Tornadoes, hurricanes, how do you feel?

[Willa]

Let's be honest, here in Montreal, actually in the whole province, we do not get a lot of bad weather.
We freak out when we have winds of 90km/h...

I wanna know, those of you who experienced a tornado or a hurricane, what is the feeling?
Have you lost things, your house, or even a person during one of these? It must be soooo hard

We hear about hurricanes but not really about tornados, how frequent are they?
Do you run away or hide in a cave?

I'm telling you, I would DIE if I was on a tornado's path

Now that the hurricane season is on... let's share your experiences if you want

 

[Mabelle]

Seriously, i mean we do get bad weather, but its mostly cold and snow. In the summer if its not a toasty 26 everyday the bitching never ends.

 

[Willa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mabelle Seriously, i mean we do get bad weather, but its mostly cold and snow. In the summer if its not a toasty 26 everyday the bitching never ends.

Yeah but I meant that we don't get tornados and such...

I don't care about snow storms, it melts hahahah

The only time I experienced a bad weather was maybe 6 or 7 years ago, we had the leftovers of a strong hurricane, you probably remember it. It was crazy during the night, thunderstorms over and over, bad winds and lightning strikes one after the other

 

[MACLovin]

I live in south FL which is basically a hurricane magnet. I've been through my fair share of hurricanes and tropical storms. Never a tornado, though! I prefer hurricanes because at least you have some warning beforehand, you usually at least have a few days if not more to prepare, get your supplies, protect your home, and evacuate if you need to.

The most memorable one for me was hurricane Andrew in 1992. I was only 9 years old but I remember looking out the peep-hole in the door and watching these huge electrical transformers exploding and it would just be a big green flash in the sky. The next day when I went outside it was crazy, all kinds of trees down, shingles off the roofs, etc. But we didn't get it nearly as bad as the people in south Miami/Homestead... some of those neighborhoods were completely demolished! It was bad.

But the most recent one that really screwed things up was Wilma in 2005. I have some pics on photobucket I'll look for, there were a lot of people without power, tons of trees down, and a lot of damaged homes. I work in insurance too, we paid out TONS of claims.. people really got hit hard.

I can't say personally that I've been affected though as far as my home being damaged, or losing someone to a storm or anything so I'm thankful. But this is supposed to be a busy hurricane season so we'll see!

 

[Willa]

Let's hope for no more Katrina... o_0

 

[Mabelle]

Willa, how did you not mention the ice storm! That was the coolest thing ever. I was 11 and got to stay home from school, eat out every night and play monopoly! I only lost power for like 3 days, i was super lucky.

We had one storm last summer that was pretty hardcore. Granted it only lasted like an hour. I think it was in ... june? It knocked all those trucks over on their sides on the champlain bridge. it was kinda scary all of a sudden it was like the sky turned black black and just opened up. I believe i remember weather men saying it was they could see spout starting to form, like a tornado. Obviously it didnt turn into one though

 

[Willa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mabelle Willa, how did you not mention the ice storm! That was the coolest thing ever. I was 11 and got to stay home from school, eat out every night and play monopoly! I only lost power for like 3 days, i was super lucky. We had one storm last summer that was pretty hardcore. Granted it only lasted like an hour. I think it was in ... june? It knocked all those trucks over on their sides on the champlain bridge. it was kinda scary all of a sudden it was like the sky turned black black and just opened up. I believe i remember weather men saying it was they could see spout starting to form, like a tornado. Obviously it didnt turn into one though

Yeah the ice storm... hahaha yeah what a big thing we had
I was 16 at the time, my school was used as a shelter
We lost power for 2 weeks, stayed at my uncle's place in Montreal
It was so much fun!

 

[joey444]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MACLovin I live in south FL which is basically a hurricane magnet. I've been through my fair share of hurricanes and tropical storms. Never a tornado, though! I prefer hurricanes because at least you have some warning beforehand, you usually at least have a few days if not more to prepare, get your supplies, protect your home, and evacuate if you need to. The most memorable one for me was hurricane Andrew in 1992. I was only 9 years old but I remember looking out the peep-hole in the door and watching these huge electrical transformers exploding and it would just be a big green flash in the sky. The next day when I went outside it was crazy, all kinds of trees down, shingles off the roofs, etc. But we didn't get it nearly as bad as the people in south Miami/Homestead... some of those neighborhoods were completely demolished! It was bad. But the most recent one that really screwed things up was Wilma in 2005. I have some pics on photobucket I'll look for, there were a lot of people without power, tons of trees down, and a lot of damaged homes. I work in insurance too, we paid out TONS of claims.. people really got hit hard. I can't say personally that I've been affected though as far as my home being damaged, or losing someone to a storm or anything so I'm thankful. But this is supposed to be a busy hurricane season so we'll see!

Yup, I live in South Florida as well and we get hit almost every year but I agree, I would prefer a hurricane any day over a tornado. With a hurricane, you can prepare or at least get the heck out of town if you need to. We live in Homestead and my husband's family lost their house with Hurricane Andrew. They went west to avoid the hurricane and came back to streets they couldn't recognize and their house was gone. Amazing what Mother Nature can do....

 

[Willa]

Omg, that must be crazy, when you don't even recognize your street!

 

[urbanlilyfairy]

LOl i grew up in New Orleans, La..hurricanes don't scare me ...we just rode them out until Katrina..that was the one storm we actually evacuated for ..and that was a good thing lol.

I am in Italy now and live near the Italian Alps..we get lots of bad storms with hail, thunder and a few tornados here and there..the tornados freak me out more than hurricanes..at least a hurricane you get a bit of warning.

 

[blindpassion]

I always think about how scary extreme weather must be.

I live in BC and we never ever get extreme weather.

It rains all year with little to no winds, and then its warmish for one or two summer months.

And that's pretty much the extent of our weather.
It rains, everyone bitches. Its hot in the summer, everyone still bitches.

 

[Lauren1981]

i've lived in south florida for two years but i'm from kansas city missouri which is part of tornado alley. you just have to get down to a cellar or basement. which ever one you have. um, the first one i was in, the outdoors got really yellow, birds stopped chirping and it literally sounds like a freight train. it up rooted our tree then dropped it on the neighbors house, tore the siding off of our house, tossed our our wooden fence into our pool, etc.... there was one when i was in college, i was walking back to my dorm from class and once again the wind stopped blowing and the birds got quiet, i looked up and could see the clouds swirling, i just ran and by the time i reached my dorm everyone else was running to the basement, it ripped the roof of all the dorms, f*cked up our wal-mart, ppls cars got pulled down the street from where they were parked. the one before that one tho, we just saw it, we weren't in it. i was coming back from a track meet and about a mile and a half away in this open field there was a tornado ripping through the field... as scary as they are, to actually SEE one is amazing. it was really pretty (you have to forgive me, i am very artsy. lol)
with tornados since they go counter clockwise they SUCK everything up. the winds are strong within the actual tornado but as far as the damage it sucks things up. that's why sometimes in the aftermath you see cars in trees. it'll suck up everthing and spit it back out.

 

[Willa]

Yeah I've heard many times that the sky can look yellow...
One summer, I remember, I was at my parent's place and the sky turned yellow! It was crazy, I was telling my cousin we had to go downstairs because I remembered seing this in a movie

But nothing happened really, except a big @ss thunderstorm o_0

 

[purrtykitty]

I live in Omaha, Nebraska, and so far this year it's been pretty quiet...just a few strong thunderstorms (at night, no less, thankyouverymuchforcuttingintomyREMsleep). I absolutely hate storms at night because I can't see what's going on.

Last year, there was a tornado that hit in West Omaha in the middle of the night. By the time the sirens sounded it had already done its damage. Fortunately no one was hurt. A few weeks later, we had 90+ mph straight-line winds (basically a tornado without the swirling) that caused a ton of damage and knocked power out for thousands of people (we lost power for about 4 days). The last couple of years, there have been several hits or near misses. Omaha used to be just north of Tornado Alley, but it seems like Tornado Alley has shifted to now include the Omaha area.

I freakin' hate severe weather. I run and hide...I'm so bad, if I know there is even a chance of sever weather, I'll make sure all the stuff I want to save is in the basement (including my MAC, lol). I have the kitties' cage ready for them to be put in, and plenty of pillows, blankets and our motorcycle helmets on standby. We even have an emergency preparedness kit now, with a bunch of bottled water and non-perishable food items.

 

[Willa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrtykitty I'm so bad, if I know there is even a chance of sever weather, I'll make sure all the stuff I want to save is in the basement (including my MAC, lol). I have the kitties' cage ready for them to be put in, and plenty of pillows, blankets and our motorcycle helmets on standby. We even have an emergency preparedness kit now, with a bunch of bottled water and non-perishable food items.

Talk about a prepared girl!

 

[purrtykitty]

^^Lol, you know it!

The worst part about where we live is that we have train tracks that run behind our house. And at least once a day there's a freight train that runs by. I'm just waiting for the day when it's not a freight train.

 

[Willa]

Quote:

Originally Posted by purrtykitty ^^Lol, you know it! The worst part about where we live is that we have train tracks that run behind our house. And at least once a day there's a freight train that runs by. I'm just waiting for the day when it's not a freight train.

 

[AngelBunny]

I grew up in West Texas and have seen my share of tornadoes. The most memorable one went down my street ... tore off part of our roof and turned our big satellite dish into an ice cream cone but completely wiped out the houses across the street. The strangest ones are the ones that will completely take one home and leave another unscathed, and West Texas is famous for those. My sister and hid under the table in our living room freaking out ... my dad was out chasing it several miles back and didn't realize how close it was to our home. He cried for days that we were home during the terror ...

The most recent one tore up the airport that is about a mile from my current home. I got up to go to school the next morning and there was a tree (not a branch ... a TREE) about six inches behind my back bumper. I had to wait for maintenance to come move it for me to get the boys to daycare so I could get to work. Funny thing is that I didn't park anywhere near a tree and all the trees in my complex were still standing ... I have no idea where that particular tree came from.