Friday OT - Au Natural
- Thread starter Angie
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Multiple things come to mind. Just a couple:
Blizzards while growing up. I remember hearing stories of people getting stranded in their vehicles. We had someone get stuck in the snow, come to our house and stay the night once. And I remember a few times my Dad used a snowmobile to get from our farm to his parent's or to get to town. 1978 is also one blizzard I remember.
August 2009 in Eldora. I don't think they called it a derecho, but it may have been. We were at my parent's house a few miles north of town and saw the storm coming in from the west. After it passed we got a panicked phone call from my aunt in Eldora - who never panics. The drive to Eldora was unbelievable. Fields of corn destroyed. Some shredded from hail, further out were bent over from winds. Hail piled up like snow drifts. Homes, vehicles, trees...absolutely shredded. Somewhere I have a picture of a hail stone that filled the palm of my hand. It was taken about an hour after the storm and had melted quite a bit.
Blizzards while growing up. I remember hearing stories of people getting stranded in their vehicles. We had someone get stuck in the snow, come to our house and stay the night once. And I remember a few times my Dad used a snowmobile to get from our farm to his parent's or to get to town. 1978 is also one blizzard I remember.
August 2009 in Eldora. I don't think they called it a derecho, but it may have been. We were at my parent's house a few miles north of town and saw the storm coming in from the west. After it passed we got a panicked phone call from my aunt in Eldora - who never panics. The drive to Eldora was unbelievable. Fields of corn destroyed. Some shredded from hail, further out were bent over from winds. Hail piled up like snow drifts. Homes, vehicles, trees...absolutely shredded. Somewhere I have a picture of a hail stone that filled the palm of my hand. It was taken about an hour after the storm and had melted quite a bit.
2020 Derecho in Ames. I was donating plasma and looked out the window to see straight line wind and rain. The staff went and unhooked everyone when the sirens started going off. They really didn't have any kind of tornado/wind plan in place. They just told people to go here and some go there. I pretty much got the whole tour of the facitilty where the finally wedged like 10 of us in a housekeeping supply closet.
Wife was at home with daycare kids. She woke up our son who was still sleeping and told him to get the basement right away. He blew it off until he heard the bangs of limbs hitting the roof. Then he was like George was to the kitchen fire on Seinfeld . Wife fortunately had the kids in the basement already.
Wife was at home with daycare kids. She woke up our son who was still sleeping and told him to get the basement right away. He blew it off until he heard the bangs of limbs hitting the roof. Then he was like George was to the kitchen fire on Seinfeld . Wife fortunately had the kids in the basement already.
Ice storm in the early 90s knocked out power in my town for 3 days. It was pretty bad for some. But our power came back after 3 hours. We also ended up having all of the premium cable channels unlocked. The cable company never fixed it so we got all of the channels for free for a few years until we moved. It was like winning the lottery for a poor kid.
Tornadoes last summer were pretty close to us in Johnston. Family was totally chill in the basement, but there was about a minute period were I was convinced it was gonna get real bad from the sound outside.
Not natural disaster, but my dad, stepmom, and younger brother were going to Prague to visit a foreign exchange student they'd had a few years prior. Their itinerary was to leave NYC on TWA 800 to Paris, then go from Paris to Prague. The day before they changed flights because they didn't want to deal with a layover in France and flew straight to Prague. If you don't recall, TWA 800 exploded over the Atlantic like 10 minutes after take off.
Tornadoes last summer were pretty close to us in Johnston. Family was totally chill in the basement, but there was about a minute period were I was convinced it was gonna get real bad from the sound outside.
Not natural disaster, but my dad, stepmom, and younger brother were going to Prague to visit a foreign exchange student they'd had a few years prior. Their itinerary was to leave NYC on TWA 800 to Paris, then go from Paris to Prague. The day before they changed flights because they didn't want to deal with a layover in France and flew straight to Prague. If you don't recall, TWA 800 exploded over the Atlantic like 10 minutes after take off.
Thankfully not much.
But I lived in Beaverdale back in the day. Right before the game with FSU we had a banger come through
Trees impaled into homes. Trees down everywhere.
One old Beaverdale tree looked like God ripped it from the ground, turned it, and dropped it perfectly on a fella's new SUV. The weirdest landing given the location of the tree vs the vehicle
The rain was coming through the windows. Only time I thought it was a good idea to head downstairs. Of course that flooded too.
But otherwise *knock on wood* not a lot.
But I lived in Beaverdale back in the day. Right before the game with FSU we had a banger come through
Trees impaled into homes. Trees down everywhere.
One old Beaverdale tree looked like God ripped it from the ground, turned it, and dropped it perfectly on a fella's new SUV. The weirdest landing given the location of the tree vs the vehicle
The rain was coming through the windows. Only time I thought it was a good idea to head downstairs. Of course that flooded too.
But otherwise *knock on wood* not a lot.
Only thing to directly impact me was the 2020 derecho. And even that, I rode it out safe at work, not stressful. Gf WAS stressed as she was home at the time when this happened.
That's two big limbs of a 70 yo maple on the little house. Much water ingress in multiple roof punctures, 3-season porch destroyed. 12 days without power. GF still gets antsy now with any severe weather.
0/10 would not recommend.
That's two big limbs of a 70 yo maple on the little house. Much water ingress in multiple roof punctures, 3-season porch destroyed. 12 days without power. GF still gets antsy now with any severe weather.
0/10 would not recommend.
As a boy I survived the Blizzard of '75 (aka Superbowl Blizzard) here in Minnesota. Snow drifted up to the eaves. The wind absolutely howled past my bedroom windows. Cars got stuck on the highway in front of our home and eventually became buried in drifting snow. Friends came to visit on a snowmobile pulling their kids on a sled, and despite my efforts to get their attention, they inadvertently passed atop a mostly buried car. One family that got stuck knocked on our door and ended up watching the Superbowl with us. Was kind of awkward!
en.wikipedia.org
Great Storm of 1975 - Wikipedia
As a boy I survived the Blizzard of '75 (aka Superbowl Blizzard) here in Minnesota. Snow drifted up to the eaves. One family that got stuck knocked on our door and ended up watching the Superbowl with us. Was kind of awkward!
Great Storm of 1975 - Wikipedia
I was in a restaurant once when a tornado came roaring through town. It seemed to lift momentarily when it hit the restaurant, sparing us complete devastation, but then dropped back down as it passed. A ceiling tile fell from the ceiling, and the awning out front collapsed, but that was about it for the damage to the restaurant. When I got outside, all the windows in my car had been blown out and the whole car had been sandblasted pretty good.
Another time when I was much younger and still living at home, we had a tornado warning and we were heading down to the basement. Our basement steps had two levels. Go down one flight to the landing and there's a door there leading out to the patio. The next flight turns left and takes you to the basement. When I was on the landing, I opened the door to look out and the tornado nearly sucked the door right out of my hands. I had to pull with all my might to close it and by the time I got it closed, the tornado had passed.
That tornado went on to severely damage the school clear on the other side of town, about a mile away, in our small little town.
August 28, 1990 - First day of high school for me! A full day, so we're headed home around 3p. We've dropped off the majority of the kids that were on our route when our bus breaks down. Protocol is that all the kids have to get off the bus in case of....fire? Explosion? There's about 10-15 of us standing on the side of a subdivision street, waiting for another bus to come by and finish the route.
I remember standing there with the group, joking whether or not the bus will get here before the thunderstorm that's threatening. A friend of a friend's mom drives by, taking her daughter to gymnastics practice. She asks the bus driver if she can take my friend and myself home. (Friend & I live just across the street from each other) Bus driver balks, she's not supposed to let anyone go, but relents as she knows the storm is coming.
We're not home 15 minutes when the tornado sirens go off. Friend, friend's mom, and her sister come over to our house since they didn't have a basement. We got some heavy rain & wind, a few medium branches out of our trees, but nothing much at our place.
This was the storm that spawned the Plainfield, Illinois, tornado. An (then) F5 tornado that killed 29 people. There's little if any video of it because it was rain-wrapped. I remember doing a fund raiser at our HS for Plainfield HS because there building was destroyed.
I remember standing there with the group, joking whether or not the bus will get here before the thunderstorm that's threatening. A friend of a friend's mom drives by, taking her daughter to gymnastics practice. She asks the bus driver if she can take my friend and myself home. (Friend & I live just across the street from each other) Bus driver balks, she's not supposed to let anyone go, but relents as she knows the storm is coming.
We're not home 15 minutes when the tornado sirens go off. Friend, friend's mom, and her sister come over to our house since they didn't have a basement. We got some heavy rain & wind, a few medium branches out of our trees, but nothing much at our place.
This was the storm that spawned the Plainfield, Illinois, tornado. An (then) F5 tornado that killed 29 people. There's little if any video of it because it was rain-wrapped. I remember doing a fund raiser at our HS for Plainfield HS because there building was destroyed.
Derecho. My then 16yo was 15 minutes away at golf practice and I was serial calling/texting him and his coach trying to get in touch with them as I watched it get closer on the radar. He pulled into the garage literally minutes before it started.
Just as it started I saw our local USPS guy stop at the mailboxes near our house to ride it out under some trees. 10 minutes in, I watched a tree canopy fall on to his mail truck and I spent the remainder of the storm watching trees fall down around our house, not knowing if he was hurt. Thankfully he was fine.
Strong winds still give me some PTSD though, especially since I have a few trees on the west side of the house within crashing distance.
Just as it started I saw our local USPS guy stop at the mailboxes near our house to ride it out under some trees. 10 minutes in, I watched a tree canopy fall on to his mail truck and I spent the remainder of the storm watching trees fall down around our house, not knowing if he was hurt. Thankfully he was fine.
Strong winds still give me some PTSD though, especially since I have a few trees on the west side of the house within crashing distance.
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I was driving east towards my hometown on Highway 20 when the 2008 Parkersburg tornado happened. I saw it but, like an idiot, kept right on driving.
I was working at Fort Calhoun Station (my first grown up job!) during the Missouri River flood in 2011. Got voluntold to work on the crew handling gasoline distribution to the evacuation pumps inside the berms, so I was pretty intimately familiar with what went down.
I was working at Fort Calhoun Station (my first grown up job!) during the Missouri River flood in 2011. Got voluntold to work on the crew handling gasoline distribution to the evacuation pumps inside the berms, so I was pretty intimately familiar with what went down.
I was stationed at Camp LeJeune, NC in 1996 when Hurricane Bertha hit in July. We went to Fort Sherman, Panama in August for jungle warfare training. We got back around September 1st and got hit by Hurricane Fran a few days later...the guys from Florida were a lot more impressed by the one day it snowed in Jan '97...
One of my earliest memories is from when I was probably 4 years old, we were living on a farm in eastern Iowa, and our barn caught on fire. No livestock in it, nobody was hurt, but it was a pretty big fire. So we were all gathered on the porch of the house when the fire engine got there. And when it did, to my astonishment, it wasn't red. It was that bright/lime green color. I couldn't believe it. Fire engines are supposed to be RED. And ours was green. I literally started bawling right there on the porch because when my mom told us the fire department was coming, I was super excited to see that red beauty pull in and start to do it's thing. And it wasn't red. It was green.
Still kind of bums me out.
Still kind of bums me out.
Can I ask which town the firetruck was from? A friend of mine just bought a very old one that fits this description...
WOW!
I've heard some awful stories about those. But thankfully it's been a couple decades since I've experienced an Applebee's myself.
