Bill N
Well-known member
The night of April 30 proved to be one of the luckiest nights of our long life. We knew rough weather was forecast and had the weather radio and our phones set to receive any warnings. But while watching a Cardinals game (7th inning for those who care) the weather radio sounded off and the phone notifications sounded about the same time. Within 30 seconds the following happened:
1. We lost all power
2. We heard hail on the roof
3. The front window in the dining roof blew out spraying glass all through the kitchen and living room. We were far enough way to receive no injuries nor did any of our animals but the cats went to their hiding place where we never can find them. (we eventually did after several hours)
4. Then I heard the freight train sound and said - to myself - OH S--T. as it roared on through in no more than 5 - 10 seconds.
5. Silence for a few minutes as I thought about the nice tornado shelter we had put in our garage 8 years ago after Joplin was nearly destroyed by one of these beasts. We never got a chance to use it this night but, as it turned out, we were one of the more fortunate this evening.
It wasn't long before we heard the siren of emergency vehicles and then the street lit up with ambulances, police and fire. It was then by their headlights and searchlights that we saw how lucky we were. No less than 3 houses across the street and next to us were destroyed by the tornado and probably 20-30 more, including mine had varying degrees of damage from relatively minor to probably totalled. Mine was the most fortunate in that all we had was a lot of roof shingles removed, numerous ceiling wet spots (it was raining hard when this occurred), entire wood fence blown down (as were nearly all others in the neighborhood) and a window smashed with lots of glass in the house.
The next morning the street was covered with restoration people, Convoy of Hope (who nicely cut up the huge tree that was down across my driveway), Salvation Army and scores of volunteers who just appeared to help - God bless them all. My USAA insurance adjuster whom we called about an hour after the tornado hit had people arriving early the next morning to do temporary roof patching and removal of wet attic insulation as well as putting numerous fans and humidifiers throughout the house to mitigate the ceiling damage (and it is working well). Our 1% of valuation deductible will cover a heck of a lot of damage and get us a new roof, new fence (350 feet of it) and a lot of odds and ends including pickup of debris which I could not do because of my COPD and oxygen use.
We will be much more cognizant in the future of severe weather and this tornado just about makes the gamut of things we have been through in our married life - earthquake in California, numerous blizzards in the Dakotas, flood in North Dakota and hurricanes in our home town of New Orleans. Maybe I can make 80 without any more disasters - that is only 7 months away.
Have yet to check on the motorhome - it is stored about 4 miles away in an area not affected by any of the 9 tornadoes that hit this area Tuesday night. If it had been at the house I think it would have been blown away.
1. We lost all power
2. We heard hail on the roof
3. The front window in the dining roof blew out spraying glass all through the kitchen and living room. We were far enough way to receive no injuries nor did any of our animals but the cats went to their hiding place where we never can find them. (we eventually did after several hours)
4. Then I heard the freight train sound and said - to myself - OH S--T. as it roared on through in no more than 5 - 10 seconds.
5. Silence for a few minutes as I thought about the nice tornado shelter we had put in our garage 8 years ago after Joplin was nearly destroyed by one of these beasts. We never got a chance to use it this night but, as it turned out, we were one of the more fortunate this evening.
It wasn't long before we heard the siren of emergency vehicles and then the street lit up with ambulances, police and fire. It was then by their headlights and searchlights that we saw how lucky we were. No less than 3 houses across the street and next to us were destroyed by the tornado and probably 20-30 more, including mine had varying degrees of damage from relatively minor to probably totalled. Mine was the most fortunate in that all we had was a lot of roof shingles removed, numerous ceiling wet spots (it was raining hard when this occurred), entire wood fence blown down (as were nearly all others in the neighborhood) and a window smashed with lots of glass in the house.
The next morning the street was covered with restoration people, Convoy of Hope (who nicely cut up the huge tree that was down across my driveway), Salvation Army and scores of volunteers who just appeared to help - God bless them all. My USAA insurance adjuster whom we called about an hour after the tornado hit had people arriving early the next morning to do temporary roof patching and removal of wet attic insulation as well as putting numerous fans and humidifiers throughout the house to mitigate the ceiling damage (and it is working well). Our 1% of valuation deductible will cover a heck of a lot of damage and get us a new roof, new fence (350 feet of it) and a lot of odds and ends including pickup of debris which I could not do because of my COPD and oxygen use.
We will be much more cognizant in the future of severe weather and this tornado just about makes the gamut of things we have been through in our married life - earthquake in California, numerous blizzards in the Dakotas, flood in North Dakota and hurricanes in our home town of New Orleans. Maybe I can make 80 without any more disasters - that is only 7 months away.
Have yet to check on the motorhome - it is stored about 4 miles away in an area not affected by any of the 9 tornadoes that hit this area Tuesday night. If it had been at the house I think it would have been blown away.