OT: Tornado near Nashville; please check in Dive!

[luddite lady]

I saw the story on the news. I know Murpheeboro is way close to Nashville. I hope all is well chez Dive. There were other twisters as well. Let's keep our fingers crossed for all the Tornado Alley Nutters.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

I'm OK, but still pretty freaked out, tell you the truth. Not really sure where to start. Three or four tornadoes touched down about 20 miles from my house and put 40+ people in the hospital. We had tornado warnings all day, starting at 4 this morning. At one point there were 15 - I am not exaggerating - warnings activated for different parts of the immediate region.

Which was terrifying, because right after they announced a slew of warnings the broadcasters started to get visual confirmations - people sending in cell phone photos etc. - of the funnels in Murfreesboro and all the press covered that, so there was no way to know what other parts of town were being affected. At one point I had: the weather radio, an Internet stream, and the TV going...plus all my relatives calling each other...trying desperately to figure out if we were all about to be wiped off the map.

Turned out my immediate area wasn't in danger, luckily, but I've had forecasters announce there's a funnel coming straight for my neighborhood three times in the last couple of weeks, and we're due for more storms on Monday.

I'm just not sure how we're gonna take this for another six weeks. April and May are usually the worst months for tornadoes and we're getting watches nearly constantly and warnings every three or so days. If there's an active hurricane season, we usually get funnels out of the storms that barrel up here from Florida, which could put this into June or beyond.

I'm just freaked out and tired of it. I could kind of deal when it was just warnings that didn't ever turn into anything, but now we've got real live F3s and 4s touching down and taking out whole swaths. I'm sooo sad for the hundreds of folks whose houses were completely demolished today. If we don't get more storms immediately, I'll go down and help clear debris or help with animal rescue this week. The damaged area is still closed for right now, until they can get the live power lines and stuff out of the streets.

On the upside: Only two people are confirmed killed, which is amazing when you see the photos of what happened. (Our local paper is www.tennessean.com for those who are morbidly interested.) They're saying now there were three separate tornadoes and possibly four. We still don't know what the ratings were on the Fujita scale but the devastation is fairly immense, to judge from the TV footage. [In March 2008 a storm came through Sumner County, just north of Nashville, killing 23 - so here's hoping improvements in the warning systems saved a few lives this time.]

Shot of the day: I was watching a local news channel and they were doing what they normally do, switch to traffic cams around the area, just to give an overview of what the weather's like in various parts of the region. They moved to one on the roof of City Hall in Murfreesboro and just as they cut to it a huge tornado moved right through the frame.

!!! You just don't see that every day. Just wish it were good news, instead of the horrifying sad variety we've been hearing all day (the two people killed were a woman and her nine-month old child; they keep interviewing people whose houses are just matchsticks...it's breaking my heart.)

Just hoping to get some sleep tonight, since last night our weather radio siren went off about every hour on the hour. I'm sure my dreams are gonna just be great tonight. Maybe it's time for some pharmaceuticals.

p.s. I grew up in Kansas, so maybe this stuff affects me more than most. I stupidly watched a video earlier today of an F5 that came within about seven miles of the house I grew up in back in '91...it's starting to feel personal in a weird way. If I'm not holed up in my windowless interior room on Monday, I'm calling one of those companies that digs a cellar down under your house. It's gonna cost a fortune - everything around here is built on solid limestone and they'll probably have to blast - but I'm thinking it's time, although I'm sure there's a waiting list at this point.

[luddite lady]

Thanks for checking in. I'm glad you're safe. I saw the awful pictures on TV. This nerve racking experience of tornado warnings is becoming part of your everday life. How sad! Stay strong. You're in my thoughts.

[samburusunset]

Glad you and Mr. Dive are OK. I thought of you when I heard about the storms. It's very sad about the mother and baby. Stay safe.

[smax]

stay safe.
x

[GinaSuperCat]

I hadn't heard of this yet--glad to know you are ok!!!! <hugs>

[njperry]

So glad to hear that Dive is safe.

I grew up in Indiana where tornados are common. Scary, incredibly random destruction sources.

That said, I lived through one hurricane (not in Indiana) and the damage of those is so much worse. But you know a hurricane is coming and you don't with a tornado.

[Susan]

I'm glad you're OK, Dive. I'm keeping an eye on your Facebook updates too. This is where FB comes in handy because I have a non-Nutter friend in Nashville and with one log in to one site I can keep up.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Yeah. A lot of my buddies were online yesterday because there were tornado warnings *everywhere* and it was just impossible for the media to cover them all - especially once the photos started coming in from Murfreesboro and the radar was obviously indicating a gigantic funnel on the ground. I wound up pretty much liveblogging a fair amount of the afternoon, along with running every Internet stream I could find, a couple different weather radios, etc.

I'm a little better today. Something about sleep deprivation seems to make all this worse. Although the weather is still all cloudy and funky, which is another no-fun thing...it's finally warm outside and it rains every day....

We'll get through it. Looks like the Red Cross is organizing donations and there's a special bank account being set up for victims, etc.

One thing I can say for people around here: I don't always agree with the politics or the mindset, but whenever there's a real disaster? I bet the Red Cross is literally having to lock the doors, there are probably so many people over there trying to help out.

I'll try to keep folks posted. I know a lot of people know or are related to people in this area...

Oh, and one more thing: If you are ever in this situation, with an imminent tornado on the ground? Turns out the advice to get into an interior room or a bathtub really does work. The media is literally full of stories today from people who hung onto their plumbing fixtures and hall closet coatrods while their roofs were lifted away, the walls were collapsing, etc....I've now seen several interviews with people who walked away unharmed from an unrecognizable rubble pile. One guy hid with his dog in the bathtub with a mattress over his head. He accidentally turned on the water and got soaked, but he survived.

Oh, and stay away from the garage. Apparently garage doors are the weakest point in the house; try to get at least two or three walls between you and it, especially if your garage faces the southwest.

[DirtyMartini]

Very glad to hear you and the Mr. are okay, DD. Kindly stay that way please.

[shyvixen]

Glad to hear you're okay Dive.

[nancyrose]

Dive, I'm so sorry to hear what you've been going through...it must be extremely frightening. My thoughts are with you, and all your neighbors.
Stay safe, sweetie.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Forgot to say, earlier: THANKS EVERYONE! It really helps to know folks are sending good thoughts. Right now the weather for Monday doesn't look too bad...fingers crossed it stays that way.

And it's as I thought: volunteers actually being turned away down in Murfreesboro. It's downright heartwarming...

[dafttart]

Eeeeeeeek - stay safe, Dive

xox

[Larissa]

Holy shit Jean, I knew you were being hit with warning after warning (cheers facebook ) but didn't realise that what I read in the paper today was so close to you! Glad you're safe.