Axiom Home Page
On April 7th, 2006, several tornadoes hit close to Nashville, TN. Luckily, the tornadoes hit northwest of where I was, and spared my family / house. Unfortunately, it wreaked havoc on hundreds of households and killed at least 11.

The fact that there was natural disaster in close proximity to where I live was a little disconcerting. A neighbor of mine was actually close enough to take some pictures of the the tornado.



I'm sure there many members here who have had similar experiences, whether it be hurricanes, earthquakes, or tornadoes.
In 1974 when I was 7 years old, a very bad Tornado hit my home town of Ankeny, IA. At the time Ankeny, a suburb of Des Moines IA, had a population of about 15,000. It pretty much leveled most of the SE side of town where we lived. The only 2 deaths where an older couple that lived a 1/2 block from us. The National Guard came in for weeks and did not let anybody in/out.

It was pretty amazing seeing how the tornado basically jumped over some houses with very little damage, but then would completely level the next few houses.

I remember it like it was yesterday, and pray I don't have to experience the noise/experience every again.

ps: great picture
Been in several of California's major earthquakes, was in Van Nuys when the Northride quake hit in 1994, scary to say the least.
I was at the 1985 Mexico City earthquake... That was really bad.
The catagory 4 that hit Madisonville 11/15/05 is the worst I have ever seen.

Even now, 5 months later, it still looks like a war zone. Most of the houses have been torn down, but all the broken trees is unnerving.

My wife was on a jobsite that was destroyed above them as the group huddled in the basement.
Nope, nothing serious.

Got chased out of the house three times year before last by hurricanes.

.....very minor damage.

Got circled by a shark in the Phillipines who thankfully didn't wish to eat Itallian that day.

.....needed a new bathing suit.
We've had some pretty crazy windstorms around us, huge trees falling over.

Thankfully, that's been it for me.
I've seen 2 hurricanes:
Hugo 1989 (Cat 2) - Levittown,PR
Georges 1998 (Cat 2-3) - Guaynabo,PR
I was on fairly safe place; an all concrete house in a non-flooding prone area. I could witness the hurricanes amazing power w/ no major worries. One of the coolest things to see during a hurricane is how fast clouds move…it’s as if you’re living in fast-forward jejeje.

~Jaime
Northridge--happened on my birthday, as near as I can remember. Nothing major happened ot us (nothing at all, really), but I remember it was a pretty freaky time.
1996 and 1997 floods here in the Red River Valley.

Bren R.
In 1967 we had a cat 3 tornado that leveled quiet a large section of the south side (Joliet Il). In 197? I was in a hurricane (Bob was it's name) on the Misssissippi Gulfcoast while doing time in the Navy. In 1990 there was a cat 5 tornado the flattened most of Plainfeild Il. and tore apart a good section of the west side of Joliet Il.

There has been way to many other smaller tornados around here to even try to list.
deleted - nevermind
Its not nice to remember natural disasters and its consequences. But here is my 2 cents.

In December 1999, Venezuela (north of South America, with shore in the Caribean sea) suffered one of its biggers natural disaster in its history: a flooding in the coastal area due to excees water running on the rivers down the mountains, because non-stop rain. The water-mud-rocks rivers cleared miles of towns and killed many, many people.

I was not on the disaster area, but I did participate with the volunteers the very next day both at the headquartes and down in the disaster zone. I will not go into details about it, but it was like a war zone. After the event, I also participate doing the census (accounting) of the people rescued, and its was one of the saddest moments of my life. So many people that lost their loved ones.

For many years, Venezuela was free of natural disasters of magnitude. An earthquake 40yrs ago was the last big event I heard about. Floods occurs sporadically, but small in magnitude, usually. A flood this magnitude caught every authority by surprise. And still, Venezuela dont have anough experience or equipment to work after a natural disaster. They still think that the country is "disaster free", as it once was. It used to be a paradise.
On August 29, 2005 I experienced natural and man-made disasters simutaneously. The winds from Hurricane Katrina lifted my roof, and the waters from the breeched levee of the London Avenue Canal, which is three blocks away, left the house in a toxic marinade for three weeks. The flood water reached about 9.5 feet in my neighborhood. Also, I worked in the special needs shelter at the Superdome during the storm where I watched the wind blow, the waters rise and people suffering.
Tornado in Charles County MD, I think it was 2003 F-5 for a short time when it went 1/4 mile behind my house I just moved into.

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/scienceques2001/20020510.htm
heres a better link,if you look at the pics of la plata I live behind the CVS and KFC.

http://www.weatherbook.com/laplatamain.html
LINK
Nasa Link
The only things that come to mind are my wedding, the purchase of a Plymouth K car and listening to a set of Bose speakers that had the price tags still afffixed.

Also, the first diaper I changed for my oldest daughter after she was introduced to solid food. I don't remember the food smelling like that when she ate it.

Oh, and let's not forget ANY picture of Jack.

I guess that about covers it.
>>> the purchase of a Plymouth K car <<<

Ouch, that must have been a bad one indeedy.

And here I was thinking the master toilet overflowing into two rooms of the house several months back was a disaster to be reckoned with (can we say shop vac!!), but that K car thing...that's terrible. Glad to hear you survived Ray.
Isn't the K the old Reliant, I thought you had to be a grandmother to drive one of those
Well, thing is, let's just say that Ray changed one letter in his name a few years back... so he qualified for that statement!
In reply to:

I don't remember the food smelling like that when she ate it.




Well now there was the time my son's diaper left a major pile of the previous nights fruit dinner on the restaurant floor. The staff actually ran from us.
I'm going to ramble a bit. This may not have a point, but the Axiom community has always been great and I think I need to just babble a little.

It's been a while since my last post, and part of that is due to the fact that I live in Gallatin, Tennessee -- the city that was hit hardest by these tornadoes. I was incredibly lucky: Three streets up from me there are homes that have practically been vaporized. I didn't even lose a shingle. I have my health, my home is safe, my friends are safe, my pets are safe, and I lost nothing. There are an awful lot of people in this town who can't say the same. Nine people in this town have been laid to rest as a result of this tornado, and quite frankly it's incomprehensible to me that the number wasn't higher. I look around this town and I see the scope of the destruction and devastation and I can only marvel at the power of nature. The only thing that kept it from being worse, in my opinion, is that it came through at a little after 2 in the afternoon. If this had happened at 1 in the morning when people weren't at work, this would have been far worse.

Yeah, Gallatin is a 'burb of Nashville, but at the end of the day it's still just a small country town of 60,000. I've lived in the South all of my adult life (and a good deal before that), and I know what Southern storms can be like. They can get unbelievably violent and tornado warnings are just a fact of life, but I think there's a natural tendency to become complacent. Tornado weather has always spooked the hell out of me -- the sky gets green, the air gets heavy and still and you can just feel it. It is a physical, palpable thing in the air, and anyone who lives in tornado-prone areas knows what I'm talking about. But prior to last Friday I'd never witnessed what one is really capable of, and it is terrifying.

There are homes that have just been scraped off the face of the Earth. There were car dealerships that looked like a bomb had gone off two feet away -- cars were piled on top of each other. You know how even in the worst traffic accidents you've ever seen, you can always at least identify what was a car? I saw chunks of metal that were too big to be anything else except a car, but it was impossible to tell. There were enormous trees that had been uprooted and thrown dozens of yards from where they originally stood.

Webster's definition is as follows:

Awe: an emotion variously combining dread, veneration, and wonder that is inspired by authority or by the sacred or sublime.

The power of a tornado is truly awesome, and I have a new and profound respect for what they're capable of. If you live in an area where these are occasional threats, please take them seriously. I guarantee that's exactly what I'll be doing from this point forward.
Earthquakes:
The "World Series" earthquake in San Francisco, the last big ones in Seattle and Los Angeles.
Mike, you ramble all you want. Thank God you and your loved ones are safe.

Like Ron White says, it's not THAT the wind is blowing, it's WHAT the wind is blowing.

I have kin in Kansas. I vividly remember visiting there when I was a kid and being scared spitless by the tornado warnings. I never really understood the notion of The Cellar before that.

I'm glad you're okay.

I've been lucky - dove under my desk during the relatively big earthquake in Seattle (the Nisqually quake) a few years ago. It went on for a really long time. I was pleased to not have wet myself, and that my wife and kids were safe.
Mike, I hadn't been following this thread because(fortunately)I had nothing personal to contribute. Reading of your experience, we're so happy and thank God that you and yours are safe.
Mike, I'm glad that you are okay.

I'm originally from New York City, and lived in Cincinnati for awhile. I've never ever been remotely close to a natural disaster in my life. There was a tornado near Cincinnati several years back, but the destruction there was nowhere near what it was here.

As you said, when I hear these tornado warnings, I will take them seriously from know on.
Mike, I thank the powers that be for your safety and well being. I live in the Northern tip of "Tornado Alley" and while I've never had one close enough to place me in danger, there have been a few devastating ones within 50 miles of me. In fact, the largest single tornado outbreak in U.S. history took place just south of me in Zenia, OH in 1974. 95 significant tornadoes, including 30 F4 and F5 tornadoes, over a 2 day period.

I know EXACTLY what you mean about the physical presence of the conditions that can spawn tornadoes. As you say, the sky and air take on qualities that set off some primitive, visceral alarm in our bodies that fills us with a sense of foreboding and fear. It's just flat out scary.

I am SO relieved to hear you came through this unscathed.



Mike, It's great to hear you and your family are safe, I agree with you that we all tend to get a little complacent.
I've seen an earthquake that did billions of dollars in damage, but years later I've almost let it slip my mind.
Thanks for your thoughts and helping me open my eyes again to what nature can do.
Now I better go help my wife put away the emergency stores I scoffed at her for buying last week.
There are reminders of the F4 tornado that hit here last november every time you drive to that end of town. All the houses are torn down or under repair, but all the twisted and broken trees still lie where they were tossed about.
Mike - glad to hear you're ok. I did a google image search and to say you were lucky is an understatement. Wow.

My own experience pales in comparison. I was in a movie theatre and kept hearing a loud racket up on the roof. Eventually it became so annoying, I get up to complain to management. When I exited the darkened theatre, I could see outside what must have been causing the noise. There was wind blowing like I'd never seen before. The small trees lining the parking lot were bent to the ground! Mind you, this is in New Hampshire. And it was a perfectly nice, sunny afternoon when we entered the theatre. Within minutes the wind was gone. We found out later that it was a microburst. We'd never heard of it before, but it's apparently something like an inverted tornado. It's very centralized and massively powerful. The sad news is that the center of the storm(?), event(?) - was at a small park in Statham, NH. A group was having a picnic, and all huddled under covered picnic area when the wind came up. The wind collapsed their shelter, and some people died. Driving past that spot was awe inspiring. That picnic area was at the base of a tree covered hill. I mean BIG old evergreen trees, and the entire hillside was wiped clean. Amazing power.


Tom, John, Spiff, et al, thanks for the kind words. I really didn't mean to sound quite so dramatic -- it's just that I've never seen this kind of thing firsthand, and over a week later I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around it. If anyone would actually like to see what happened in my town, here's a slideshow.

On a much happier note, I have a a new addition to my family. I picked her up in Birmingham on Thursday. She's absolutely beautiful, and she most certainly has a personality. Anyone have name suggestions? A fine German name would be preferred.
Mike,

Even TWO K cars wouldn't equal your experience! Really glad it missed you.
In reply to:

Like Ron White says, it's not THAT the wind is blowing, it's WHAT the wind is blowing.




Tom, that's one of my all-time favorite routines. When I first heard that, I was in tears. "If there's a yield sign in your spleen, it doesn't matter how many pushups you do each day. If you get hit by a Volvo....jogging don't come into play!"
Sweet ride! I'm jealous.

I didn't know until going to the link whether you were talking about an adoption, a dog or what.

How about Gretchen, Heidi or Trudy?

We watch that Ron White routine whenever we encounter it. Must've seen it a dozen times and I still laugh. I feel bad about it, though.
Lil late here but my contribution to the discussion...

Omaha Tornado of 1975

I wasn't quite 1 year old but I've heard about it my whole life. F4 tornado went right thru town, aparently it was the worse tornado incident in the US up to that point. I rode it out in the basement of my parents house, which the twister passed by about a mile of. More stories/pictures of it here.

Living in Nebraska my whole life you really do get a numb feeling towards tornados because they are a way of life in this part of the country (tornado alley). I thought I heard once 70-80% of the world's tornados occur here.
Gretchen is definitely out of the question. Gretchen is an ex-girlfriend of mine who moved to England to marry a guy who drives a Ferrari -- this is after I introduced the two of them. D'OH!!!

Heidi is an ex-boss. I like the name, but I'll take a pass. Plus, with "Heidi" there's the image of the blonde girl in pigtails. This machine is a burnette through and through.

I like Trudy, though. The jury's still out, but Trudy has been added to the list. It has a certain ring to it. Nice work, Tom!
Lol, I thought you were talking about a dog or cat also until I clicked the link. Nice ride, I finally got to pull my toy out of the garage for a day, until the weather turned sour again, will spring ever come
Nice ride! Wired for Axioms yet?
Mike,

How about Shotzy? If I remember my Swiss grandfather correctly, it is a German term of affection for a female sweetheart...

My .02...

WhatFurrer
Ooo! I like it! Thanks for the suggestion!

The weather has been absolutely beautiful these past few days. It's been awfully difficult not to look for reasons to go for a drive.

"Shotzy"...yeah...I'm digging it!
Well, if imagery is an issue for you, "Shotzy" is the name Marge Shott, former idiot owner of the Cincinnatti Reds, gave to her butt ugly bull dog. Marge also had a couple extra ugly genes. Everytime I hear the name I think of her and her antics and that bad looking dog.
Oy.

Hmm. Well, I've always had a thing for Ingrid Bergman (is there a red-blooded male who hasn't?). She wasn't a dark brunette, but close enough. Of course, there's the fact that she was Swedish. But does it really matter?
Katrina footage (High Bandwidth only)
I nominate that video for the worst use of Enya ever. Somehow, it just doesn't fit.
Agreed. It should have been the Scorpions.
or Dylan.
© Axiom Message Boards