And the last of four backdated emails!
Hi everyone,
Some of you might have heard about the storms that came through the US midwest at the end of last week. I thought I might share some additional details and my own experiences with what happened (I'll try and keep this one a bit smaller than the others, so you can actually go ahead and read it and not need to print it out to read before going to bed!)
It had been cloudy and rainy all week and then thursday March 29 saw the first tornado watch issued near to me. A tornado watch is sometimes declared on a county-basis if the counties lie in the path of a severe storm, or if any evidence of tornados or rotation is given by eyewitness account or doppler radar. I'm in the Cleveland county, which is Norman's county just to the south of the Oklahoma City county. Oklahoma City county was put on tornado watch in the afternoon, and while I was at work thurs avo everyone got excited because staff from the Oklahoma city office had called to say that they were all being evacuated because the Tornado sirens had gone off. Instantly everyone was gathering around people with radios and TV to hear more, and news was unfolding about a 'moderate' tornado on the NorthWest expressway, which is to the North West of the city. The tornado sirens are the same as the old World War II air-raid sirens, and wind up to a piercing wail that carries for miles. A tornado siren going off is the sign to take immediate cover because there is a confirmed tornado on the ground in your vicinity. The siren continues until the threat is over, then it whirrs down slowly over about 10 seconds.
The tornado ended up being a strong EF2 tornado. The EF scale (enhanced-fujita) was introduced in February this year to more accurately estimate tornado winds based on actual damage. I was amazed to see on the TV coverage, one of the huge long-distance power towers (the ones that have 6 or 8 powerlines mounted a hundred feet above the ground) was bent in half sticking over to the side. These towers are all metal, built to endure for years and part of major electrical infrastructure, it's just a metal mesh with no panels, you think the wind would just blow straight through it. It was surreal to see one bent to the side at a 90 degree angle halfway up. Later that night I was chatting to one of my new mates in a bar in Oklahoma City, and he told me that he worked on kitchens and he was in his truck on the way to a house with some finishing touches to the kitchen, and heard on the radio that the tornado had hit that exact area, and upon arrival the house he was on his way to was destroyed.
More info about that tornado has been published here : http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/wxevents/20070329/
Friday March 30 started off with strong storms down in Texas right from the early morning. It was stormy all day, and after midday, half of Oklahoma State was on tornado watch, given the fact that the previous day had seen 65 reported tornados and 4 fatalities across several states. The watch included my county Cleveland, and all the counties around me. By the afternoon, the dry line was approaching us from the southwest, but infront of the dry line were some of the strongest storms. I went to get some groceries after work (yeah on a Friday; earlier in the week I was nearly broke, down to $30 cash in the wallet with nothin in the bank coz I only get paid once a month, and thurs night the check finally cleared). So I was in good ol Wal-Mart at about 6:15pm, half way through my shopping, when I heard a peculiar noise that was fading in and out of hearing. Straining to listen through the roar of the rain on the roof I realised with a shock that it was a siren, and then about 30 seconds later an announcement was being made over the store intercom that a tornado warning was issued and that everyone had to stop what they were doing immediately and move to the back of the store and gather along the concrete wall. I was asked by two people what the intercom announcement was saying, and I said 'apparently there is a tornado warning, and we need to get to the back of the store against the wall'. Everyone was pretty calm, very blaz-e in fact, whinging about how long this would take, the wal-mart staff were doing a very unenthusiastic job of ushering everyone to the wall, and one lady was loudly saying 'as long as it doesn't take my car, anything but the car!'
I didn't go to the same part of the wall where the other Wal-mart patrons were being herded like sheep; I stood near the entrance to the warehouse out the back so I could hear properly. Above the roar of the rain on the roof, the tornado siren was keeping it's blood curdling pitch but the volume was fading in and out, depending on how many gusts of wind were between me and the siren which was miles away. I figured if the rain & wind changed from a roar to a scream then I'd go and stand in a little recess against the wall away from the doorway, but there was nothing really to hold on to. I then thought how much it would suck to die in a Wal-mart. Still, if I had been at home by myself, as my flat mate is away in Florida at the moment, I would have been packin it at the sound of the siren. So being in a public place for my first tornado warning was a good thing. The tornado apparently touched down very close by, according to another lady I spoke to on the weekend, who said it was down the road from her near the hospital in Norman, and it jumped a few times but was brief. If she is right that means it was just over a mile away from me to the west, but I haven't been able to confirm her claims with any news reports or anyone else. Not that I care too much, as long as I wasn't in it, and yeah, as long as it didn't take my car! I only just got it!
So I hauled ass after that and finished my groceries and headed home to find the roads half flooded and Todd's backyard under at least 6 inches of water. A half hour later I noticed afternoon light and looked west and saw the veil of rain give way before my eyes to blue and yellow skies. There were kids over the road standing on their front porch and they were wow-ing at something and I walked out in the rain and looked back over the house to the east and saw a magnificent full double rainbow. Ran inside and grabbed me trusty waterproof camera and stood in the rain for a couple minutes taking a few photos for a panoramic shot.
So that's my news. Funny that two days later the Gold Coast and the eastern coast of Australia got a tsunami warning from the Solomon Islands quake; crazy stuff! Tornados & Tsunamis, what's next!?
Jason
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