Is it safe to come out from the Fraidy Hole?!?!?!

AllenOK

New member
What a rough 48 hours!

Sunday, I get home, and spend 2 hours glued to The Weather Channel and my local ABC affiliate, watching the weather unfold. I was dismayed to learn that Shawnee, OK, took a hit from a tornado.

Monday, I was off. The weather people had warned us for days that this would be at least a two-day event, with Round #2 coming through Monday afternoon.

I decided to take the little ones out to the local lake to do some fishing. Didn't catch much, and almost came home with three little kitties that my daughter saw. I actually saw them 20 minutes before she did, and was hoping she wouldn't. Luckily, I told her those were probably feral, and wouldn't take kindly to being girl-handled.

Went home a little before noon. I was debating whether or not to try to go fishing again, when my wife put it on the local news, and sure enough, here we go. If I was dismayed about Shawnee getting hit on Sunday, I was HORRIFIED to hear about Moore, OK, getting hit for the third time in 14 years. The first time was by an EF-4, can't remember how big the second one was, and this one maxed out at EF-5.

Today I was at work again, and we had t-storms all morning long, but they weren't strong and powerful, just some rain, which we desperately need.

My family and I are fine. My daughter was running around scared to dickens on Monday, and my wife is yet again talking about moving back to MI.
 

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
Thank goodness y'all are okay! Do you have a storm shelter in your home or nearby Allen?
 

AllenOK

New member
Unfortunately, no. That's the main reason why my wife goes bonkers when the weather gets like this.

There is an old schoolhouse just a couple of blocks away, now used as an admin building. There are old placards on the doors listing that building as a Fallout Shelter. I bet it would double as a tornado shelter. Have to call the school district and find out, but even then, we could probably access it only during business hours.....
 

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
I remember when I was in school (we won't discuss when that was :lol:) our schools had fallout shelters. I'm sure that they would be fine tornado shelters. Maybe they could find a way to make sure it would be open when needed.
 

Doc

Administrator
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Glad you all are A-Okay Allen. :thumb:
What horrible storms. I bet that would make many a northerner consider heading back north. Storms like that are downright scary.

With the events from this storm, devastating school buildings, I have to wonder if they would still consider an older school building as a fallout shelter? I doubt it would be much safer than anywhere else. Guess not much is safe if in the path of an EF-5 tornado.

I'm in the south eastern hills of Ohio and was told we never have to worry about a tornado touching down here. The hills protect us. Two & 1/2 years ago a tornado definitely did touch down and torn up everything in it's path. No direct hit on any town thank goodness but whatever was in the path was destroyed. My neighbor sells firewood and he has a huge huge pile he is working from. I asked him just the other day if he was nearing the end of the fallen trees from the tornado and he said not even close. He estimated he has 15 years of wood supply already down that he will be cutting on.

We had heard tornadoes don't go down, they they ride level over land wherever they touch down. That rumor was dis-proven with the one that came through here. It went down into the valleys and stripped them of every tree on all the hills. It is very easy still to see the path the tornado took. A constant reminder of when they issue tornado warnings be alert to your surroundings. I was dumb enough to go outside and check on a boat cover to be sure it was secure right when the tornado was destroying a house a mile away. the sky color was eery and the sound in the air was like nothing I had ever heard before.

A guy just across the river in WV was not so lucky. He and his wife headed for their cellar and his dog took off another direction. He went off to get the dog and the tornado hit and carried him away and killed him. it all happens so fast, no time to think or react. Scary stuff.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Glad you and your family are okay, Allen.

We got some rain and high winds but no hail, thank goodness. There is a huge pine tree, which are notorious for snapping, that is in the corner of my neighbor's property. It was swinging and swaying, and I was kind of sweating it. If the wind is right (or wrong :( I should say), it will come down right in the big middle of my sunroom.
 

AllenOK

New member
My other half shared a photo on FB, of a weather satellite pic while the storms were doing their thing. There were several storms all producing tornadoes at the same time. You can see what appears to be "eyes" in the storms, just like a hurricane, only smaller. I seriously doubt that's what they were, but was probably discoloration of the clouds from all the dust sucked up by the funnels.

On both Sunday and Monday night, so much dirt was sucked up by the storms, then ejected into the atmosphere, that our sky was that eerie green color. I should have gotten some pics/video of it. I knew from recent weather radar images that we didn't have anything coming at us, but it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when the sky turns green. I've seen it happen about 5 times, and each time it freaks me out.

The movie "Twister" had it wrong. They synthesized several different animal growls and use that as the "sound" of a tornado. WRONG! I've never heard it, but many people that I know that have gone through one all say that a tornado sounds like a freight train.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Glad you're all safe & sound. Tel DW that MI got slammed with horrible weather the past couple of days, and there is no place in this country where you're guaranteed non-destructive weather. Here in NE Ohio we've had many tornadoes and hail that has cause millions of $$$ of property damage. A storm shelter would be cheaper than moving across the country and trying to re-establish your lives.
 

Mountain man

Entree Cook
Gold Site Supporter
If you have a basement you can build one pretty reasonably with concrete filled cinder block and rebar anchored to the existing floor and walls with a concrete roof over it. The most expensive item would be a good steel door anchored into the walls with heavy latch bars on it.
 
Top