Huge storms

[faith 0]

We'd been told all day that we were at high risk for storms yesterday evening between 3 and 7, and like most people from this area, just kept one eye on the sky and one ear to the ground to listen for sirens. Around 5:15 pm we got in my car to drive north to a town to meet someone to pick up some work stuff. We got about 2 blocks from my house and the sky turned dark and it started to rain a little. Then the wind started. About 2 miles from my house the girl that we were meeting called and said she was stuck on the side of the road and freaked out. The sky was turning that green shade, and the power started flickering on our route. The railroad crossing arms were shaking back and forth. We decided to turn around and just go to my ex husband's house because he lived closer and my kids were there, and then it started to hail. We made it there safe and sound and rode out the storm (all 10 minutes of it) at his house.

However, the adjacent town, Fairview Heights (in the same direction we were headed) took a major hit. This town is a major shopping town. The mall has windows busted, a roof caved in on a K&G store killing a man who was shopping there, signs are ripped across streets... it's nuts. I've heard from a couple of friends that there is no power (my brother's girlfriend is stuck at work in the mall - she's a security guard at JC Penny's.) and that there are power poles snapped clean in half and nails and timber all over the roads. They even had to close the interstate highway down for a short period of time. (This came from a Fairview Police Detective that we know). What hit me last night is that looking at the timing of this storm, we would have been right in the middle of the damage area when it hit had we not turned around. Scary!

There are at least 150,000 people without power in the st louis metro area. (And lots of businesses both in our town and in all the surrounding areas)

I got home and my neighbors siding was ripped off the side of his house by winds that came through.. it also knocked down part of his fence. A large tree was split in half. And then this morning I find out that my sister (who lives in the other half of the duplex I live in) had her two sons' ceiling cave in last night, apparently from some shingles being ripped off and then water seeping in.

I think we'll be seeing a lot more of the damage around here in the days to come.

Tennessee and Arkansas faired much worse than we did here.

So, for any of you that live in the path, I hope you and your loved ones are all OK!!!!

[almaty 19]

wow sister faith..alton area got spared any impact....i heard about the storm killing that man and tearing up kmart..etc...i am glad you are fine..dean

[faith 0]

wow sister faith..alton area got spared any impact....i heard about the storm killing that man and tearing up kmart..etc...i am glad you are fine..dean

funny thing is, they were telling us that alton area was going to be worse off than we were!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I heard there were 19 deaths total due to the storms - most in western TN. By the time the system made it here, it had weakened quite a bit but there was some damage from fallen trees and such just a few miles away from us. It was quite windy for sure...

[faith 0]

I heard there were 19 deaths total due to the storms - most in western TN. By the time the system made it here, it had weakened quite a bit but there was some damage from fallen trees and such just a few miles away from us. It was quite windy for sure...

yeah TN got hit hard. It's gonna be a rough season if you look at how early we've started the severe storms!

[Garfield fan 0]

faith, I'm glad you and your kids are fine. It was raining and misty all day long yesterday, but it looks nice outside today in MN. Hope we don't get any of those storms...

[TracyTN 237]

Luckily, I seemed to be far enough east to miss the worst of it. Counties to the south and west of me weren't so lucky, though.

Still, I turned on the TV in my bedroom each time I heard thunder to see if we were in a warning. I hate nights like that!

[Ephesia 0]

The sirens went off in our area (Marion County, Indianapolis) last night at 8:45pm EST. I didn't even hear them because I was stupidly watching E!'s 'Best Of The Worst Moments On The Red Carpet'. I know, I know. Silly thing to watch, but I always choose braindead programs to watch on TV to unwind before bedtime.

Anyway, hubby heard the sirens when he was using the bathroom. He immediately told me to get out of bed, light some candles throughout the house, and switch to the local news channel. We were stunned. This huge red cell was tearing northeast right towards our county in Indianapolis. Hubby went to warn room mate who was still logged on in World of Warcraft in our computer room. Roomie promptly logged off. And in typical Elen-style, I told them if I'm gonna die in a tornado, I'm gonna die after I have a last cig, which I did in our garage while we stared at the storm. The winds and rain were SO fast and heavy that roomie's truck got rocked a bit. We also witnessed three of our five trash cans getting blown about every which way. By the time the core of the red cell we saw on TV reach our area, winds were up to 75 mph.

Nothing else happened. The storms left as quickly as they tore through our county. The entire exciting moment was over in 10 mins. And I was sleepy as hell, so I passed out. Most of the damage, it seems, happened downtown Indianapolis. Once again, I am grateful nothing bad happened because it would have been tough for us to evacuate, given my husband's health.

I was so sad this morning when I saw on the news about how badly TN got hit.

Edited April 3, 2006 by Ephesia

[nijusjaanu 0]

we're fine. apparently it went juuuust north of us. the cable went out, so we listened to the weather on the radio ... and of course it was a simulcast of what was on tv, so they were saying stuff like "and right over here is where it's going to hit the hardest. if you're in this area that i'm circling, please take shelter immediately!" .... and i'm thinking frantically "i can't see where you're circling!!" ... but nothing happened in my area.

[Mand 1]

I heard TN got hit really bad and 8(?) people were killed. We were on tornado watch till 4am this morning, but only got wind and rain thankfully.

[MandR 0]

The sirens went off in our area (Marion County, Indianapolis) last night at 8:45pm EST. I didn't even hear them because I was stupidly watching E!'s 'Best Of The Worst Moments On The Red Carpet'. I know, I know. Silly thing to watch, but I always choose braindead programs to watch on TV to unwind before bedtime.

Anyway, hubby heard the sirens when he was using the bathroom. He immediately told me to get out of bed, light some candles throughout the house, and switch to the local news channel. We were stunned. This huge red cell was tearing northeast right towards our county in Indianapolis. Hubby went to warn room mate who was still logged on in World of Warcraft in our computer room. Roomie promptly logged off. And in typical Elen-style, I told them if I'm gonna die in a tornado, I'm gonna die after I have a last cig, which I did in our garage while we stared at the storm. The winds and rain were SO fast and heavy that roomie's truck got rocked a bit. We also witnessed three of our five trash cans getting blown about every which way. By the time the core of the red cell we saw on TV reach our area, winds were up to 75 mph.

Nothing else happened. The storms left as quickly as they tore through our county. The entire exciting moment was over in 10 mins. And I was sleepy as hell, so I passed out. Most of the damage, it seems, happened downtown Indianapolis. Once again, I am grateful nothing bad happened because it would have been tough for us to evacuate, given my husband's health.

I was so sad this morning when I saw on the news about how badly TN got hit.

[Mand 1]

I just heard on the radio, that's the total amount of deaths is 23

[luv2teach77 41]

Debs and I were on our way back from Walmart in Highland when we heard on the radio that there had been tornados sighted in downtown st. Louis heading east at about 55mph. We were North at that time but our place is south of there and was certainly in the direct path of anything heading east. We'd only been home about 10 minutes when the tornado sirens went off and the wind really picked up. We live in an upstairs apartment and really only have the bottom of our stairwell to shelter in in the event of a direct hit. We threw a bunch of blankets and pillows down there but our town must have snuck through a weaker area of the storm front that blew through because apart from strong winds and some crazy thunder and lightning we escaped unscathed.

One of the guys I work with lives in fairview heights and didn't have power from 5pm yesterday until about 4am this morning. We lost our cable and internet at about 9pm but that was it. I noticed part of the roof missing off the main mall in Fairview on my way into work this morning and have seen pictures of another store which collapsed killing one man.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that I was moving to tornado alley until a few weeks ago when the first real bad spring storms ripped accross Missouri and Illinois. I guess I'll have to get used to this kind of thing. Hopefully later this year we'll be in a position to look for a house, preferably with a basement !!

Mark

[faith 0]

Debs and I were on our way back from Walmart in Highland when we heard on the radio that there had been tornados sighted in downtown st. Louis heading east at about 55mph. We were North at that time but our place is south of there and was certainly in the direct path of anything heading east. We'd only been home about 10 minutes when the tornado sirens went off and the wind really picked up. We live in an upstairs apartment and really only have the bottom of our stairwell to shelter in in the event of a direct hit. We threw a bunch of blankets and pillows down there but our town must have snuck through a weaker area of the storm front that blew through because apart from strong winds and some crazy thunder and lightning we escaped unscathed.

One of the guys I work with lives in fairview heights and didn't have power from 5pm yesterday until about 4am this morning. We lost our cable and internet at about 9pm but that was it. I noticed part of the roof missing off the main mall in Fairview on my way into work this morning and have seen pictures of another store which collapsed killing one man.

I hadn't really thought about the fact that I was moving to tornado alley until a few weeks ago when the first real bad spring storms ripped accross Missouri and Illinois. I guess I'll have to get used to this kind of thing. Hopefully later this year we'll be in a position to look for a house, preferably with a basement !!

Mark

For those of us that are from here.. we kind of take most of those storms as "ok well it's another one". You buy a weather radio that can wake you up if there's a warning so you can go in the basement and you go on with life. You call every single member of your family after the storm passes to make sure they are ok and then you make the round checking out your property or the property of others that you have been tasked to check. (I had to go check on my best friends house, my dad's office, and my work last night). There's talk like this for 2 days after a big one comes through and then you forget until the next time. It may sound heartless, but it's the way of life here.

It has affected my views on how I live tho... like I said, we have a weather radio.. I have lots of candles handy for each floor of our house... I would never consider living in a house with no basement.... stuff like that. yesterday was the first time that my kids were not with me during a big storm. that scared the ####### out of me (even tho I'm glad they weren't in the car with us), but again, by the end of summer I will have forgotten all about this one. Again, heartless, maybe, but the way we live in this area of the country.

[Nearly Done 8]

We are on tornado watch until 5pm had a few bad storms today, not lasting long though not used to these warnings......so do you hear sirens if a tornado is close?