasn't there a moment ago...seems mother nature likes to remodel stuff for you...lol. There were tree limbs and stuff in there and of course water everywhere and still raining in heavily. I managed to find the flash light while still muttering what the he** had just happened. Then I went back to check on her (didn't know her leg was broke just then as it wasn't a bad break and was in the non weight bearing bone, she said it like a bad hit). I got her settled and the rain slacked up by then and I started wandering around to see the damage. We couldn't really get outside very well as all the big oaks around the house were neatly re-arranged everywhere. I thought, "Well, there will be lots of easy firewood this winter!". The more I looked, the worse it got. We moved some electronics (tv etc) and furniture around to avoid the worse of the water drips by then. Wet carpet stinks btw. I looked outside to see if we still had any vehicles or chickens. My truck was still sitting where the carport had been and her car was moved a bit but okay, both had dents and scratches all over them from the flying debris. All 16 chickens were okay, but the pen was a mess. I'm still amazed that there were any chickens left in that wind. The more I looked the more depressed I felt about all of this. Daylight finally came and the cavalry showed up on 4 wheelers to help us out. It took the sheriff dept (we live way out in the sticks so local pd is about 7 miles away and out of jurisdiction), a little time to get the roads set up with road blocks as these idiots (I would call them people but they are just animals, really human garbage that would prey on people in a situation like this) were already starting the looting. In a trailer park about 3 miles down the road, a friend of mine in the fd said there were little kids crying and walking around looking for parents that were gone forever. They fished folks out of a couple of ponds nearby, ugly scene. UP and down the road in the area looked like a nuclear war zone. Two churches (and many houses) were just gone. Nothing left but the slabs. No debris, just frigging gone! Those little churches had been there for at least 100 years. The old old house on the front of our property (just used for storage) didn't miss a lick. I don't get it either, it is huge and just build on field stone for the foundation (it's up in the air about 2 foot on the stone pillars) and it did not move or get damaged. The next day, I ordered the metal for the re-roofing (the original roof had been torn up by hurricane Opal about 15 years before and I had re-roofed with the heavy metal panels so I knew what needed to be ordered to re-do it) and grabbed a crew to take care of it before it rained again in the next week. In coming weeks, I crawled, and I do mean crawled, down through the woods (about 2/3 was nice woodland thinned out every 15 years and lots of big oaks and large pines and home to deer/turkey etc) to check the damage. It was a big mess, all the trails I kept neatly bush-hogged were like trying to get through a jungle. The pines were all snapped off about 1/3 of the way up. The large oaks were all blown over with the root ball sticking up, very ugly scene. Everything was just all jumbled up and impossible to get through. I talked to several different timber outfits and no one wanted to get through that mess to cut up the timber so that was a big loss. I had it cut about 10 years before so the timber was ready for another cutting soon at that point....too late now. They said it was too twisted up and no good anymore. I still find all kinds of clothes/plywood/roofing/anything you can think of...when I walk down there and go through some area I had not been for awhile like when hunting. Some of it is still not accessible for the mess, I just cleaned the trails off the best I could. Anyway, swmbo got her leg in a cast and I got a titanium plate in my neck for the price of admission to an F4 tornado. Next time I am just going to go out and stand in it. I ain't going through this again... :x Those pictures you see on tv are very real to me. I still get a little nervous when a big storm comes up. Like they say...you can run but you can not hide!

I would like to add: Some don't like police people and occasionally I don't if I'm getting a ticket...lol, but I have a new found respect for the job they did. They were first on the scene with an emergency prepared plan and got the roads shut down and we had to show drivers license to get in and out to prove we lived there. They did an outstanding job and kept coming around day and night asking if were were alright and needed any help. Like I said, I have a much greater appreciation and respect for the job they do now. It's one of those things were you don't know until you really really really need a cop. :shock:

I now know what it means where the bible says it rains on the just and the unjust.

This post was edited by gwstang at 23:44:28 04/02/14.

Replies:

• Re: Tornadoes gwstang 23:48:42 04/02/14 (0)

Add a Reply Name: E-Mail: Subject: Comments: Optional Link URL: Link Title: Optional Image URL: Optional Video Title: Optional Video URL: Email Notification: If you check this box, email will be sent to you whenever someone replies to this message. Your email address must be entered above to receive notification. This notification will be cancelled automatically after 2 weeks.   Advanced Posting Tools   Upload Photo  Select Gallery Photo  Attach Serial # List  Return to Post

TRACTOR PARTS	TRACTOR MANUALS

We sell tractor parts!  We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]