Storm System and Tornado Coming Through Indiana
So we woke up this morning to a dark, rainy and dreary day. Then the sky cleared and the sun came out. Just long enough apparently to give us a false sense of security. We went out to dinner with some friends of ours that live close by. Once back home in our rig, while we were chatting, their daughter called to warn us of a storm approaching. And here in Indiana they don’t take storm warnings lightly.
So we said our good-byes and thought we’d have another evening of rain. Boy…were we wrong. We checked the local forecast and they had a tornado warning issued for the county that we were in. So David got out and warned everyone what was headed our way.
We flipped over our picnic table, for fear that it would go airborne, closed up all our slides and put down our satellite dishes. Then David, as a precaution, disconnected our power and we started the generator. Some people were leaving there rigs with there pets and heading to the storm shelter located on the fairgrounds. We were going to stay put…that is until we heard the tornado siren. There’s a sound that I’ve heard on tv but now I can actually say, I’ve heard it in real life. So, after I ordered David to take some pictures for the blog of course, we took Tasha and headed to the shelter. Well, we tried anyway. Tasha with her torn ACL and being 14 years old doesn’t exactly move quickly. And the shelter was further away than she normal can walk. So a nice gentleman on a golf cart gave us a ride.
David had to pick up Tasha to carry her down the steps to the basement were everyone was. Picture this…basement full of people and dogs, with no air conditioning. I know, we were there to protect our lives, but boy, was it hot with all those bodies down there. With the lights flickering and going off once, and the thunder roaring above us, it was definitely an experience. Thankfully all the dogs were very well behaved. As though they knew something was not right.
David was wonderful. He donned his full rain suit and ran rv to rv telling people to get to the shelter. Some people didn’t even know what was going on because they had there satellite tv on and did not see the local warnings and didn’t here the sirens.
Mental Note #1: Where ever we are it would behoove us to have the local tv antenna up so we can flip to a local station and see what is happening.
Mental Note #2: When we have to go to a shelter, bring bowl for dog water and dog blanket. Tasha does not do well on the hard concrete floor. We did luckily remember water and a flashlight. But forgot the AED (defibrillator).
After leaving the shelter and heading back to our rig, David had to help some people move a dumpster that decided to fly/roll in front of there rv. No damage thankfully. It’s original location was 5 rigs down from them on the other side of the street. So now we are safe and sound in the rv and I had to blog right away. Everyone was safe. The picture above is the storm coming through the area. If you blow up the picture by clicking on it, you can see Goshen, Indiana in the center of the picture and a tornado right there. That’s where we are. According to the weather forecasters a tornado touched down 2 miles south of where we were. Now we are just in for a night full of rain.
Below is a couple of David’s pictures of the storm approaching. These were taken 2 minutes apart.
And I didn’t even get to eat my left over home-made chocolate peanut butter pie!!!! Oh well…there’s always breakfast. Just kidding mom.
Storm Approaching
Storm Getting Closer
I am so glad you are SAFE! Your account was riveting, and brought back memories of our own “close encounters” with tornados. It is always scary. We’ve sheltered with our two cats, then our one cat… now we just have to get ourselves to the shelter, much easier.
Your comments on putting up the antenna for local TV – definitely. Also, be sure you have a NOAA weather radio, which works on both 110 v and batteries (so you can take it to the shelter). The blare of the alarm will wake you (if you are able to sleep), so you won’t be like all the other people who didn’t know what was going on.
Get a small transistor radio for your “head for the shelter” bag. If your rig/area IS destroyed, it will connect you to the news when your TV isn’t working any longer.
Using an aircard for i-net is handier than using a satellite during bad weather, since you continue to have i-net access and can watch online radar for your area, even when you are in a shelter.
Our current drill when there is a chance of heavy weather: get a bag together to take to the shelter, with transistor radio, water, energy bars, cash and credit cards. Important medications. Flashlight. One of our laptops. Thumb drive with our logins/passwords (password protected). Cell phone chargers (we have a 110v and a 12v charger). Laptop power cord. Extra 2AA batteries.
Put the bag by the door, along with sturdy shoes. Make sure we know where our glasses are. :) Sleep in clothes. Maybe bring in the front slide.
If the NOAA radio wakes us up, turn on local TV and/or the internet (on the non-packed laptop – we have 2). Track weather closely. If tornado alarm sounds or we know it is time to shelter, shoes on, grab the NOAA radio, grab the packed bag, and go.
IF the worst happens, we want to come out alive and uninjured (pets the same, when we had them), with those things that will get us back to “normal”, which mostly involves communications and cash: our cell phones and the ability to charge them, a radio to hear the news, money, our multitude of logins and passwords for banking, etc.
We shared your weather last night, but the tornados here in Ohio skirted us. It was a long night, though! So glad you are safe.