Alabama and Georgia

Dav4

Drop Branch Murphy
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I'm relatively new to the South, but I could live here another 50 years and never get used to the severe weather we experience every spring. After a sleepless night, I found that atleast 128 people in Alabama and 11 in Georgia were killed by the storms ripping across the country. We were lucky here just north of Atlanta...tornadoes north and south of us, but just some t-storms for us overnite to ruin our sleep. For those of you along the east coast, good luck and keep your head down. Hoping you are all ok.

Dave
 

rockm

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Here in N. Va. I've had at least hree tornadoes near here, a couple just south, some west and another just over the Potomac at Andrews AFB. Damage has been light(knock wood).

I moved all my trees under my deck to avoid hail. We had hail only days before the current swarms of tornados that had me worried. It was only pea sized, but with the current crop of potential monsters out there, I figure a day or two under shelter can't hurt...
 

GerhardG

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That's way more deaths than I saw in the news (44) this monring......good luck to those affected.

We had a record rainfall year which is a blessing in this desert country, but if I look at all the damage we've had, just can't imagine what those storms might be like....
 

cquinn

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I'm in Northwestern Georgia and we got smacked. The death toll is a lot higher than 11. They are still pulling bodies out of a gas station that looks like a peeled open can with cadaver dogs. A whole exit from I-75 was wiped out. Ringgold middle and high school are completely gone. A whole neighborhood behind mine is nothing but slabs on the ground. My family was fortunate in that we only have a tree on our house and on my outbuilding where I had my bonsai stored. Luckily the damage didn't go past the roof so the trees are fine. I've got shimpaku that's an import and is approximately 70 yrs old. Now it's lived through 6 decades in Japan, 1 decade in the US, a ride across the pacific, and Georgia Tornados. Wish they could talk.
 

rockm

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Hang in there Cquinn. This round is almost over...

Death toll in Va. is eight as of this morning. We got off light. Total nationwide is upwards of 200 last count I saw
 

garywood

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Mark, it will be much higher. Still digging out here and Alabama is over 160.
Wood
 

Dwight

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You guys make me love the desert even more. All we have to put up with now are dust storms.
 

Bill S

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Stay safe guys.

Question for those in the usuall haunts for twisters, do you have a shelter other than the toilet in the middle of the house, or do you have a basement/storm cellar, as is the norm when you see movies about these things??

They petered out for our area to a decent T storm, but they had watches or warnings just west of our state as it crossed Penn/NY, I can do with out those.
 

Dav4

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Cquinn, glad you and your family are ok. Folks in the know are pretty certain that one or more of the tornadoes that swept through Alabama and Georgia were f5 mothers, with winds up to/over 200mph. Scary stuff, man. Those huge ones aren't supposed to be this far east and up in the Appalachian foothills. Time to make the utility room in the basement a little more comfy, I guess.
 

Smoke

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What's a tornado?????
 

cquinn

Shohin
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Cquinn, glad you and your family are ok. Folks in the know are pretty certain that one or more of the tornadoes that swept through Alabama and Georgia were f5 mothers, with winds up to/over 200mph. Scary stuff, man. Those huge ones aren't supposed to be this far east and up in the Appalachian foothills. Time to make the utility room in the basement a little more comfy, I guess.


Yeah, we were lucky. I actually got a visual on the one that devastated Ringgold, and it was huge. The only movie to get it right was twister. A little less funnel and little more silo looking. My wife had pulled into how driveway just before, and she said the sky was green with all the tree debris. She ran into our basement with my three year old daughter. They went into the interior wash room with is surrounded by block walls. While they were waiting the power suddenly went off, and my daughter screamed until my wife started singing her itsy bitsy spider. I arrived just 10 minutes later, and everthing was calm exept for the trees lying on every house. I called for them, and my little girl came running and wouldn't let me put her down while we packed up to go to my parents further south. It's on that drive down the interstate when we looked back and saw the one that hit Ringgold. The winds on that one were clocked at just 200 mph. Also the one that hit behind my neighborhood actually jumped Lookout Mountain. The neighborhood that is against the mountain was the one to be wiped out. Tornados aren't supposed to be able to skip ridges, but I guess this one didn't read the rule book. It basically carved another canyon.
 
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FrankP999

Shohin
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Weather service folks say this one was a mile wide with winds 200mph+. frightening- a MILE WIDE !
 

rockm

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We only had a couple smaller ones near me. Nothing this terrifying.

THe green sky is a signature of a really bad one. I experienced one of those waaay back in 1968 or so in Orange, Texas at my grandmother's house. The sky turned blue black, then an eerie green (I assumed from all the rain in the clouds). The tornado that followed took the rooves of eight houses across the street...that was small, can't imagine what an F5 monster like that looks like.

Thank God you and yours are alright.

"Also the one that hit behind my neighborhood actually jumped Lookout Mountain. The neighborhood that is against the mountain was the one to be wiped out. Tornados aren't supposed to be able to skip ridges, but I guess this one didn't read the rule book. It basically carved another canyon."

Scary. There was a big one out in Shenandoah County Va. on Thursday that hit near a ski resort...When I lived out there, we were told tornadoes couldn't happen in the mountains. Guess that ain't really true.
 
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rockm

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No. You don't...Wishing for something like that is silly. Ask the folks in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, or Tennessee that lost a loved ones and/or everything they owned if they long to have these things around...
 

cquinn

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Walked out this morning, took my trees out of the shed and stretched in the sun, then went to work. I still have a tree on my house, but that's not bothering me the least bit. Crushed roofs are easy, its a lot harder to get over DEAD. I'm thankful my little baby is safe.
 

Si Nguyen

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Walked out this morning, took my trees out of the shed and stretched in the sun, then went to work. I still have a tree on my house, but that's not bothering me the least bit. Crushed roofs are easy, its a lot harder to get over DEAD. I'm thankful my little baby is safe.

That's the spirit! If I were closer, I'd drive over to help you clean up. Just got through seeing all the pictures of damages from this storm system. Unbelievable! Hang in there people!
Si
 
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