Tornadoes

My community has survived the recent tornadoes in Connecticut relatively unscathed, but around us--very close--people have been hard hit.  Five tornadoes touched down in NY and CT on Tuesday late afternoon.  I had heard that we were getting weather and so was keeping an eye on alerts.  I was at my homecare patient's house, waiting to watch "Ellen" with her, when the weather interrupted.  There were tornado warnings in the NW corner.  I left soon after, but the skies were relatively clear.

Not long after I got home, it was that Texas pitch-black sky to our northwest.  We turned on the local news and I watched warnings roll in.  Pretty soon they were tracking a tornado.  Later, the weather guy said, "If you can hear my voice, get somewhere safe now."

I looked outside.  The sky had gone from dark black to a pale green, with darker gray bits.  Green.  No hail, but green was enough for me. 

The kids were ready. We'd pulled out the camping lantern which gives great light and we had the big box of cat treats to tempt the kitties into the basement.  The kids got the cats downstairs but, as I was following, Eris rushed back up.  I searched for her twice but couldn't find her; with the sky turning greener and the wind making the trees into whirling dervishes, I abandoned the search.

Nothing happened here, but I was reminded of that storm ten years ago (pictures and story), when a very similar sky dropped a tree on our house and car just as we headed to the then-unfinished basement.  It was because of that storm that we finished the basement.  And I respect a storm.  If the tree had been angled differently or even a bit taller, it would have blown out the window at the basement stairs landing where I was just then passing with two kids in my arms.  That would have been awful.

So, we waited in the basement, watched the warnings.  I even straightened up some.  But we emerged about 30 minutes later, just fine.  The sky was lightening, even though the thunder and rain continued.  We were lucky.

Since then, I've seen pictures of the storm looming over Sleeping Giant State Park, where it destroyed a beloved grove of pines.  I've heard of the injuries and deaths.  We still have friends without power.  We know people with downed trees.  I talking about the storm, I have been amazed at how little these Nutmeggers know about tornadoes. 

So I told them:  green and/or hail is bad, get inside, get low; if you're in your car, stay away from trees, head somewhere you can get inside, and, if you have to, park and get in the floor well, covered in something.  But it's better to be in a basement or in an interior bathroom (the pipes anchor the space and protect it) or closet, with no windows, or somewhere under stairs.  In CT, we're still only seeing F1s, not the disastrous stronger storms that rip houses off their foundations.  It is mainly our gorgeous New England trees that pose a threat to us--and they're everywhere. 

I have a sinking feeling we're going to see more of these storms.  I hope we are all safe.