Ever been through a tornado, hurricane or... ?

[Chef Duane]

Saw one passing over the bridge from Memphis into Arkansas once but it was a ways away. People were stopping their cars on the side of the road to watch it. Not me. I kept going. I'm originally from California and will take an earthquake any day over a tornado.

 

[rvlifer]

Saw one passing over the bridge from Memphis into Arkansas once but it was a ways away. People were stopping their cars on the side of the road to watch it. Not me. I kept going. I'm originally from California and will take an earthquake any day over a tornado.

Tornados are easier to run away from

 

[Chef Duane]

Tornados are easier to run away from

Thank God! And run I did, as far as I could get!!

 

[Isaac-1]

Tornados are easier to run away from

True, but you usually get at least a day or two worth of warning for a hurricane

 

[rvlifer]

True, but you usually get at least a day or two worth of warning for a hurricane

True. Lets hope that continues

 

[ButchW1]

Saw one passing over the bridge from Memphis into Arkansas once but it was a ways away. People were stopping their cars on the side of the road to watch it. Not me. I kept going. I'm originally from California and will take an earthquake any day over a tornado.

I watched a F2 tornado go thru downtown Los Angeles in 1983.. It ripped a corner of the LA Convention Center off.. Watched a roof on a building below the building I was working on get tore off.. Sonded like a locomotive going thru the building..
Butch

 

[Tulecreeper]

Tornados are easier to run away from

Not the ones that come at night through howling wind and sideways rain.

 

[Oldgator73]

True. Lets hope that continues

 

[JudyJB]

Was not in a tornado, but I was once in a very strong storm with 65 MPH straight winds. It was in Kansas, obviously.

I had a great spot in Monooka COE campground on Wilson Lake, about in the middle of Kansas. It was a great site on a bluff, overlooking the lake and parallel to the shore, but about 30' above the shore. Great views. On my cell phone radar app, late one afternoon I saw a storm approaching from the west on the opposite side of the lake. It had a purple middle, indicating strong winds. I kept watching its path north of me, but just as it hit the lake it turned south and headed directly towards me, hitting the side of my rig facing the lake. I put my slides in, but too late to stop a lot of rainwater coming in through the cracks and the wind shaking my motorhome. I swear I could feel it lifting up. I threw some towels on the floor to sop up the water. Got the slides in, put on my jacket, grabbed my purse, and buckled myself into the driver's seat in case the rig blew over. It tore the slide topper on the lake side, but no other damage luckily. Weather report said 65 MPH straight-line winds. The whole thing lasted maybe 5 minutes.

The next day, I was at the dump station and chatted with one of the camp hosts. He pointed out to me that his large 5th wheel was cabled into the cement pad it was sitting on. He also said that luckily, because it was an out of season weekday, there were no tents and no popups, but two small trailers got turned 90 degrees around and a couple of 5th wheels got knocked off their front posts and moved over a bit.

Lesson learned for me was to put my slides in a lot sooner. I have always put my awning in before dark, so at least I did not have that to contend with. And I had just arrived so did not even have chairs or anything else sitting outside.

 

[Isaac-1]

Judy I was in one of those situations in Kansas myself, in the RV at the state fair campground on a non event weekend, woke up at around sunrise to tornado sirens going off and those 55 gallon drum style trash cans tumbling by outside the coach. I opted to shelter in place in the motorhome rather than making a run to the tornado shelter (restroom building) a few hundred feet away.

 

[Excalibur1]

Been through three tornados; one 1/4 mile from my house, one 100 yards from my place of employment, and one in a vacant field in Michigan in a pop top camper. Scary stuff, but we live in Tornado Alley, so no surprise. Already had an F1 at the Cincinnati airport about a,week ago, and historically the worst time for our region is the first two weeks of April, so we are battening down now. Testing the generator, keeping outdoor stuff packed away for now, etc. Just the usual prudent precautions, but if its going to hit, it will, and no prep will do any good.

 

[jymbee]

Been through three tornados; one 1/4 mile from my house, one 100 yards from my place of employment, and one in a vacant field in Michigan in a pop top camper. Scary stuff, but we live in Tornado Alley, so no surprise. Already had an F1 at the Cincinnati airport about a,week ago, and historically the worst time for our region is the first two weeks of April, so we are battening down now. Testing the generator, keeping outdoor stuff packed away for now, etc. Just the usual prudent precautions, but if its going to hit, it will, and no prep will do any good.

Do you have, or are you considering building a storm shelter of some kind?

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

As a long time Florida resident, I've been in/around a number of hurricanes. Ironically, the only time we had to evacuate due to a hurricane was near Hershey, Pennsylvania where the remnants of a hurricane hit the campground we were in. We left the coach there and sheltered in a hotel. The coach was fine but there were in a lot of fallen trees in & around the campground. We had to wait a day for the trees to be cleared so we could leave.

Another time our home suffered some flooding when the hurricane uprooted a small tree that broke our water line. We were out of state at the time, visiting family in NY. It was messy but insurance covered everything. And yet another time a hurricane broke a limb off the maple tree in our yard and it broke a window in the house. Again, we were traveling in the coach at the time, but a neighbor boarded up the window until we got home to deal with it.

 

[ButchW1]

We were Beach camping at San Clemente State Beach in CA when Hurricane Hilary was supposed to hit So, Cal... Most people either didn't show up or left early.... Just prier to it's expected land fall, the rangers came around and told us to leave... Well the storm track went inland and sort of petered out... I wasn't concerned about safety or damage as the campground is way above sea level and really no way to flood... I would have liked to move to a different site, because this site had a big eucalyptus tree limb hanging across it.. But we left...
Butch

 

[Kirk]

It was in Kansas, obviously.

Even though I grew up in Kansas and have visited family there regularly, for my entire life, none of the near tornadoes that I experienced took place there. What you experienced happens pretty much everywhere. And just so that you know, the story "The Wizard of Oz" is not history but fiction. Wind and hail do far more widespread damage than tornadoes but a tornado makes for far more dramatic TV reports and so it is emphasized. The destruction is far worse in one's path but the number of people who get damage is much greater with both wind and hail.

 

[Excalibur1]

Do you have, or are you considering building a storm shelter of some kind?

Very small home and property, no room for a shelter. Take our chances with the odds. If it hits, we are insured. If I die, I had a good life.

 

[Excalibur1]

I'm sure that you can watch all the gory video and listen to the narratives out there but nothing can come lose to actually experience one of these storms.

We've spent a fair amount of time huddled together in bathhouses with fellow campers at various parks these past years with sirens & warnings going off all around. Some tornados got fairly close, but never a hit.

Last year we visited friends in OH that had their lake house ripped apart by a tornado. Driving through that area and seeing all the destruction was amazing. Hard to imagine the force of that wind, and that was considered a relatively low level storm.

Was that the Indian Lake tornado you are talking about in Ohio? We have friends there, but their house had Only some minor damage. We went up and helped clear the debris out of the lake.

 

[Lou Schneider]

I've been through several earthquakes including the 1989 San Francisco (Loma Prieta) earthquake, but the only time I've come close to a tornado or hurricane was when I was driving from Hutchinson, KS towards Los Angeles. There are two parallel routes heading southwest about about 20 miles apart, US 56 through Dodge City and US 54 through several smaller communities. I took 56 on the way into Hutchinson and decided to take 54 for the return trip.

The road was very lightly travelled and as I was going south of Dodge City the entire northern horizon became a solid black line of storm clouds stretching as far as I could see. Then the radio came alive with storm warnings and reports of tornadoes touching down in Dodge City and several other communities along Hwy 56, all of them directly north of me. I was in clear weather and it looked like I might be able to skirt the storm as the dividing line looked like it stayed north of the highway, which was a good as it was just flat prairie with no place to find shelter.

About midway between Hutchinson and Liberal, KS I saw several trucks pull into a rest area, the only one I'd seen all day. It was located in a slight gully with a railroad track berm sheltering it to the north. I took the hint and followed, positioning my rig between a pair of tractor-trailers. About 5 minutes later the storm hit us - the sky went completely dark accompanied by very high winds, heavy rain and hail. 15 minutes later it was all over and I resumed heading southwest without further incident.

 

[Domo]

Does Ian count in Fort Myers? Also, the bottom of Milton and whatever else there was that hit farther North...

 

[jymbee]

Was that the Indian Lake tornado you are talking about in Ohio? We have friends there, but their house had Only some minor damage. We went up and helped clear the debris out of the lake.

Yep, Indian Lake. Your friends were fortunate as you know given so much destruction in that area.

We went back this year and were amazed at the progress. Hardly any sign of the devastation, thanks in part I expect to folks like you who pitched in the help clean up! Heard a number accounts of the many volunteers that helped out.

Here's a before/after, the first my friend's house back in April of last year the 2nd that same house today. Lots of finishing touches in the interior but they've come a long way: