A Texas Tornado

I would like to share with you what it is like to go through a real Texas tornado. I have seen many in my lifetime. I have seen white tornadoes shaped like a whip, wedge shaped tornadoes, and even watched as they circled in the clouds overhead. Many times they come in the night so you can not see them only hear them and see the damage they do. Homes can be destroyed, vehicles tossed like toys and huge trees uprooted. It is almost storm season now and so I thought I would dust off some pictures that I have from the Seymour tornado on April 13, 2007

I know it has become popular to take a vacation and chase tornadoes. My husband spent many years as a storm chaser and I know it can be exciting but I would be remiss if I did not share with you at least a bit of what you could be caught in. . .

These are some pictures that I took from my house as the storm progressed.

The rain is beginning to get harder, the rain isn't too bad yet . . .

The rain begins to pound down harder, hail begins to get larger . . .

After the above picture we were forced to take cover in our safe. The previous owners installed a real live bank safe that came from the First National Bank of Olney, Texas. It saved the employees' lives when they were forced to take cover in it from a tornado. We use it as our storm shelter. We could hear the tornado as it passed by our home. It sounded like a rope sounds when you swing it over your head. The electricity goes out. The hail increased in size until it reached SOFTBALL size (that wasn't a misprint). The good people of Seymour were blessed because no one was killed. There was much damage however . . .

Many including me lost pets because of the hail, roofs were destroyed, cars were totaled, windows were smashed along with many other items.

When we came out this is what we saw (we never know what to expect) We were so thankful to still have our home and trees.

The streets and culverts were flooded

Some of the flooded areas were too deep for anything lower than a pickup

It was about here that what had happened began to set in.

The front of this building did not look this way just a short time before.

Cars were missing windows and looked as if beaten with a baseball bat.

These were the really blessed ones. There were people who lost their cars totally because the damage was so severe that it destroyed the body beyond repair.

No we do not live in fear of tornadoes, we just live aware and ready to take cover when warned and even aware that they can come without notice. Once I remember a bright beautiful sunny day being interrupted with the tornado sirens. I looked outside and sure enough there was a tornado headed our way. (that was the white one) Truly we were blessed that it was not worse. There have been many people killed, animals killed, homes and entire towns destroyed by tornadoes. The devastation can be great and traumatic. It took months to get the damage repaired. There were roofing companies everywhere and the body shops were bogged down for months and months. Even insurance adjusters set up shops here for a time. I will not tell you not to come to Texas for a real Storm chaser vacation but I do want you to know that this is only a small taste of what you might get. If you would like to see some video on the Seymour tornado and many others then click here.

Until Next Time
Debbie