I Survived My First Tornado!

I Survived My First Tornado!

Mom, dad, and I had just left the Sea Breeze Restaurant and were heading north on highway 5, when we heard sirens. It was about 10 minutes to 8, I remember because I was surprised to see that much traffic on the roads after rush hour.

Anywho this siren goes on and on and on; but we don't see any firetrucks, ambulances, or cops coming from any direction. We thought an emergency vehicle was coming and moved to the right lane. Next thing you know we here a voice over a PA system so I lower my window and it says a Tornado Warning is in effect for Douglasville and to seek shelter immediately. The message is repeated every 90 seconds or so. I had heard that right before a tornado the sky turns green; but it was dark so I couldn't tell. I do know that something happend with the barometric pressure because my ears popped a few times and I became a little dizzy. I have Meniere's and one of the side effects is that I am hypersensitive to changes in the barometric pressure. Any change can induce vertigo and nausea. My guess is that the tornado may have 'jumped' over us a that point. Then again I am not a meteorologist so who knows.

Here's the problem, we are in our car, in traffic. Where the freak are we supposed to go for shelter!?!? Dunkin Donuts, Long John Silvers, or Walgreen's? :confused: Those were the businesses closest to us. My mom was driving and just sort of threw up her hands and said, "what do I do, where is shelter?" My dad, ever the calm one says, "just drive out of it. I'd rather die at home than here." :biggrin1: You have to know my dad to appreciate his sense of humor. I love it, mom still doesn't get it after almost 45 years of marriage.

I should mention that at this point we have no idea which way to expect the funnel cloud from. Traffic is crawling and everybody in the surrounding vehicles looks as befuddled, yet concerned as we do. A police car appears out of nowhere heading south at high speed. Since everyone on both sides of the hwy has moved off to the side he has a clear path. Apparently, the people in the northbound lane decided he was headed toward the tornado because traffic started moving.

We drove away from the tornado and into a monsoon on I-20W. A 20 minute trip home took almost an hour. We literally crawled down back roads we normally zip down unthinkingly. We couldn't see the lines on the road or anything.

Once safely ensconced in our abode I turned on the TV and what did I see? The Kroger across the street from where we had eaten was damaged by a tornado. The roof AC unit had been ripped from it's moorings and landed on an employees car. a few other cars were also moved about by the tornado cloud and damaged; but fortunately there were no fatalities.

All in all I'd rather be in Jersey.



FYI: Should you ever be hungry and near a Sea Breeze Restaurant do yourself a HUGE favor and stop in for a meal. The food was fresh, portions are ample; and prices are considerably cheaper than Red Lobster. Our waitress was polite and attentive without hovering.

This was the first time I can recall eating out with my parents that all 3 of us required doggy bags. I'm not one of those girls that pics at her salad and says I'm full. (you can tell that from my booty pics :wink:) I ate a lot of food and barely cleared a space on my plate! Odder still I was unable to complete my baked potato or my single piece of Texas Toast! :eek: Me leaving bread on my plate? That is one for the record books.

Comments

Wow, i would be a natural storm chaser, if I wasn't such a frady pup, lol.

Glad all is safe and no one was killed.
 
I've lived in Florida, Louisiana and Texas and never come that close to a tornado! My sister-in-law had a close call with a tornado in Kansas, and I had a friend who almost got hit by one in Alpharetta, GA, a couple of years ago. Glad you're all OK.
 
Living in Arkansas, I have been in my share of those monsters. I am the idiot who stands and videos the monster. I do love the dynamics of the storms, but hate what they do to human life. If I had my education to do over, I would have gone into meteorology and become a storm chaser.

Glad you are ok.
 
Glad that all of you made it safely. I've been through a couple growing up and it's not something I want to revisit.
 
PA,

Your blogs remind me of the conversational style in Bridget Jones diaries. I really enjoy reading your take on the world.
 
That's a scary situation I would not have liked to have been in. Glad to know everyone got out of it safe.

But I can't help but find it funny that a story about a life or death situation ends with a restaurant review ;)
 
Wow, that sounds really intense. I've always been fascinated by tornadoes and shelf clouds (meteorology in general) but I know that I'd be pretty shaken if I knew I was in the storm's path. This part of GA only caught a really bad thunderstorm. It flooded alot of this are out but since, as we all know, GA is in a huge drought, the rain was welcomed.

All in all and even without the tornadoes and inclement weather, I'd still rather be back in Jersey. I'm movin' back soon.
 

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Principessa
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