Tornado Warning!

pipersjo

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I have lived in OH for a little over a month now and I just got the poo scared out of me when the tornado siren went off. Actually, I didn't even know what it was until I looked at the national weather and they showed a tornado warning for my county and specifically my town. So I took off to the bathroom and realized that the kitties weren't with me and started the search for the kitties. Of course, they were extremely annoyed with me when i dragged them off of the nice warm bed and threw them into the bathroom, but they were easy enough to find and catch. Now that my heart has stopped trying to escape out of my chest I am a little more prepared with the carriers and food in the BR for the kitties.

Anyone else out there with tornado warnings this evening and will you be able to sleep because I don't think I will?! Yes, I am on my computer even with the storms because i want to be kept up to date and I do not have a weather radio.
 

bnwalker2

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Sirens have been blaring on and off all day. We've been under a tornado warning twice today and tornado watch the rest of the day. We've had some pretty nasty storms. I don't really worry about it too much honestly, since our bedroom is in the basement already
. As long as my internet stays on I'll be just fine!
 

MoochNNoodles

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Yikes! We get tornado warnings here occasionally. We had one last week actually, but in the 13 (almost 14) years I've been here, I only recall 3 tornados ever touching down on the whole peninsula, thank the Lord! All were 'small' ones. Either way I don't ever want to see one or have one come within 500 miles of me! I live in a mobile home so that doesn't help matters! We haven't had cable in like 4 years so I have to keep in touch by radio or internet, but we don't have a weather radio. I don't think we even have sirens to go off around here.
 

luvmy2cats

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Nothing in my area but there is some stuff in middle IN. I hope everyone is safe.
 
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pipersjo

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So far it looks ok here. The siren went off twice, but I think only 1 tornado touched down in the area. SW OH people, IN people, everyone under tornado/severe storm warning, be safe!
 

emrldsky

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Nuh uh...might give me away!
No warning here yet, just a watch tonight. The other night we had a warning and spent 30 minutes in the bathroom with the kitties. We only have a one-story with no basement, so there's only one room without an outside wall: the spare bathroom.

I'm only a bit worried tonight because if a warning does take place, it'll probably be while we're sleeping. It'll probably wake me up (even though I'm a heavier sleeper than DH) because anything that sounds off wakes me up.

But, I will send up prayers for all of us that could be affected tonight...for safety, peace, and a good night's sleep.
 

strange_wings

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I went through this a week or so ago and it was bad timing, too. We just had the carpet recently replaced so a lot of stuff had been moved around, including the cat carriers which were out in the the shop building.
We had to stuff the boys in our jackets and run for the storm shelter - Sho got wet but didn't complain, Tomas didn't get a drop of rain on him and was yowling like something was trying to kill him.
And during the whole thing while sitting down there I felt like a mother koala with Tomas glued to my side.


For those that don't have a proper basement, cellar, or safe room - please look into getting a small storm shelter put in your backyard (if you own). Ours was just a concrete prefrom one and with digging it only came out to a little over $2000.
Considering we live south of town and very close to Bessie and Cordell - towns that often have tornadoes touch down (Cordell had a bad tornado wipe out a lot of homes a few years ago), it would have been crazy not to have the shelter put in.

Also, check into getting a weather radio.
They're very loud and should wake anyone up at night if an alarm goes off. The only down side is that ours goes off for severe storms - hail, bad winds, etc.
 

glitch

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Since I live in the part of tornado ally Im really use to the sirens blaring! I almost got took out by one 4 years back when we were driving in our car to pick up my brothers so that they could be in a safe place also!

Now we have a basement fully prepared, but honestly, we're so use to the sirens and stuff that we'll go outside and look and see if we can see any funnel clouds and watch to see whats happening! If it gets ugly out we go in, but for the most part the whole town is so comfortable with tornados that everyone is just used to them! Normally they take out the South West part of town though (dont know why) they took out a whole town in my area 3 years ago, it hasn't been able to be rebuilt either!

EVERYONE BE SAFE
 

EnzoLeya

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The tornando warnings have been crazy around here too! My SO and I have found ourselves running around the house looking for the cats! They never hide, so they make it easy on us!
 

strange_wings

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After that night the sirens and weather radio went off both of the cats get upset when they hear the radio alarm.
It does make it easier to find them as they now run to me...
 

abbycats

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Yikes, I hate tornados!!! We get them here in Nebraska. It is a yearly event at this time of the year. We have a tornado cellar but it is flooded from the last wave of storms that came through. Our area got flooded pretty bad.

The first Tornado that I experienced here was totally unprepared. The sirens went off and I went upstairs to see what was going on and there was a perfect funnel cloud that looked like it was right over my neighbors house(in reality it was probably a little ways away). I went looking for my cats and got them rounded up. Realistically from where that tornado was and the time they set off the alarms if that tornado would have touched down we would have been in serious danger. Thank god it didn't touch down.

We had a F3 tornado hit 1 mile west of town last year that was huge! It was on the ground for 18-20 miles. We took 8k worth of damage on our house from just the hail! The hail was huge! My husband picked up a hail stone that looked just like a hockey puck. We had plenty of warning to get us and the cats to the tornado cellar.

Stay safe and be prepared
 

amberthe bobcat

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I love that type of weather. In fact, I go out looking for tornados when there are warnings, but I have yet to see one. Spotted the wall cloud, that's about it. The only thing I worry about however, is getting all my cats to safety. Just a little advice on tornado safety. Don't waste time on opening windows and doors to help prevent damage to your home. That does not work and you will be losing valuable time getting yourself to a safe place. If you have no basemnt or tornado shelter, go to an area to the center of your home, putting as many walls as possible between you and if possible, bring something to cover your head. An interior bathroom is best and lay down inside the bath tub if you can. If you are in your car, do not try to out run it. Get out and find a culvert or ditch to lay down in and cover your head with your arms and hands. Do not go under a bridge or overpass. The air moving under the overpass will be strong enough to suck you out. Also, the vast majority of tornados appear at the tail end of the thunderstorm, not the beginning. If you hear the loud roar like a freight train, get to a safe place, the tornado is very close. Just some advice to keep you safe
 

momofmany

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I wasn't on last night because the electrical storms were so bad here. We turned the computer off for the night. We were under tornado watch most of last night here.

I was supposed to go to dinner with my coworkers last night. I'm home watching the storm tracking and they are showing a storm cloud with the edge dipping down like the start of a tornado. They asked ground spotters to locate where it was and it turned out it was about 4 blocks from the restaurant that I was supposed to be at. I call my boss and warn him, but they were already moving people into the basement at the restaurant.

But our storms did cause this:
http://www.ky3.com/news/local/19538319.html
 

swooshfinn

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Have a tornado watch in effect until 2 am Eastern time here.... some isolated thundershowers in the area with some cool heat lightning and a very warm breeze is all I am getting here though.
 

amberthe bobcat

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I was woken up at 5:45am to a really great storm. The sky to the east was a very cool orange and it gave such an awesome effect as that orange mixed with the dark gray. Had an excellent lighting show and man did the rain come down. Now, it is party sunny, very warm and humid. Great conditions for more awesome storms this afternoon. However, now that I injured my lower back, I don't think I could get in the car to drive, so if there are tornado watches and warnings, I will not be able to go out and track them. (I am a trained spotter for the national weather service)
 
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pipersjo

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That night that i started this post, we had another warning, with the sirens blaring, so i ended up in the bathtub again. I am not really sure that it is the safest place to be but its that or the hallway in my building and there is a window out there. They actually laughed at me when i went to work because they said they were so used to hearing them that they just watched/listened for the tornados. I am not that comfortable with it yet so that won't be happening for me for a while! The cats are starting to become afraid of Tstorms so tracking them down has become a little bit of an issue. They were never afraid until these last few storms- even Pepper that, and I love him anyway, isn"t the sharpest tool in the shed. I thought at first it was because I was scared the other noght but I don't think so after watching Pepper's reaction last night. Last night's storm was not as wild as they have been and he got scared at the rain and I never reacted. The power went out last night so I didn't get on here to see what was going on.
 

MoochNNoodles

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We spent from yesterday afternoon to about 1am under a tornado watch here. I left work a few minutes early to try to beat a bad storm home. When I got to my car the south part of town was very dark with a whole lot of thunder and lightning going on. I hit rain just at the edge of town and had to go slow but got home fine. It seemed like the thunderstorms never ended until after I went to bed.

I probably should have thought twice about leaving work but I wanted to get home to the girls. My co-worker's mother had seen the news and called us saying they were telling everyone from the town I work in to the town I live in, to take cover. My ride home is like 30 minutes and mainly farm land.
 
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