Tornado jumped over my house.

[wompus]

For those in Ga. who has been watching the bad weather we've had here on Saturday, YA MISSED ONE HELL OF A SHOW!!!
About 1/4 mile from my house is one of the county's highest points. I knew the weather was going to be bad in my area, so I secured the shop and headed up the street to see what I could see.... wind and hail, lots and lots of hail!!! Most was the size of golf balls, and the ground looked like it had been snowing.

Now... one thing ya don't want to do... which I did... was to sit on a hill., in a Dodge maxi van, in a hail storm without ear protection!! :-/

Black clouds, and wind, lots and lots of wind!! I thought a few times I was going to have the van roll over!!
It was so noisy that I never knew that the tornado rolled right over the top of me!! Cool!!!

Anyone know how to remove 4000 dents from the roof of a van!??
Now today was picture perfect. I spent the day cleaning up my yard, washing my jeans, and contemplating why the hell did I do such a stupid thing!!!

[pick187]

I spent the a couple of days in Greens burg KS after it was hit by the tornado. It was incredible to see the devastation. Its incredible what mother nature can do.

[pick187]

Here are some pics from Grensburg

[wompus]

We were lucky that it didn't set down here in my area.
Atlanta got nailed real bad down town. Problem with Atlanta... Where it hit was an area that looks like a trash dump all year long. I guess if you have an open mind about it, mother nature did Atlanta some good.... the streets will finally have the trash picked up..................for a little while.

Ho-lee Frijolies!

We used to live in tornado country (Minnesota) and I do not miss it.

I've seen a couple scenes like that first hand.

[dakals]

Glad to hear you guys are all ok. I love how the american flag is still standing!!!!!! Thanks for the pics. Be safe!!!!!

[waterman]

Glad to hear that you are ok Mike. I have been near a couple of tornado's. Closest was probably 5 miles away. Last summer saw three of them in one day. Closest one was 30 miles away. Freekish day.

[vroc13091]

WOW!!! You really know how to tempt mother nature.

Glad to hear y'all survived it. Just call those dimples on the van a special production model with the "Wompus" feature.

Those tornado can be unbelievable. We had an F-5 just north of here a few years back. All that was left on one subdivision was the slab the homes were on. Peeled the chip seal right off the streets and just left the road base bare.

Again, glad y'all made it through.

Are y'all making Maggie Valley in mid May? If so I'll visit with y'all then. Otherwise I'll see you in Oregon in July.

[Idaho]

I grew up in Ohio and to this day one of my worst and most frequent nightmares is about tornadoes. I wake up in a sweat. I think if I had to like back there again my house would be below ground level . Glad to know that you are okay.

[cactusjack]

I lived in Salt Lake City for most of my life. We were always told we were protected from tornados because of the mountains that pretty much surround the valley. We moved to Phoenix July 16, 1999. On August 11, 1999 a tornado ripped through downtown Salt Lake City, embedding shards of glass in the concrete walls of the Delta Center, ripping up hundreds of large trees and caused millions in property damage and killed one person.

So much for that theory. I lived in the Memphis area for a few months (June-September) in 1978 while I went to Marine Aviation Maintenance School. No tornados.

I can't even imagine what it must be like living in an area where they are a real and frequent threat. From what I heard, the one in Atlants the other other night was more or less a fluke.

[ringadingh]

They sure can make a mess in a hurry, can't they? Two summers ago I was riding back home from a freinds house a few miles away, when I got caught in a storm. There was a lot of wind and rain, then in front of me everything went horizontal for a few seconds. It blew the bike over from one side of the road to the other before I could find shelter, but I managed to stay on it. Luckily it was over as quick as it had started. Next morning the news reported how a small tornado had passed through about a 1/4 mile from where I was the night before.

[dogdoc]

grew up in OK and we had a big en hit about a 1/4 mile from my brothers house and we were all in the house. Weird to see 6 foot tall weeds laying flat over as it went by and hearing the train roar. Glad your all well.

13 years in Mo., 8 years in Oh., 1 in Ms., 38 in Ne.. Need I say more? It just gets to be part of the springtime ritual. But, the one year I was in Ms., I was in Biloxi when Camille went through.

[pick187]

Why don't they name tornados like they do hurricanes?

[dragon57]

Wompus; I hear ya !! I live near Gainesville, we had a pretty tough weekend, but we're safe, and got all the debris cleaned up yesterday.
glad you're ok, too!