Tornados

hoffse · April 2014

MASSIVE storms coming through the southeast tonight. A huge tornado is about to hit Columbus, MS - pretty big city, due west of Birmingham.

I've got my emergency preparedness kit ready to go. I live on the 4th floor of my apartment complex. 98% of the time that's great. 2% of the time, it really sucks.

Note to self: covered parking and a basement are on my "must-have" list for house hunting.

emily1004 · April 2014

Stay safe! My brother is in Charlotte, and we're suppose to be going down there this weekend for his birthday. It's a huge system and is blowing through the whole area.

Wulfgar · April 2014

Knock on wood, I have watched funnel clouds in the distance but never had one hit any of the places I have lived including the 2 years I lived in Oklahoma near the center of Tornado alley.

Xstatic3333 · April 2014

Stay safe @hoffse and other southeast MM folks!

hoffse · April 2014

Well the good news is that my building does have a basement. My unit is very close to the stairwell, so I can get down there pretty quickly if needed.

Honestly every time this happens I pull out my backpack with insurance info, passports, car titles, copies of my lease, my wallet... basically anything that would be really hard to duplicate. I also put in the few pieces of very sentimental/valuable jewelry I own and my flute.

I also close all the doors to the bedrooms so the cat can't go hide under the beds, and I keep her crate next to the backpack so I can throw her ass in there and get to safety if necessary (did I mention she HATES her crate?).

I also pack bottled water, snacks, and a rain jacket.

It's probably really paranoid of me, but I've actually timed myself (with the cat), and I can get out in about 50 seconds.

I have a friend whose entire house blew away during a tornado, with her and her children in it. Literally the only thing left was the fireplace. She and her kids got in the bathtub and her husband covered them with a mattress. They were ok, but everything was gone. After that, I take no chances.

vlagrl29 · April 2014

we had that weather yesterday! Luckily the tornados popped out in the rural areas, not the city.

Yes, I agree a basement is a must. We have one

formerlyGDaisy09 · April 2014

Glad I'm not the only one who's neurotic about safety plans and what to do with the animals!

our CO/gas alarm malfunctioned over the summer and it took us less than a minute to get all 3 animals out of the house...cats went into H's car parked in the driveway, I took the dog on the leash over to the neighbor's yard. we keep most our important docs in a safety deposit box at the bank.

Stay Safe!

HoneyBee973 · April 2014

Stay safe everyone!

brij2006 · April 2014

Stay safe everyone.

So happy to hear others have safe plans.

vlagrl29 · April 2014

tornado warnings are such a common occurrence here, it doesn't even phase me anymore.

Mom987 · April 2014

I almost started a post about this earlier. I'm north of Atlanta and it's coming right at us. Nothing yet here, but of course it's only 1am and the watch is until 7am (plus they say more days of it coming).

lifeonthehill · April 2014

Geez. Stay safe!

This is why I will stay in Maine forever. I will take a snow storm over any other natural disaster any day,

hoffse · April 2014

Well I'm ok but I spent about 2 hours sitting under the concrete stairwell in the basement of my building last night with the cat.

It was pretty scary. A tornado touched down just a few miles from where I live. It went through some residential areas and hit a couple of apartment complexes. It sounds like it also did structural damage to a small hospital out there.

Thankfully it dissipated just a couple miles before hitting the really densely populated parts of the city.

It sounds like areas around Tuscaloosa (where the University of Alabama is) also got hit. The eerie thing is it was almost three years to the day from the last major storm that did this - that was the one that hit Tuscaloosa and metro area Birmingham directly.

We don't get them often around here, but a basement would still give me peace of mind.

Xstatic3333 · April 2014

Glad you are ok! That sounds so scary. I think non-negotiable basement is definitely the way to go in your area.

smbenevides1989 · April 2014

Glad your okay. We've had two tornado warnings in Southeastern MA. One was right outside my town where a small spout damaged some homes. It's such a scary thought to even go through that.

MommyLiberty5013 · April 2014

OP - you are super smart!!! Everyone should do this sort of planning!

The REA who sold our home in N. KY in 2012, has a cousin who lost her legs in a tornado. The house fell on her while she was laying on top of her kids who she had wrapped in a blanket.

IAmSherlocked · April 2014

Oh wow, that is scary! I'm glad you're safe Hoffse!

Mom987 said:

I almost started a post about this earlier. I'm north of Atlanta and it's coming right at us. Nothing yet here, but of course it's only 1am and the watch is until 7am (plus they say more days of it coming).

We live north of Atlanta too, but so far haven't seen much of anything. Right now I feel like it's that weird super calm before the storm.

I'm so glad that everyone is staying safe out there with this crazy weather!

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