Tornado's-hope you're ok

[strupgolf]

To anyone down south, I pray you and yours are ok. The pictures from Alabama are sad and the destruction is terrible. Wow,and and I don't know what to say to all of you.

[BeyGon]

What you said plus the fires in Texas, how are people doing with that?

[Zeke]

RARLYL8 lives in Huntsville.

[IROC]

We suffered some major hail damage. Insurance guy says it will be 3-5 days just to get an adjuster out due to the massive amount of damage in the area.

[Oh Haha]

Just devastating. Thoughts and prayers out to all of those affected by these events.

[kach22i]

The weather guy said it's the worst event in modern history. The only reason the death toll is not as high as in 1925 and other historic events is the early warning system and things like Doppler radar make warnings better now.

[David]

RARLYL8, I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Let us know if you need anything.

[Rob Channell]

We are ok. I have my whole family safe and a roof over our heads and clean water and a little propane. I made coffee on the grill and there is plenty of food until the freezers warm up. Some friends have roof a.nd tree damage and the Anderson Hills.subdivision has been hit by the third large tornado in my memory. No power and probably not for 3-5 days. No gas in Madison, but we got some in Decatur. I got a little for one of our neighbors as well that was almost out. Trying to travel as little as possible.to leave the roads for authorities and repair crews. No street signals. Curfew after sundown county wide. Not fun but could have been much worse....and was worse for many people. I'll see if I can check on RarlyL8.

[Por_sha911]

No one in my family was hurt. My daughter is still without power. Sadly, a friend and his wife are in the hospital and their 3 month old son was blown 100+ feet from the house and died. Say a prayer for Mike and Kayci.

[fingpilot]

Today is the first day I have had access to the internet (by driving 45 milkes to Pulaski, Tennesee McD's). I live in Anderson Hills (Harvest), Alabama. I had been hearing about tornado touchdowns in Harvest all day Wednesday at my office over near the Arsenal. The sirens had been going off all day at work. I got home at 1530, and there was not a standing roadside sign on the 25 mile drive home. Leaves down, a few trees, but not bad.

Power had been off all day, so (having moved here from California and having been prepared for almost anything) I pulled out a small (2k Honda inverter genset) and powered up the fridge/freezer, some lights, and the server for the DSL. All worked fine. Cells were working, I had lots of food, gas, and projects.

Little after 4pm, sirens went off, wx radio starts up, tornado on the ground, estimating 5 minutes to me. I did what any upstanding citizen does, I walked out on back patio and looked upwind. Except there wasn't any wind. It was raining debris. Shrubbery, roofing, trash, clothing. I remember hearing a train approaching from a direction that there were not any tracks. Then a Cadillac landed next door. The low clouds started moving around in a scattered pattern, and then they parted to a horizontal 170+MPH torrent of cloud. Still no wind, rain or anything near me. The tornado was doing 70MPH eastbound directly alongside the back edge of the property. I saw neighbors' house, dogs, cars, and boat lift into the clouds and disappear. It took 45 seconds to traverse my horizon. Then torrential rain and 40MPH straight line winds from every direction. Lightning took out anything metal standing above ground. Goodbye cells (still out), goodbye power (still out).

I was real lucky. A lot of people around me were not.

Now the peoblem is dealing with the boneheads that want to come sightsee, and take from them that were prepared. There is a dusk to dawn curfew. This morning's news says over 300 arrests for looting/curfew violations.

For the record, I brought my own arsenal from California. I am prepared for anything.

[motion]

Holy crap, fingpilot, that's quite a story. Glad you are OK. Ready to move back to Nevada yet?

[GothingNC]

Looters should be shot on the spot

[KFC911]

Wow fingpilot...what an experience, glad you're OK! I've never seen looters (nor heard of such) after a natural disaster around here. Folks tend to come "out of the woodwork" to help their neighbors with chainsaws, etc. and we tend to have other "tools" available too. It's been two weeks today since this area "got lucky" and narrowly avoided the widespread havoc that John and others endured. I did have a neighbor (I don't know) several houses away who had tree uprooted in their front yard. A few days later, seeing that most of the tree limbs etc. had been sawed and cleared, leaving the trunk and root ball, I figured they didn't have a saw big enough to finish so I stopped by to offer assistance. I told them I was a neighbor "down the street", and would gladly cut it up for them. The "lady" curtly dismissed my offer stating they were "waiting for the tree to dry out"...wtf? I felt sorry for the guy....he didn't say a word the whole time...and two weeks later, the tree is still there. I know one thing for sure..."she ain't from around here" .

ps: this wasn't a huge tree, laying on the ground, and could easily be finished off in 15 minutes...I didn't understand her reaction at all.

[Rob Channell]

Originally Posted by GothingNC

Looters should be shot on the spot

Agreed. The local sherriff also said as much on the radio this morning during the daily press conference. He said it twice for emphasis. There was a man shot in Limestone county for attempting to steal gas.

Fingpilot, glad you are ok. Let me know if you guys need some help out there. I'm minimizIng the driving unless there is a good reason.

I talked to Rarly8. He did not have too much storm on his end of town. He said he was surprised when the power went out and even more surprised when it did not come back on. He just started getting his first spotty cell phone reception today, but he still has no internet or web access. He is trying to return calls he can between bouts of communication void.

[Jims5543]

I do not post up here much anymore, no reason to, I do not have a Porsche anymore.

I just looked in here to see if anyone was affected by the tornado's.

I want to pass along a story that is posted on another car forum. A member there lost his home, everything in it, his girlfriend is now dead, his dogs are now dead.

I am boxing up and sending him a laptop, a wireless router, some odds and ends, tools etc.. I have laying around, and a check for him to cash so he has some get on his feet money.

I do not know this guy at all, he is an internet e-friend. That is going through hell.

If any of you feel compelled to help out shoot me an email:

Jims5543 at gmail dot com.

Here is what he posted:

Originally Posted by haxmire

I haven't posted yet and was going to make my own thread about this but I was in the house with Carson Tinker and Ashley Harrison (the girl who died) was less than two feet away from me in my closet. I woke up 50 yards from my house and got up and helped my roommates up and Ashley was no where to be found. I turned around and saw that NOTHING was where my house stood.

I am alright. Bruised scraped and have some real bad gashes but I am ok. My other roommates are alright too. I remember almost everything. I lost everything I had but thankfully I am alive.

I am going to try and get pictures of my house at some point and will post a thread about it all at a given time later.

Originally Posted by haxmire

Yes. Myself, Carson, Ashley, and my other roommate plus our dogs where in my closet. It was closest tO the center of the house. The house started shaking then the roof started collapsing in. Soon I heard Ashley scream and then I felt the house lift into the air. Soon we were rolling in debris and after about 30 seconds of that I finally blacked out. I woke up in a field across from my street and got up nothing looked the same.

I am a person that rationalizes everything so I was the most calm out of everyone including my neighbors. I didn't make it to a hospital for probably 2 hours then my parents came and got me and I am now in Vestavia. I am going down there tomorrow to get a few things a friend salvaged and take some pics. I will make a new thread and post the story and pics with it tomorrow.

Originally Posted by GoBLue

damn dare I ask about the dogs?

Originally Posted by haxmire

My friend found them yesterday and buried them for us.

A pic of his home, after:

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by Rob Channell

We are ok. I have my whole family safe and a roof over our heads and clean water and a little propane. I made coffee on the grill and there is plenty of food until the freezers warm up. Some friends have roof a.nd tree damage and the Anderson Hills.subdivision has been hit by the third large tornado in my memory. No power and probably not for 3-5 days. No gas in Madison, but we got some in Decatur. I got a little for one of our neighbors as well that was almost out. Trying to travel as little as possible.to leave the roads for authorities and repair crews. No street signals. Curfew after sundown county wide. Not fun but could have been much worse....and was worse for many people. I'll see if I can check on RarlyL8.

Thanks...tough to communicate without power. Glad to hear you're okay. Hoping for good news. Lord knows we've had enough bad news lately.

[fingpilot]

Jims5543;

That pic is a mile away from me. You have a PM.

I went by a friends' house not far from that pic last night, and that area is even more destroyed than near me (if that if possible). There is a half-mile wide swath that looks like that that extends for three counties.

It is raining here today; thunder rumbling. Not supposed to be anything severe, but anything not covered is wet. All the homes with no roofs are in trouble.