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Taking Cover… Or not.
9 years ago
Well, that was an exciting weekend. Not in the "had a great time, can't wait to do that again" kind of exciting, but more in the "never want to repeat" kind of exciting. I live in Sarasota, you see- and folks around here are just no that used to seeing -tornadoes- headed their way, not THIS far South. anyways, imagine my delight; sleeping in my Tornado Magnet brand TRAILER, having the EMS alert go off on my phone at 4 AM Sunday morning. While the "house" wasn't shaking violently, my dog was FREAKING OUT, barking and circling the room, and I told my mom to get dressed, because we were going to get the fuck out of here, RIGHT NOW. Because when the warning says find "a significant building in which to take shelter", a 60 year old (!) trailer AIN'T FUCKING IT.
Unfortunately, looking to the driveway, I noticed what was going on out front just then. Strangely, though my house wasn't shaking violently, the power lines out front most certainly WERE. About every 3 seconds, the wires made contact with one another, sending showers of white hot melted aluminum raining down, and making loud, terrifying noises that scared the shit out of all the animals, especially my terror stricken macaw, who was huddled at the far end of the porch, as far away from the melee as possible. I brought him into the house, and set him on my bed, while I prepared once again to flee to the only solid structure I had access to at this hour: the Wal-Mart. I stepped down into my bedroom to unplug my computer, and was greeted by a soft "pop" as the voltage in my house suddenly went from 120 Volts to somewhere around 14,400 volts- the primary on the line transformer had flashed over.
The power lines out front MELTED, the front yard was ablaze with molten aluminum and broken cable. The lights that didn't get vaporized by the surge because they were on the other half of the branch circuit began to flicker on and off like a horror film. Looking out into the darkness, I could hear the distinct whistle, and roar of a good sized tornado tearing through Siesta Key. The sky was lit with a trail of green-blue flashes as pole transformers gave one last gasp before being ripped from there poles and dashed onto whatever lay below them. I pushed the remote to unlock my truck. It was time to go. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans that moment, because in the light cast by my trucks side and rear lights I could just make it out through the rain…
The (LIVE!) power lines were laying all over my new truck, hissing threateningly.
Well, fuck.
In the end, everything turned out fine- Me and my mum didn't die, the house didn't blow away, and the layers of surge protectors I installed protected my computers and stereo, but I'm afraid they are now toast (its their job). Two other people weren't so lucky- the tornado that passed to the South of me by 2 miles or so went on to kill them and tried to kill the rest of their family- inside their trailer.
Not looking forward to Friday.
Unfortunately, looking to the driveway, I noticed what was going on out front just then. Strangely, though my house wasn't shaking violently, the power lines out front most certainly WERE. About every 3 seconds, the wires made contact with one another, sending showers of white hot melted aluminum raining down, and making loud, terrifying noises that scared the shit out of all the animals, especially my terror stricken macaw, who was huddled at the far end of the porch, as far away from the melee as possible. I brought him into the house, and set him on my bed, while I prepared once again to flee to the only solid structure I had access to at this hour: the Wal-Mart. I stepped down into my bedroom to unplug my computer, and was greeted by a soft "pop" as the voltage in my house suddenly went from 120 Volts to somewhere around 14,400 volts- the primary on the line transformer had flashed over.
The power lines out front MELTED, the front yard was ablaze with molten aluminum and broken cable. The lights that didn't get vaporized by the surge because they were on the other half of the branch circuit began to flicker on and off like a horror film. Looking out into the darkness, I could hear the distinct whistle, and roar of a good sized tornado tearing through Siesta Key. The sky was lit with a trail of green-blue flashes as pole transformers gave one last gasp before being ripped from there poles and dashed onto whatever lay below them. I pushed the remote to unlock my truck. It was time to go. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans that moment, because in the light cast by my trucks side and rear lights I could just make it out through the rain…
The (LIVE!) power lines were laying all over my new truck, hissing threateningly.
Well, fuck.
In the end, everything turned out fine- Me and my mum didn't die, the house didn't blow away, and the layers of surge protectors I installed protected my computers and stereo, but I'm afraid they are now toast (its their job). Two other people weren't so lucky- the tornado that passed to the South of me by 2 miles or so went on to kill them and tried to kill the rest of their family- inside their trailer.
Not looking forward to Friday.
Boy, am I glad to live in the West Coast.
I'm glad to hear you're alright
I had the (good?) fortune of being in the right place at the wrong time back in '99 when I was travelling across the US. I was staying in a motel in Moore, Oklahoma and in the morning after a really, really bad storm I set off on the I35 south again. I had the pleasure of driving through what was left of the neighborhood about a mile further down the road.
http://www.meteoweb.eu/wp-content/u.....-1999-_-02.jpg
Yeah... Tornadoes are definitely, er, exciting.
Hope your Friday isn't to bad. Good luck Ober.