Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

[hiway]

http://showtime.arkansasonline.com/e/media/mm/febstorms/

[HoosierGTA]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

Very sad to see that much destruction . We had that here couple of years ago , Very grateful to be spared.

[Pumpkin]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

It's always amazed me how that much destruction can happen , but a dwelling right next door or across the street will be perfectly fine. I wonder what the plaque with the connecting rod in pic #16 was for.

[Scott Liggett]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

Growing up in Nebraska; I've seen my share. I never had to deal the destruction those people had this week. I once was chased down the freeway by one on the way back to school. Had to hide in the tight spaces under an overpass. I was witness to the destruction of the F4 that hit Omaha head on in 76 or 77. My Dad's friend owned a restaurant that got creamed. He was in the basement office when it hit. It ripped the roof of his restaurant and dumped his brand 76 Eldo convert upside down in the main dining room. The bank next was all but leveled, the vault was all that was left standing.

The farmer I used to work for had one hit his property and the tornado took one of tractors never to be seen again. One of his pickups ended up in an oak tree as well. He has a brake drum from a dump truck that was sitting next to a wood pile and somehow the tornado managed to shove a piece of wood right through the metal. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.

When my Uncle built a house for my cousing Heidie in Liberty, MO; he put in a tornado vault in the basement made of reinforced concrete. Now I don't think it's such a goofie idea.

[Fordplay0621]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

When my Wife and I moved to Amarillo we never thought that we would ever need to use the Tornado Shelter in the Sideyard. I'm glad we had it, Four Different Times.

[PYSCHOWard]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

Its awful to see the devastation from toronado's and hurricanes, we used to think the northern states we're safe from such disasters, but 1985 proved differently. A tornado tore the hell out of Pa, killing several people, not far from here.

[Rebel25A]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

I was staying at a park in western Kentucky along with the entire management team from our plant...we got the call from the park authorities to come to the main building because a tornado had been spotted close...we spent the whole evening on emergency power with our favorite beverage in our hand (Captain Morgan and Coke)...got up the next day and less then 7 miles from where we were houses were completly leveled...you could see the path of destruction threw the trees...it hit at least 10 houses and mobile homes completley destroying most...fortunately no one was hurt because they knew it was coming..the wierdest part for me was it was on one side of the road but not the other...they got some roof damage but nothing so severe they couldn't repair it

[DanStokes]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

Keith and Tonya showed us the destruction in Enterprise when we went there. It is truly devastating. My heart goes out to these folks. As others have said, it weird what is destroyed and what is spared - no rhyme or reason - it just is what it is. At least the Boll Weevil monument is OK in Enterprise.

Dan

[ls7gto]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

we had 2 touchdown close to my parents house here in central Pa. the first one was in 1980. it tore the 55 gal drums out of the ground that were filled with concrete , anchoring the steel I beams for the airplane hangers. parents house was less than a 1/8 mile away, and didnt loose a shingle.
it went almost the same path about two years ago, but tore up alot of homes due to all the recent develpoments.
I feel for those who lost so much.

[wikd69]

Re: Toronado Pictures from Arkansas

Back in early 2000 we were living in Irving, TX. I was in the middle of changing jobs and was considering whether or not we would stay in the Dallas / Ft. Worth area. There was a lot of stuff going on in the DFW area, job wise, and we were trying to decide whether to stay in Texas or move back to California.

One nite during this period the local weather service issued multiple severe tornado warnings for the area. This was not the first time we'd had tornado warnings but it was the first time it really hit home what the hell tornados were all about. Watching the sky during the day you could see the big 'beaver tail' clouds settle in and funnel clouds form up and dissolve, some almost dropping down to touch the ground before they misted away.

That nite they issued a series of tornado warnings about funnel clouds forming and tornados touching down to the north of us, then to the east, then west and finally, to the south.The power went out at about 10:00 PM and the weirdest, blackest cloud formations you could imagine settled low over the top of our house.When you walked outsite it was deathly quiet, like listening to the world through cotton balls.Occassionally you could hear tornado sirens start up, scream for awhile and then stop, coming from all around us. It was the eeriest damn thing I'd ever experienced and really un-nerving, cuz you had no clue what was going to happen next and had nowhere to hide if it things started to get really ugly. During much of that night I had my wife and baby daughter bundled up, ready to huddle in a bathtub with a mattress over them.

The next morning we learned a cluster of 7 or 8 tornados had touched down just to the west of us which lifted roofs, shattered windows, took out signs and pretty much trashed much of downtown Ft. Worth.The next day there were all these tall office buildings without a pane of glass in them and the streets were littered with paper and other debris.Too strange.It wasn't nearly as bad as these pictures from Arkansas, but it was pretty devastating none the less.

As you might suspect that pretty much made our decision as to were to go next. We were back in California about 2 1/2 months later, eventually settling here in Sacramento.

Thats my tornado experience and its as close as I ever want to get.