The Year Of The Tornadoes!
 

I was a young chick in 1974, which they called the year of the tornadoes and watched as Xenia, Ohio, about 10 miles from my home, was flatened by a category 5 wide tornado.:eek::(

I think this may be the new year for horrible tornadoes..I watch the news and weather channel and just cry and pray.

I pray for all of you who are so closely effected by this..:grouphug:.. Another hit today near Oklahoma city and more people died. They are still looking for survivors in Joplin, MO and 1500 are still missing there.:(

Joplin is calling for more tornado weather tonight and here in Ohio too. We have suffered some tornado/wind damage, but nothing like MO.

They're saying that it wouldn't even take a tornado, but just a good wind to bring down what is still standing in Joplin.:eek: I pray it doesn't happen there or anywhere tonight..:smileypray::smileypray:

Are you all OK out there?:grouphug:

Praying for all those in the path of these powerful storms. :grouphug:

I remember those in 1974. They swept through my community in MS and killed 5 and destroyed @40 homes. Years later it was categorized as an F-4 that was over a mile wide and ran for 20 miles.

Sadly, this year they seem to be hitting more heavily populated communities and cities. Hopefully these devastated communities will experience the outpouring of help and support that AL has been receiving from around the country.

This year is just terrible as far as natural disasters, floods, more floods, tornados. I wish I knew what is going on

I remember my Mom talking about those storms in '74. She was from Mississippi.

The closest I've ever come to actually being in a tornado was in 1998. We had one come through our town and we actually lost our privacy fence to it. I'll never forget the lightning....it was like someone was flashing a light continuously. Scary. But nothing like what the folks in AL, MS and MO have endured.

My prayers are with everyone who has suffered because of these storms.

Prayers to any of our friends and members in tornado alley. It is creepy how these monsters come in rapid succession, hammering away at middle America. Millions of victims just need a breather to allow them to absorb what has happened and begin recovery. So many sad stories of people just disappearing.

Technology has brought the world's recent disasters right into our living rooms like no other time in our lives. Let it not warp our sense of urgency and humanity for those involved, nor dim our need to help out any way we can. The term "dig deep" comes to mind, as it seems one check to the Red Cross clears the bank and we are writing another these days, eh?

It is times like these I most wish I could step out of my broken body and have my healthy body back for just long enough so I could go help clean up, or feed, or even just give hugs to those who need reassurance. My heart has certainly broken the bonds of broken nerves and wobbly feet . . . it is there with those who are hurting . . . ♥

At times it simply looks like mother nature scrubbing the surface of the Earth . . . . or like a test for those of us left after the storm passes to learn a lesson in loving our neighbor . . . or a chance to give help to a stranger.

I lived in IL in '74 and remember lots of tornados that year. I can remember seeing those clouds and running home as fast as we could as well as being in school and having to take cover. It was quite the year.

I have been praying for all those that have been hit by all these tornados. It is so sad, so much devastation. :(

AMEN!! Thanks LH..:hug:

Been under tornado watch all day. It has been extended until 9:00 tonight. have had a few severe thunderstorm warning. I am trying not to watch the weather channel too much because it just stresses me out. The devastation from tornadoes this spring has been horrible.

Stay safe, Barb. Check in when you can!:hug:

I think AL is having some dicey weather today, too. Fortunately, it's all stayed either west or north of me. I hate it for the folks who have to have it, though. :( I pray that nothing severe forms. People can't even recover from one storm and there's another one moving in.

It's been hot and dry here. This will be the second week I haven't had to have my grass cut. We might get some rain Thursday night into Friday morning but each time they update the weather the chance is less and less.

The Weather Channel also said something about hurricane season being busier this year than in recent years. And I remember it being pretty busy the past several years.

Maybe the reason we don't remember the weather being so bad when we were younger is because we didn't have all the technology back then to alert us. We just relied on the sky....if it was cloudy we were going to get rain and if it was sunny we weren't. :rolleyes:

First tornado that I can remember is the May 6, 1975 Omaha tornado.

I was almost 6yrs old. It went directly over my house as a funnel. I saw and heard it. I was in my upstairs bedroom getting a doll. Looked out the window when I heard it. Big black swirling cloud, and the noise reminded me of the sound of fighter jets at the airshow. Dad came in and grabbed me and tossed me down the stairs to my mother.

The funnel dropped down about a block later and took out the grocery store and went down the street and smashed up my grade school.

I had to look it up, it was the most expensive tornado up to that date ($1bil 1975 dollars, not sure what it translates to in 2011 dollars.)

I've seen tornadoes since then, but you never forget your first :winky: That storm gave me a healthy fear/respect of tornadoes. I go to the basement as soon as the sirens go off, or if I see anything that reminds me of that '75 tornado. I'm have a feeling that a lot of the deaths in the latest storms might be because some people didn't take cover. Too many people with videocameras that want to be famous.

Last time I was at a public place during a tornado warning, I saw people running for the glass windows of the store with their cellphones out. The store employees had to herd the people into the shelter area.

I've yet to see my first tornado. Vermont averages less than one per year, and they're usually pretty tame. We've only had 43 tornadoes since 1953. None of the tornadoes killed anybody, and only ten people have been injured.

I think it was in 1993, when I had one of the "red phones" for the volunteer fire department. We got a call from the state police that the next town over was asking for our department to go to a back road connecting the towns for traffic control. One of the firemen that also took the call said to me, after the police dispatcher hung up, "Why in the world do they need US for traffic control?"

Well, we were totally oblivious to the tornado that touched down about three miles from here. It damaged a house and a barn, ruined somebody's sugar bush, and creamed a swath of trees. We had no clue it was going on.

We don't have any kind of warning system, but I suppose if NWS saw one heading our way, the fire department would hear about it and...I don't know what. Blow the sirens?

Nobody's really "safe", but we're as safe here as anywhere, I'd say. God have mercy on the folks in the midwest.

Okay, I am moving to Vermont. What's a little snow;)? Was under a tornado warning for 45 minutes. It got completely dark out in a matter of minutes. Siren and loud speaker system from campus were going off. I live about 1/2 mile from campus so I can hear "Attention, attention, take cover, this is an not a test." over and over again.

There have been reports of tornado all over. Some of them may just be doppler indicated and not on the ground. It is still thundering and we are under a tornado watch for another 30 minutes. The worst part of the storms have moved East. I don't really feel safe anywhere in my duplex when we have warnings. It is an open floor plan and there are windows in every room. I sat in coat closet that is in my laundry room. It is in the center of the duplex but right next to the garage. My other closet that I could sit in is near the front door.

I am glad it is almost over so I can go to bed. Hope everyone east of IL stays safe!

We are under a tornado warning too, but it seems to be moving northeast of us. There are more coming though.

I really hate this devil's weather..:mad:
Stay low and stay safe all.:grouphug:

It's past us now. My DH is going over to my daughters house while she is at work to see if she has any damage. This was one storm system that I was worried about. I normally love to watch the storms from my living room window and I was glad that I didn't have to go downstairs.

I was looking to see if there were any tornado proof home plans, didn't find anything specific on that , but did find this.
http://www.remagensaferooms.com/storm_closet.htm
http://familysafeshelters.com/
http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/saf...sidential.shtm

It's heading for us now, doyds. Should reach us by midnight. So if you all don't hear from me tomorrow, our electricity probably is out. :eek:

I want a monolithic dome shaped house made out of cement (supposedly tornado proof)...hopefully built up on a hill of some sort to avoid flooding too.


They look really cool too.

Sally my brother lives in Earlanger Ky and works in Cincinnati. If you did OK I guess that means he did also.

Of course now we have a severe thunderstorm warning for later today with (wait for it) "an isolated tornado possible". *sigh* Having said that no one has ever been killed in Vermont by a tornado, I feel as though I am now wearing a bullseye. You can almost smell the irony.

We're ok. Some swear that a tornado touched down, because there waS a some twister-like damage here and there but no deaths and all was ok in my back yard. TY Lord.

That'll teach ya not to brag, B2Y..:D

Hope everyone is OK. We had some damage in our city but not our end of the city. Some of our surrounding communities got hit, they are more rural.

I also remember the storms in Ohio in 1974 quite well, a lot of damage done.

With the advances in predicting the tornadoes and other storms since then it is really confusing to me why people can find money to build churches and everything else, but not community storm shelters in high risk areas.

I just watched a reporter (Ben Tracy?) in Joplin shove a microphone in the face of a 14-year-old child whose mother is missing, asking "How does it feel not to have your mother home?" They should put him in jail.

Reporters can be very stupid and insensitive.

I swear, they pick out the most insensitive things to say. "you just lost everything you own, how do you feel?" Well DUH! Someone needs to slap the pun makers in the news room anyway. "and blowing your way is Mack Pace with the storm report" ICK! stop it! Just tell us the news! you are not as funny as you think you are.

When I was younger, the church WAS the community storm shelter.

A lot of people who rebuilt in Xenia, OH, built storms shelters.

I think that storm shelters should be built in all extreme weather susceptable communitees.