May 25, 2011

It's a twister!

As a lot of you are aware tornado season is in full swing. Sadly the storms have taken many lives and left a wake of devastation in the midwest. Last night I came to the sudden realization that north Texas is not immune to such things.

Regular programming was cancelled as weather people were discussing the outbreaks of heavy storms in our area. Winds picked up and lightning lit up the sky while thunder echoed throughout the metroplex. Sirens blared for a moment and we were warned to get into shelter. The wife and I gathered the dogs and we hid in our bedroom closet.

I had a lazy attitude about the whole affair as I'm unfamiliar with tornados. I've heard warnings about them before and nothing happened, plus the weatherman never listed our immediate area as being one prone to being caught up, so I just relaxed until there was something I felt I should be nervous about.

Finally the warnings stopped and the wife went to bed. I stayed up to see if there were going to be anymore panic inducing reports. The storms got louder and the rain came down as if it were coming out of a fire hose. I used to live in the Northwest and I'm very familiar with rain, but I've never seen precipitation like what we get here in Texas. That's saying a lot.

Our home was safe from a natural disaster thankfully and there were no reports of any Miss Gulch sightings.

"There is more good writing and good acting in any ten minutes of Twister than in, say, all of Citizen Kane." - Orson Scott Card

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad all is well. It's amazing how quickly a tornado can appear, rip your life to shreds and then disappear. Just ask the North Carolinians who witnessed 62 tornadoes in one day last month. All I can say is FEMA is going to be hoppin' this year. They are still here, in NC and in MS/AL/GA. I imagine they are enroute to Joplin, MO now.

If there was ever a time to be a philanthropist, it's now. Donate blood, clothes, money, whatever... there are a lot of folks in need.

Anonymous said...

A couple years ago, tornados hit my town. I knew the sky was freakishly dark but I paid no attention to it. I was busy killing Nazis (Wolfenstein!). Phone rang. It was my bro. "Dude, you okay?"
"Sure."
"What are you doing?"
"Video games."
"Turn on the local news channel."
"Why?"
"Tornados."
"Where?"
"There."
"There where?"
"Your backyard!"
"What the..."