Bugford
Well-known member
It's hard to look at what a direct hit does to an rv park. 
Lakeview RV (Ohio) park hit by tornado last night
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Excalibur
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Indian Lake State Park is closed too. Damage still being determined. Closed everything, including the campground. Hope its not too bad. We have reservations for Memorial Day week.
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Wasn't someone recommending that park recently?
We have fairly bland weather in the UK for the most part. Some of the weather out there must be terrifying. A friend survived a tornado as he was on top of his wife in the bath. He had injuries but survived and she was fine I think.
We have fairly bland weather in the UK for the most part. Some of the weather out there must be terrifying. A friend survived a tornado as he was on top of his wife in the bath. He had injuries but survived and she was fine I think.
Tom
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Tom
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Local news here in OH is also reporting 3 fatalities. Today was a search & rescue day, but I haven't seen much of any updates.
jymbee
Well-known member
Frightening to be sure...It's hard to look at what a direct hit does to an rv park.
A good friend of ours has a home on lake there and it was demolished.
We start our trip near there and will be back that way in a couple of weeks. Just last night we got a knock on the door and a ranger was warning us that there were tornado warnings for the area of TX we're in.
Seems the threat of tornados are part and parcel to traveling throughout the mid west and it has not been at all uncommon for us to be huddled up in a bathhouse along with fellow campers and warning sirens going off around us. Closest we came to witnessing one up close was last year when it destroyed dwellings only about 3 miles from where we were staying.
Excalibur
Well-known member
I've been within a half mile of two different tornados in the Cincinnati area in my life. Once at home and once at work. Lucked out both times. Terrifying for sure. The Midwest is tornado central, but usually not this early in the year. More likely start in April.
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Wasillaguy
Well-known member
We've mostly been staying in state parks in Kentucky/Tennessee/Missouri the last 3 weeks because COE parks aren't open yet, and the bath houses are still locked for winter season. Most don't even have a host.
If it starts looking twisty, nowhere to hide.
If it starts looking twisty, nowhere to hide.
UTTransplant
Well-known member
Those photos are heartbreaking. The standard place for a tornado shelter is the park office or the restrooms. Neither help if you don’t get the warning or the places are locked. We have spent time in park restrooms during a tornado warning, and we have spent time in a church basement twice for the same type of situation. I grew up in Oklahoma, and I have seen a number of tornados from a small distance. The experience makes me fanatical in checking weather. If I see a watch notice, I get everything ready - cats in their carriers, purse and important papers gathered. Then we watch the weather. We head to shelter when the forecasters announce an anticipated warning, not when the warning has been issued. Waiting until the warning is given (an active tornado has been spotted by a trained observer) could be too late.
Tom
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Local news is still reporting 3 fatalities; Search & rescue efforts have ended. They also confirm that the Indian Lake area took the brunt of it all. Logan and Delaware were the worst affected counties. Now confirming there were 8 tornadoes from this system.
Tulecreeper
Well-known member
We have had 3 small events in the 10 years we have been here when the sirens have gone off. None of them touched us, but homes and trees a mile to our east were torn up all three times. I personally believe that two of them were straight-line winds because of the path of the damage and the fact nothing was "spun up". All the trees were laying in the same direction, SW to NE.
gwinger
Well-known member
From the look of the picture, it seems most of the tow vehicles and toweds are missing. Hopefully they had enough warring to evacuate.
Not where I grew up in the flat land around Oklahoma City. I lived there until I was 47. At my office in OKC all 200 employees would be out in the parking lot watching every time a tornado was in the area. Same at all the surrounding businesses. At home all the neighbors would put the BMW in the garage and round up the kids. Then break out the lawn chairs and pop open a beer until the rain or winds hit. Then we would hit our underground shelters.
It was sad afterwards if people died. But before it hits it's a big social event and a curious custom that mystifies outsiders. The roiling boiling clouds are the greatest show on earth. Mother Nature throwing the best she's got at you. The most impressive was the mile wide 1999 tornado with record 302 mph winds. The sky was green and the ground was vibrating 15 miles away where we were standing.
Tom
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The first time we stayed at an RV park in/near OKC, when we checked in they pointed to a door in the ground across the parking lot, and said "that's the shelter". Not being from tornado country, we weren't sure if we should stay awake all night.
There are definitely "tornado valleys" only miles wide. Moore OK bordering SW OKC got wiped out 7 times in one 10 year span. If you want a cheap brand new house that's the place to look. Only people from out of state will live there.
Krazeehorse33
Well-known member
Most of the campgrounds there are seasonal campers or permanent sites. People come on the weekends when the weather is nicer. I would expect many of those campers were unoccupied and still winterized.
Tulecreeper
Well-known member
The problem here is that the sirens go off when there is a tornado on the ground anywhere within 20 miles. 99% of tornadoes travel SW to NE, so even if one is on the ground 15 miles NW of us with near zero chance of turning around and coming back the sirens go off. That's when people get all nervous, especially at night when the wind and rain are coming in sideways and you can't see anything. Two of the three events in our area were at night so all we could do is wait until the house started to vibrate, then head for the closet. Luckily, that never happened.
Ohiosnowbird
Well-known member
Our first big trip took us to Big Lagoon SP in Pensacola in January this year where there was a tornado that flew over where we were and touched down nearby, don’t remember the name of the town. There was damage and I think some fatalities. I guess tornadoes aren’t just in the midwest anymore! We’re used to them living/being from Ohio. They never stop being terrifying.
