The stories we are hearing over here in Australia are painting a pretty bleak picture of the tornadoes you guys are suffering in the US.

Countless towns destroyed and the death toll over 350. That is more terrible than anything we have suffered here in Australia with our floods etc.

My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to those people who are suffering or have lost loved ones to the storms.

I'm not sure if we have anybody in that part of the USA, but I hope that none of our members have been affected.

Cheers, Vince

I have a daughter in Southaven MS, just south of Memphis TN. She works in a bank in Memphis. When the sirens warn of tornados, they all huddle inside the bank vault until the storm passes. Warnings at night have been frequent enough that she hasn't been getting much sleep.
Lisa is moving to Mobile AL this week. I hope that's far enough south to get out of the path of these storms.
As she puts it, "I'll be glad to be back in a hurricane zone, and out of the way of these tornados."

F5 Tornadoes are no fun, They can wipe the earth clean without much warning. It will be months before they get their lifes back together. When Oklahoma City was ravaged, they were still rebuilding neighborhoods 18 months later. I head where some lady found photos raining into her yard. They were 200 miles from their original home.

Vince (and others) thanks for thinking of us.
The day after the storms hit several people, from another board, were asking if my family were all right... I posted this in reply:

Several times, through the day and night yesterday, it got really, really bad here.The last storm cell produced 3/8"- 1/2" sized hail here, only 2 miles away... ice chunks as big as tennis balls fell from the sky. Some areas closer to Knoxville received from 8-12 inches build up on the ground from various sizes of hail stones. At times strong winds and heavy rain pelted my home but overall damage was fairly light. We lost a few trees, electrical power and a couple of shingles, we feel lucky. Other folks in nearby East Tennessee counties, Alabama and Georgia did not fair as well. In many locations the devastation from the numerous tornadoes was massive, reports are still coming in. The TV says several towns are completely destroyed.... videos look like a war zone. Winds were clocked at 190 mile per hour. At last count over 33 people were killed in Tennessee alone, more were lost in Alabama and Georgia, with some still missing. Please pray for those folks that were touched by all this... may God be with them.

Thinking of you all, it's been a weird natural events type of year.

take care out there guys n gals somebody sure has peeved of mother nature we will just have to hope she calms down soon.

I hope all of you and yours are safe and sound.

So far this year,
January - big flood - Queensland, Australia
February -Earthquake - Cristchurch, Newzealand
March - tsunami - Honsu Japan
April - Tornado(s) - USA

and that is not including catastrophe in smaller obscure counties like Burma (earthquake), Egypt and Lybia (revolt).

Somehow these happenings come close together..
I hope it soon pass..

Take care and be safe my friends.

gelandangan wrote:

Somehow these happenings come close together.. I hope it soon pass.. Take care and be safe my friends.

I agree geland, take care everybody.

Yeah keep me away from that sort of weather please and thank you. Don't know how people can live in constant fear like that. Put all your valuables in the basement? In my entire life I've been in an area twice where they did touch down but I was miles away. Cross my fingers, knock on wood and all that. I've also seen two water spouts just off the coast of San Diego and just north of Los Angeles. I don't know of anyone being hit by one of those but can you imagine the power of a tornado 100+ miles per hour and just make it water instead of air. That's got to be quite a force. Well actually I guess it's water mixed with air, but still the force must be horrendous.

Thanks for that report Coyotehooter! I was also wondering bout who on the Nut lived near that area. Prayers on the way, best wishes.

Suz

Suzanne wrote:

Put all your valuables in the basement?

Because of the way the soil shifts and rock structure, basements are very rare in this area. Some bury a storm cellar in their back yard or many new house are being built with a closet that is a strong room, e.g., cement reinforced walls.

Bushy is going to get wet from the news today. Lots of flooding there. I hope everything is well with him and our Missouri members.

Dimitri

Our Best Wishes and Hope goes out to all of you who are in the tornado damaged areas and your families.

-Ron