It’s been muggy, hot, with afternoon thunderstorms and lightening. Last Thursday, my little school by the sea was caught in a mini-tornado that lasted all of a minute, was only an F-0 and was contained in a small 5-block area. It was gone as soon as it appeared.
school gymnasium to the right of white house
Tornadoes aren’t the norm for our area. (Hurricanes? Yep.) F-0. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? Tell that to the house next to our school gymnasium. They lost their top floor. Other homes lost roof shingles and windows.
back of home, roof ripped away, no top floor
school gymnasium, back entrance – – boarded windows on side
The school gymnasium lost part of the back roof and had many windows blown out. The light pole (bottom of above photo) was ripped right out of its base – – onto parked cars.
boarded up windows, broken fencing
parked cars, recipients of gym building debris
a light pole in another life time
Across the street, an old beach cottage lost windows and part of its slate roof. Next door, a surf shop’s windows blew out.
Beach goers use the gym parking lot during the summer. The two lot attendants’ hut was hurdled across the lot and thrown down into the street. They were hurt, but are mending. Many of the vehicles lost windows.
Many thoughts: Grateful our parking lot friends are going to be okay. Thankful that school is out for the summer. Humbled.
It’s been six days since. These photos were taken with my iPhone and do not convey the damage adequately. The images show the “cleaned up” after version. We are used to wind and rain, edge of hurricane storms. NOT tornadoes. Crazy weather.
w.o.w. – – Joanne
Oh, Joanne, I am so glad it wasn’t worse than it was. It is terrifying to think that everything could be gone in a minute. I’m in tornado country, not you! I get what you mean by a humbling experience.
Ginene, I can’t imagine living in tornado country! Especially, after the past few years. Hopefully, most have cellars or shelters to go to. Yes, it’s definitely humbling.
Joanne, I tell my friends to come to my place when there is a warning because I live in a bank building with 3 foot wide walls and a walk-in safe so I don’t worry about myself. My sister lives 2-1/2 hours west of here. Two weeks ago, one of her friends lost every window in the house and the farmhouse front and back porches were gone!
So sorry to hear that – pretty shocking how it impacts on so many lives in such a short space of time.
Yes, Ruth. This girl was definitely shocked. Ginene (above) lives in the tornado alley of our country. I believe most of these people have under ground storm shelters, specially built homes or basements. Something that we don’t have living so close to sea level.
This has got me to thinking (dangerous ) 😉 The part of country I live in is known for north easterner storms, hurricanes, drought. What are the ” bad” weather types for your part of the world?
Here in Scotland our primary weather event is rain and lots of it – however we are fortunate not to get extremes of weather. Sometimes there is a storm or two but not on the scale you’ve experienced. Hope that everything gets back to normal soon!