tornado warnings (earthquakes, day, storms, world)

[ellie]

I woke up this morning, turned on the news and heard that the radar showed a storm with strong circulating winds headed in my direction, maybe 15 miles away and counting.

How many people have a tornado plan or have been faced with this situation?

I started a pot of coffee, put on my shoes, put away my computer, found my cell phone and purse, and put them in my "storm closet" with a blanket.

Then I sat in front of the TV and drank coffee till the storm cell passed, 5 miles to the north.

Isn't it funny what you prioritize?

[theqbaby]

Where are you ellie??
We have been on tornado watch for most of the night and morning here in S.E. Georgia. The storm seems to have passed about 10 minutes ago.

[ellie]

I'm near Gainesville, FL. The line of storms passed us at about the same time it passed you. We had an actual warning, after a night of being under a tornado watch. I don't think the tornado touched down. Last I heard it was between Starke and Keystone Heights.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Seems like I never know what's going on until after the fact. (I'm on the west side of north Florida, this should change next month.)
I was aware of some heavy weather last night.
We had one heckuva thunderstorm between midnight and 2:30am, then things calmed down. Still very windy here.
In Denver, we used to go down in the basement when it seemed tornado-ish.
I need to develop some sort of plan here: grab the cat and the dog and head for the bathtub? Not sure.

[Paula Lynn]

Here in Southern California, we don't have tornados, but we do have earthquakes with no warning!! So, I always know where my shoes and glasses are just in case. I keep water on hand, a wrench (in case I have to turn off the gas) and we're good to go.

[ellie]

I think that shoes are key.

After watching news of the storms here in FL a couple of months ago as well as an earthquake training video from Japan, I realized that having your shoes may make a huge difference in your ability to escape harm.

[BrianG]

I feel for all you guys and gals

I have been in the middle of one of those storms and never
want to be again

It was Labor Day 1998
we had just moved from brooklyn ny to rahway n.j in july
The whole family (me and my six sisters and all the spouses and kids,27 of us)
always went camping for that weekend
since we were still unpacking my family and one of my sisters decided to stay home instead and we had a bbq ,my oldest son had some friends from brooklyn out visiting ,they went to play baseball around 11 am

It started around 1 pm with a little rain and then all hell broke loose
my sister decided to drive to westfield to close the windows in her house
and me and my brother inlaw went to pick the kids up from the ball field about a 1/2 mile from my house
that is when the hail the size of golf balls started falling along with the trees and power lines ,we were dodging power lines and trees
it was so bad that you could not see 5 feet ahead of you
to make a long story short we finally got to the ball field and the kids were not there so we drove home as fast as we could ,we passed my sister (who could not make it home either) and got back to my house
the kids were all standing on the front porch watching what was left of the storm (as soon as it started raining they ran home )
it turned out the rest of the family had just got back from camping when the storm hit and a tree fell on one of my sisters van and another one fell on her house a few minutes after they pulled into their driveway

we had no warning of any storm and it was not until later that we learned
a tornado had touched down in our town

not knowing the kids were all right was the worst

[MoMark]

Tornado warnings mean that a tornado has either been spotted visually or a hook echo has been seen on radar that indicates a probable tornado.
When we get those here, it's not a fun experience. I went through two nights in a row last March about 1am with the radio saying a tornado was headed my way. I headed into an interior closet, wrapped myself up in a sleeping bag for protection and waited. I could hear the storm outside getting violent with wailing wind and slashing rain and I just realized...I'm screwed if this house is hit.

[theqbaby]

Originally Posted by MoMark

Tornado warnings mean that a tornado has either been spotted visually or a hook echo has been seen on radar that indicates a probable tornado.
When we get those here, it's not a fun experience. I went through two nights in a row last March about 1am with the radio saying a tornado was headed my way. I headed into an interior closet, wrapped myself up in a sleeping bag for protection and waited. I could hear the storm outside getting violent with wailing wind and slashing rain and I just realized...I'm screwed if this house is hit.

I agree.
You can prepare, but I feel its pretty much a hit or miss case. If your house was a direct hit, I don't think all the preperation in the world would/could save you.
At least with hurricanes you have time to prepare with still no guarentee. With a tornado that comes thru in the middle of the night , I think praying is your only option.
I haven't dealt much with tornados, lots of experience with hurricanes though.
I think we would dive under my pedestal waterbed if need be.

[ellie]

It wasn't scary this morning but it was rather surreal. Ugh, I had to get out of bed and behave sensibly.

I have an interior hall closet and have known for awhile that would probably be the best place, though you never know for sure.

And yes, MoMark, it was a tornado rotation signature on the storm cell. I was surprised that the TV was not going beep beep beep, like it often does in storm situations. The weather guy seemed far more calm than they usually behave when a storm is forecast hours away. We literally had minutes.

Fortunately all is well.