We just survived a tornado!

[TXGunNut]

Glad you're OK, better half will probably heed your urgings a bit better next time. Cats are tough survivors, they're just taking advantage of the situation and getting a little more snuggle time in. Hope the rest of the night is uneventful. Take lots of damage pics and get an estimate or two before you move forward, I hope your insurance covers all you hope it will.

[MaryB]

Glad you are okay and the house can be repaired. I dodged a bullet in 2011, 95mph straight line winds with a tornado mixed in hit the other side of town, lifted and went over my block and touched down again out in the field. Stripped every last piece of vinyl siding off the house but no other damage except trees. I mainly got the straight line but at one stretch the wind shifted and came from from all 4 directions about 1 minute apart as the tornado passed overhead. Lots of damage all over MN from that one, no power here for 4 days.

[RED333]

I thank the Lord for another day.
All good here, thanks for thinking of us and the prays.

[osteodoc08]

Tornados definitely must be respected. Glad y'all are safe.

[Moonie]

We had one go right over our house a few years ago, wife, dogs, kids and grandkids in the bathroom, oldest son and I were out on a run to the hardware store for something. On our way back powerlines and trees all over the roads, took us 20 minutes to go around town to get back to the house because all the roads from that side of town to the house were impassable. Damage was in the 10's of millions, was on the ground 1/2 mile before it went over our house and came back down 200 yards after it passed over. It was my fault because I wasn't there... Those with wives understand that last bit.

Glad you are ok

[nekshot]

Thank God you are ok, if you have never heard (i hope you don't) the sound of a rush of freight trains all around you it is hard to imagine what it sounds like. Another time the family was safe in basement and I knew the twister was coming so I ran out to the propane tank to turn it off at tank and a bolt of lightening lit up the sky and right there was a huge funnel and momentarily I froze and could not move, muskrat slide in the pants area for sure!

[searcher4851]

Glad to hear you're ok, and that the night didn't give you any more surprises.

[kfarm]

Know how you feel. We had our house hit in 1979. We have rebuilt and pucker up every time a storm comes by. Its sorts like the passing of a family member, the pain eases but you will never forget. Best wishes, glad your safe.

[Taylor]

No even a drop of rain here in Clarksville.Storms keep missing us,not that I am complaining mind you.When they do hit,they hit hard.Best wishes to you neighbor.

[FISH4BUGS]

Spent a few years in Leavenworth KS, (or should I say AT Leavenworth) and went through a few tornados in my days there. Very frightening stuff. Glad you are safe.

[Brother Bob]

Brother, in the future, don't ever pile your family in a vehicle and try to find safety when a tornado is bearing down on you! This is coming from a well seasoning Okie in the middle of Tornado Alley! Get in the center part of your house and cover yourselves up! A vehicle is a deathtrap!

[MaryB]

One thing I have heard is that using spray foam insulation can really improve the soundness of a structure in a tornado. It acts as a glue and holds things together really well. If I would ever get rich and build a new house it would be foamed inside and use air to air heat exchangers.

[oldred]

Brother, in the future, don't ever pile your family in a vehicle and try to find safety when a tornado is bearing down on you! This is coming from a well seasoning Okie in the middle of Tornado Alley! Get in the center part of your house and cover yourselves up! A vehicle is a deathtrap!

Normally I would agree 100% but in this case leaving before the twister strike made far more sense, the choice was staying in an old renovated farm house situated high up on a hillside or driving about a 1/4 mile to the safety of a solid limestone sheltered area. There is where we made it just as most of the debris went flying overhead and had my wife and I not took so long in making the decision we would have gotten there even sooner before the first winds hit our house.


The first pic is our place buried under the trees that were blown down, that large Walnut tree across the porch roof was the one that came down as we were leaving, this old man with the bum knees can REALLY move when he has a tree falling right at him!!! My wife was just coming out the front door and I been on the porch waiting for her just as that swirling wind started to twist the tree around, at that point we knew we were too late but after the tree fell we could see the twister bearing down on us and the truck was only a few yards away with the engine already running so we made the dash for it and managed to reach the safety of that sheltered area just as the main whirling debris cluster (for lack of a better description) passed overhead. While the heavy oak framing of house withstood the brunt of the force smaller debris went through like projectiles making a real mess everywhere, there was hardly any spot in the house that would have been safe.

The next two pics are of close neighbors and as can easily be seen we were very lucky and suffered no loss at all compared to what these folks are having to deal with.