Has anyone seen a tornado off in the distance or coming at their home?

Question

I have been fasinated by storms ever since I was young and our house was damaged by a tornado while we were still inside. Please tell me your story.

Answer 1

yes i live out in the country and really bad storms come through a lot. What it's like when a twister comes through.... there's a really loud sound and it makes your whole house shake it sounds and feels like a freight train is going through your house. This is a really big reason why people don't go down in time because they think it's cool and by the time they realize what it is it's too late. Storms are really cool but scary and when your dad is a farmer and a twister goes through the crops it can be devisating my favorites are lighting and thunder storms because of the rumble.

Answer 2

I have seen it on the videos.

Answer 3

Fortunately no, I haven't and I live in a highly tornado prone area.  But I suppose it beats getting earthquakes. At least there is a way to know when tornadoes are coming.

Answer 4

no i never have but  iv seen pictures and its pretty intense!

Answer 5

cant say i have..

Answer 6

not really

Answer 7

Yea, one is around the block right now, I should probably stop answering this answer. Maybe i will live if u give me best.

Answer 8

My father repaired TVs at the local appliance store.  If they bought enough parts from the distributor, they got a free trip.  The owners always gave the trip to my dad (in lieu of decent pay raises) because they knew that he brought in the business.  Every time they went on one of these trips, they would leave an adult to care for us.  Every time that adult would get sick, hurt themselves, etc. and we would end up taking care of them.  So my parents won a trip to spain.  One of my brothers was in high school and could drive.  We begged them not to leave us someone to take care of.  They finally agreed.

My aunt (who burned her hand when taking care of us) called to check up on us.  I answered the phone.  I said, "can't talk now.  There is a tornado headed right for the house." and I hung up.

Now this was an F5 tornado.  We could only see it in the lightning flashes, but it was massive!  It was making a b-line straight for our house.  About 100 yards from the house, it came upon a creek, and change course.  It followed the creek bed and hit the neighbor's barn.  (We lived in the country, on top of a hill, so you could see quite a long ways).  Half of the neighbor's barn was gone; the other half, untouch (straw still sitting there).  Part of the roof was found about 20 miles away.  It was the most powerful thing I have ever seen in my life.

It not only took out the neighbor's barn, it took out the phone lines.  My aunt tries to call us back, but no answer.  She's frantic.  She thinks we are dead.  She thinks if she were there, she could have protected us.  4 hours later my uncle comes home to find her crying.  He suggests that they call the county sherriff's office.  They send out a deputy to check up on us, when one is free, which is like 3am.  By then we were sleeping.  Gee, thanks.  It's a school night.

Same torando had hit a bank.  The next afternoon, I followed a trail of matted down grass (tall prarie grass) and bits of fibreglass insulation, tracing the path of the tornado.  I found a $20 in our pasture.

My whole family has always been interested in meteorology.  My next older brother and I headed for the basement, but my brother in high school stayed at the kitchen windows watching the storm.  He said he would come down when it got close.  Frankly this event inspired him.  He went on to get his masters in meteorology.

Answer 9

I live in GA so yeah we get a couple here and there.  We live on a military post so to have a tornado arrive threw the gates and all was funny and awesome.  They blocked all the roads so people wouldn't be driving around and my husband had part of his work warehouse ripped off.

Answer 10

When I was 15, I lived in Texas with my parents in a double wide trailer house.  A tornado came through the back yard, tore up the shed, went to the neighbor's lot, took their roof off, and set it down on top of a farmer's tractor 2 miles away.  It was very cool, I watched it from the kitchen window in awe.  After checking the shed, apparently one of the chickens took cover inside the shed.  It had been sucked into an old fashioned glass milk jug!

Answer 11

Was driving thru Alligator Alley,(S. Fla) Ther ewas a tornadospinning in a field near the highway. It was a huge cloud of grey matter..so tall and wide! I knew it was only in the feild..no homes etc. I felt so small and helpless. I was amazed at the wind strengh..even as far away as we were!

Answer 12

4 years ago, in May 2004, we (my husband and I and our then 2 children) moved from NJ to Indiana.  7 days later, May 30, our house was hit by an F-1 tornado and sustained roof damage, and our yard was full of debris.  We had no idea of the local radio stations, tv channels since we do not have cable here, etc.  No weather radio. We were actually upstairs in my daughter's room at the time and could have been killed.  It was toward the end of a violent thunderstorm.  2 houses 2 miles southwest of us were totally gone, we were very lucky. We saw it afterward, leaving the area.  And yes, it did sound like a train, and we were like"Oh my, was that a tornado?".  And we are two college educated chemists!  Now we know all about tornadoes, have a weather radio, etc.  In NJ tornadoes and severe weather were almost never a problem, here it is a part of life.  Turns out that day there were 12 tornadoes in our county. (Tippecanoe County, Indiana).  Indiana is actually the #1 state for tornadoes per square mile believe it or not, but large tornadoes are more rare here thank goodness.

Answer 13

I've seen three tornadoes off in the distance at the same time while driving through the mid-west with my brother. We tried to stir clear of them but they seemed to follow us. Finally he gunned the engine and we were able to increase the distance between them and us. It was scary for awhile.

Answer 14

Edmonton Alberta. 28 (I think) died. Scary stuff. Was in it.

Answer 15

I have.

Answer 16

I have never had my house damaged by one, but when I was about 12 my dad and I sat on our front porch and watched a funnel cloud forming into a tornado.  That one never did touch down, but it was such fascinating to watch.

I lived in Colorado

Also one day, again when I was about 12-13, we were at a amusement park and were on the Ferris wheel.  At the top we could see a tornado in the distance.  Closer than I would have liked, but far enough away that we weren't in immediate danger.  They did make everyone get off all the rides and closed the park--3 tornado's touched down that day.