On 5/17/2014 Sooner said: If you are in a car, get to shelter as soon as you can. A car is the worst place on earth to be. Three storm chasers were killed last spring in Oklahoma--look at the pictures of their vehicle. It looks like a crushed soda can.
Outrunning a tornado is a very bad thing to try. Don't be caught out. Stay informed and listen to weather reports. If one is in your area, find shelter if you can. Tornadoes don't follow rules, and they can go in lots of directions.
They are deadly and many people die because they aren't informed. We are looking at the anniversary of the Moore, Oklahoma, tornado of last year. Google that and look at some of the photos and it just breaks your heart.
I saw the devastation in our city from the tornado's that touched down in 1975. As I said in my original post, I was in a building where 1 of the several tornado's passed by it on the West side. Fortunately my car was parked on the East side of the building and while it did get beat up from debris, it was not stacked on top of tens of others like that stack them in a auto salvage yard.
Three different parts of our city were destroyed and I had to drive through all of them to get home that night so I got an up close look of how many miles and miles of homes and businesses were destroyed. I also volunteered on 2 different occasion to help with coordinated groups in the North side of our city. Wading through what used to me someones home was not something a person forgets.
That day had I gotten off of work a half hour later I would have been in my car. There were no sirens going off and my route to the health spa are roads that are tree lined and in early May, these tornado's hit on May 5th, the trees were all in bloom. The sky is barely visible when driving these streets so seeing a tornado would have been impossible until it was too late.
Now had I been on a main road of our city where this health spa is located, the skies are plainly visible, and I would have been able to see these tornado's. The only thing I know is I was in the basement of this building where the health spa was located and all of the upper floor employees were told to come down to this spa. From there is was waiting until the radio said "all clear", and then I went upstairs and saw all the destruction in this particular part of the city.
People don't always have a choice and many do get stuck being in a vehicle during storms and if this should happen to me I will do as most experts say and that is drive at a 90 degree angle to the direction of the oncoming tornado. One doesn't always know what buildings have a "safe place" unless they are very familiar with the area in which they are driving. Chances of being caught while in a vehicle can depend on how much one drives and very much on the time of the day.
I'll stick with my plans should this ever happen again in my lifetime.
hckynut(john)
Blogs & Forums
Forums
Blogs
