Yesterday evening, the black clouds rolled in. You can tell you are in trouble when the sky is devided into two, with black on top, and light down below. I turned on the local weather channel that has the professional tornado chasers in Norman on cams. They showed a huge funnel cloud circulating with no funnel coming down to touch the ground. They estimated the path the storm would take during the night and it went right over our house in El Reno.
I spent the night watching the tornado reports and when the tornado sirens went off here it really shook me up. After 10 minutes, the sirens went off again, with a different kind of siren announcing the all clear. If I had been conversant in siren language, that is. To me it sounded like just another tornado siren--scary!
Outside there was nothing happening. The sky was a dark menancing gray color, and there was no wind. I felt the pressure change in the air. I watched. I listened. I opened the cellar door.
At eleven I went to bed upstairs. Sleeping was out of the question and then I heard the storm hit. It felt like a hurricane. The winds were 70 mph, and it was raining sideways. Again, the tornado sirens sounded, and this time they lasted for a full 30 minutes. I wrapped up in a blanket and sat on the couch, ready to react if glass started breaking. Nothing broke, no trees came down, but the lightning was striking so fast that it was just constant. The TV announcer said the lightning was striking at 100 hits a minute, and I now believe them.
At 1 a.m., the storm left. The announcer said that people in Piedmont needed to be in their storm cellars, and I knew that it had gone over us. Several semi trucks on the highway were blown over, a business on the edge of town that makes tarps had been destroyed (darn, just when we might need more tarps), and a few trees were downed. They showed the funnel cloud. It was about 1 mile from my house.
We survived it and lived to tell the tale. The plastic lawn chair outside wasn't even turned over, but the huge big garbage bin in the backyard was overturned.
It was exciting. Too exciting. But Toto and I are fine.
Have a great day.
