TORNADO! A little too close to home...

Man, that sucks! Glad you are alright.

we had a few touch downs here. a twister tore up a neighborhood, the gmc factory and some other shit. i didn't get a chance 2 the actual twister, just the wall cloud from a distance(at least i think it was a wall cloud)

Yeah, I heard the one down there ripped up Tinker AFB a little bit too. My grandparents live right next to Whiteman AFB in Missouri and they are under a tornado warning right now. Gotta love spring in the heartland.

He didn't die??????? Inconceivable!

Tornadoes, snakes, and spiders are the things I fear the most in life. Every bad thunderstorm I get scared shitless. One passed right over my mobile home about 4 years ago. Just like everyone says, it sounded just like a freight train passing you by. The doppler effect and all. I think like 54 people died from them that night in the area. The only thing I do not like about Orlando are the tornadoes. Scary shit man.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030508_2027.html

Wow thats fucking really close, glad your safe man.

Ive always been fascinated by tornados, I want to go on one of those Storm Chaser events in the heartland, but all my friends are a bunch of pussies. Closest Ive ever come to seeing a tornado was while I was on a cruise ship and it was a water spout, doesnt count in my opinion.

Holy shit! Glad you're all right, man.

I'm watching the weather in TN. It may very well get ugly here tonight/tomrrow.

Seriously very glad to know that you're all right.

We almost had one here in Sacramento today.

We were on tornado warning & the news was making a big deal out of it all day I guess.

Ahh.. power is back on
The Oklahoma tornado came within a couple miles of my house and a few blocks from my sister and Scooter from FetishCash's house. Powerlines are down all over and power just came back on about 5 hours after it went off. Went outside and could see the debris and dust cloud from the tornado as it went by.
It was hot and humid as hell afterwards so I decided to take the family over to my mom's house. What is normally a 15 minute drive took almost 3 hours because of all the people trying to avoid the backed up interstates to get home from work and see if their house was hit. Saw plenty of downed trees and powerlines. Saw several cars that had been in the tornado but still were drivable. Not hard to identify them.. no windows, lots of dents, and covered in mud. Saw one car drive by that was missing the roof. Pretty crazy.
Stayed at my mom's and watched the news. Saw several views from the news helicopters that showed levelled houses just a hundred feet from where I had driven by. Hard to tell from the ground what the destruction is. Saw the Mexican restaraunt we eat at often was pretty much destroyed. Many of the businesses where I shop at regularly were gone.

Fucked up thing is May 3, 1999 the strongest ever recorded tornado passed along almost the same path. Many of the houses and businesses lost today were pretty new, rebuilt after the last tornado.

The GM plant that was hit was about 15 miles away. It is pretty vital to the economy around here so it will be interesting to see what happens. Tinker AFB was rght on the other side of the GM plant but because the storm was weakened some after hittnig the GM plant it didn't so any damage to the corner of the base it hit. Knocked over a few fences and that was all. Once it got past the base it came on strong again and continued wreaking destruction for another 45 minutes but it was pretty much over rural areas so not much damage was reported.

I'm going to try to go out tomorrow and get some pictures. Can't wait to see how many places I can recognize now. From what I have seen on the news it doesn't look like much.

Mother Nature can be a cruel bitch!

Thanks guys. I am just peachy. This was the first really close encounter I have had with a tornado. I have watched them in the distance numerous times but this is the first time one came this close to me. Pretty scary shit. Anyway, just glad nobody was seriously hurt or worse here.

http://www.ljworld.com/section/sever...r/story/131264

i walked outside and it felt like i had dirt on my face because it was so sticky outside. spring weather eh?

I was trying to get north from Moore and there was so much dirt and smoke in the air from burning houses that I felt nasty after a few minutes on the road. The humidity didn't help at all. You could tell all day from the weather that it wasn't going to be a normal day.

I just ran up to a 24 hour grocery store about half a mile from the tornadoes path and I could see the glow of emergency lighting near the worst hit areas. From what I heard on the radio there are still a number of missing people. 300 houses were levelled within a small radius and another 1500 badly damaged. I know a few people that live in the affected area. Going to try to get to them tomorrow and see if they need any help.

Here is some video of the tornado and some of the damage not too far from my house.
http://www.newsok.com/cgi-bin/player...ideo=m86pm2.rm

Crazy shit man. Glad you're okay. Our tornado wasn't nearly as bad as yours thankfully.

I had several close encounters when I lived in the Nashville area. I had a friend whose house was completely demolished... luckily nobody was home.

That's fucking crazy. I can't believe you guys are so mellow about tornados. I'd be heading for the mountains if I were you. From what I saw on the news this was pretty damn bad.

Glad to hear you are all allright.

Glad to hear that you and the Fetish Cash folks are all right, Zebra.

If I could head for the mountains, I would. Better yet, if I could go back to Washington, I'd be there tomorrow.

was in a tornado once when I lived in Michigan...some of the scariest shit I have ever gone thru. gives you a REAL feeling of being totaly helpless when nature cuts loos on you like that

Boy can I talk about the fucked up tornados not only last night but May 3, 1999. The May 3, 1999 didn't affect anyone personally that I know but my father died the next morning of a major heartattack following a simple surgery. He was buried on my birthday May 8, 1999. Then last night the initial touchdown of the tornado (on my birthday again) dropped down exactly two houses down from my mom at 134th and South Western in Oklahoma City. Her house received minor damage but the house two houses down was toast. The damn news channels told us to go to the local high school in that area to find relatives etc. and after two hours on the road (normally a 17 minute trip) we couldn't get anywhere remotely close to it. We finally decided to park the car as close as we could get (almost a mile) and walk in. I just needed to see if her house was there or gone so I could at least get an idea what was going on. We finally got to her house and thank god they were ok. Sitting on their back patio listening to all the chaos around them drinking several scotches. I'm going to quit having fucking birthdays. Nap and Zebra glad you fellow okies are all good though.

dchottie - I used to live in the addition at 134th and Western when I was in high school. Drove by (walking WOULD have been faster) last night an hour after the storm and there were powerlines down all over. At least the storm missed all those new houses a few blocks over that were rebuilt after being wiped off the face of the Earth in the May 3rd twister. I graduated from Westmoore High. That school took a direct hit May 3rd. Glad it was missed also this time.
I eat often at Las Fajitas on the service road at 12th and I-35. Not any more. It was pretty much levelled as well as the Motel 6 next to it. Hopefully they will rebuild bigger and better. My family is friends with the owner and I know this must be hard on him.

BTW.. I see storms popping up in the SW corner of the state. Looks like they are heading this way. Here we go again!

damn that's unreal. I didn't even make it close to I-35 except in Norman when I left out and took Western the back way up the ten mile flats. My folks live on the North side of 134th actually on 133rd across the street from that mobile home park there on 134th. It's like Green Lake or East Lake or something like that. What a small small world we live in.

Yeah, small world. I used to live on the corner of 133rd and Eastridge Dr.. just a block or two away. That is RIGHT where the tornado touched down.

Hell, I don't hink I know any of you...but be fucking safe anyway. I'm glad to hear things are okay with all of you and yours.

Just got back from taking some pics of the damaged area.
Cops were on every corner so I couldn't get too close, but still got a few decent shots.
http://www.zebrawashere.com/tornado/

nap.. I hope you have the TV on. Looks like a big tornado is headed your way!

man I haven't been up there in the daylight. What utter destruction. That's just unbelievable.

oh yeah and I almost forgot my mother in law was exactly one block south of the bank on sooner road that got completely flattened. She was in her car in traffic and a car just a few got speared with an electric phone pole and the driver got carted away in the ambulance. No telling how badly they were hurt. I'm watching the tube right now and looks like there's a really nasty tornado going down I-44 right now.

glad ya'll are all ok.....stay safe...

Gary England (the #1 rated tornado expert in the US and our local weatherman) just said the tornado hitting the north side of town right now is the most impressive funnel he has ever seen in his 30+ year career. Better than the one yesterday and better than the one on Mya 3rd, 1999 which was the strongest ever recorded. To top it off the tornado went right over the TV station and they had to evacuate for a while.
Looks like some crazy damage. Can't wait to see the pictures tomorrow when the sun comes up.
It has been on the ground for over an hour and is STILL going strong. Heading right up the turnpike towards Tulsa.

Two tornadoes in 2 days. What are the odds of that?

wow I didn't hear Gary say that but I know they're really excited about this one. and i'd say the chances of the two in two days occuring are about two in two. hehehehehe

This tornado has been on the ground for over 2 hours and as it approaches Tulsa they say it is strengthening again.
Simply unbelievable.