Friday, August 10, 2007

Tornado


This is what happened to my car (just kidding). Very weird here yesterday afternoon. I saw patients here at the office in the morning, and then actually had the afternoon off. This means that I went to the hospital and was in the medical records department doing some paperwork.

As the rain and wind got worse, at around 1:30pm, I said to myself, "At least I can finish more of my paperwork." I did hear some fire engines and police sirens outside. At the time, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I mean, it is a hospital. There are sirens blaring around here all the time.

Little did I know what was going on outside. Less than a mile from where I was sitting, there as a possible tornado taking place. You'll see pictures of what was happening here, here, here, and here. Sheesh!

Where the picture was taken above was less than half a mile from our office. Authorities had to evacuate the area around the supermarket above because of a propane tank that came loose.

So, what our office staff told me today (because I wasn't here), was that authorities came into the office around 2:30pm yesterday afternoon and evacuated this entire medical complex/plaza. (I was at home at this point underneath my desk.)

It calmed down a bit for a couple of hours, then another line of storms came through. The winds were not as strong later in the afternoon - but a lot more rain. This storm will definitely be the talk of the town today. I may have an update for your later.

Update: Here's a quote from the AP story on the storm -- "Wind also damaged a restaurant and blew out car windows in a supermarket parking lot in Salem, about 15 miles southwest of Youngstown."

11 comments:

rlbates said...

Dr A,
I hope that you fared better than the car. Living in Arkansas, we have lots of tornados. Fortunately, I have never been in one. It was wild to see that NYC got struck by one earlier this week. Best to you & your community.

Anonymous said...

Memories of my years in Toledo...

Marilyn said...

I grew up i Kansas and I just recently drove through Greensburg. Scary.

Anonymous said...

There had been some mini-tornadoes in my country too lately. During the storm, one old man woke up to find himself and his bed in the middle of a ricefield and the rest of his house destroyed.

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

wow! that is awful doc! glad you are okay...

smiles, bee

Anonymous said...

Yikes! That is a scary thought. I saw where Cathy had MOVED in a tornado.

Me...I'm gonna be hiding somewhere when I hear those sirens. Heh heh

Jeremy Lowe said...

Here in Florida I have been through more than one of those type storms. Only thing you can do is get in a safe place and wait it out.

Reminds me of the old commercial on television "It's not nice to fool mother nature!"

Anonymous said...

Oh my, I'm very glad you are OK. You are quite a ways NE from us. You had it worse in that part of the state than what we did. I don't think we actually had one touch down, but they were right over top of us. while driving in it, it sure seemed like we were about in the middle of one. The traffic on the interstate came to a dead stop. Then those darn emergency tornado sirens started blowing. I thought sure some 18 wheeler wouldn't see us and come slamming in to us. I never had seen it get so black dark before at 2 in the afternoon, and the winds, Did you ever see such winds before?

But, tonight it is supposed to get all the way into the 60s. I knew a storm would be brewing to break this terrible heat we have been having.

Cathy said...

That anon post above was mine, Doc.

It's me, T.J. said...

I'm glad you're okay.

Lot's of tornadoes here in Oklahoma.

Which reminds me.

Under the desk is not the very best place to be if there is a tornado coming. But of course, if that's all you have then certainly use it!

Here's a link with some safety tips, just in case...

Because I really have kind of gotten attached to you, and would hate to have something terrible happen.

http://www.tornadoproject.com/safety/safety.htm#top

later...

Vijay said...

I'm glad you're safe and there wasn't much human cost other than the one reported injury.
From the resident of the other Salem around the world.