Surviving a Tornado

When I was a kid tornado sirens going off were a regular occurrence. I remember waking up to my parents rushing me out of my bed towards the cellar. My sister slipped down the cellar stairs, a blanket she was carrying caught in the door, saving her from a brutal fall. As we all filed in behind her my dad and youngest brother were last in line. It was all happening so quick. My dad had one hand around the door handle ready to shut the door and the other around my little brothers tiny hand. We all began screaming in despair as the tornado started lifting my little brother off the ground. My dad quickly handed my brother down to my mom, but before he could get his self inside the door tore free. His hand was still gripping the door handle and he was having trouble letting go. We were all cringing with fear and so thankful when his fingers finally let the door free. There was an old mattress in the yard and my dad drug it over the door way to protect us from the storm. We all survived. The next few days were filled with buckets full of rain water being scooped out of the cellar. I still remember using floating boards as a foot rest while waiting for the storm to end. Have you ever survived a tornado?

 

Well, I live in Oklahoma! We actually live so far out we don't have tornado sirens. We just have to follow the coverage and we're in between two news coverage areas, so neither cover us too closely.

Two tornados have already hit my area this year. Actually, the widest tornado in recorded history hit near my area just 3 years ago. The third anniversary is coming up in a few days.

 

I'm from Oklahoma too.
Wow, I didn't expect to see someone from the state I live. We may have experienced some of the same tornados!

 

Wow! I had a feeling you might be since we seem to be the only ones talking about tornados, and we Okies love talking about tornados!

It's going to be a rough week with storms moving all through the state. You stay safe out there!

 

I am very scared about tornadoes. I am from Florida and the closest I came to one was a swirling cloud that never touched down above my house. I remember hearing the sirens and the "train" sound. My mom was at work and I went to go to the basement but it was locked. I lived in a trailer out in the country at the time and was scared to death. I am currently in Alabama. I live where the 300 tornadoes hit a few years ago and the thought of a tornado has become more real then ever before. There is a really good possibility that I will be in a tornado this year.

 

I hope you stay safe too! I agree though it definitely seems like Oklahomans have a different take on tornados. I've learned to keep a close eye on the weather and those texting alerts the news sends out now are so helpful!

 

Tornadoes are very scary! Especially for those in trailer houses. I hope you have a tornado plan. Here in Oklahoma there were several entire houses misses. Trailers vanished with only porches and steps left. If you do get tornadoes this year stay safe and best wishes. If you need any safety advice I'd be happy to help if I can.

 

Those texting alerts actually saved my cousin during the May 20th, 2013 Moore, Oklahoma tornado! She was in her greenhouse when it went off, she barely made it to her storm shelter!

 

I'm glad that we don't have tornadoes here or should I say a rarity. But there was this story of my husband that the younger sister of his grandmother was lifted by a tornado for more than 10 feet and for more than 10 seconds. The girl was 10 and was walking home from school in an open area when the tornado attacked. There were 3 of them (one was my husband's grandmother) and 2 of the siblings were able to escape by running but Vita, the youngest sister was left behind. The 2 siblings saw their youngest sister up in the air together with leaves, grass and other debris caught by the eye of the tornado. Fortunately, the injury was minor. Whew, what a story.

What we had been experiencing here are typhoons that sometimes it is so strong as to rip off the roof of the house. Worse, after the typhoon comes the flood. Can you imagine the torment if your house have no more roof and your floor is filled with floodwater? That commonly happens to the low lying areas.

 

Oh my goodness! Stories like that make me so thankful to have it! We got another one today for a flash flood warning, and rotation above us that thankfully did not turn into a tornado.

 

Oh wow! I'm so happy to hear she survived that is one amazing story. I can only imagine how scared and thankful they were when she made it safe. I have never experienced a typhoon, but it sounds horrible. I hope you have a way to stay safe when they come! Im not in an area where you learn about taking shelter from a typhoon, hopefully shelters are plentiful.