Do you remember the April 27th 2011 tornadoes outbreak?

[Swing]

I remember that day. For a week we had been listening to warnings of the upcoming tornadoes and it was going to be bad. It was the first time I'd heard of a TORCON number. And this was a 7. Sounded bad to me. Something just made my bones believe the drastic nature that this storm would be.

I went to work that day with all my important papers, and my netbook (all charged up), cell phone charging to 100%, cords to charge them. Also, had a small sewing machine out in the car. My few meds were in the office with me. Extra clothes in car. What would I need if the home blew away - bare minimum was with me.

I was laughed at. They already thought I was a bit strange as I kept flashlight and screwdriver in my desk drawer, and phone and netbook (pre laptop for me) around. The netbook was more of a "toy" than a necessity.

Then the severe storm warnings started to happen around mid morning. By 11 am, the power was out and the emergency lights did not come on. In a building with only windows by the front door - it gets very dark. And everyone was on edge.

Strange thing, people were coming to borrow my little flashlights so they could go to the bathroom. Or so they could see to make a phone call. My netbook started pulling up the local weather radar and coverage, and people started coming by to see what was happening.

We were there until 1 pm. Then they found that the power would not be coming on the rest of the day.

 

[Swing]

After leaving work in the rain. I came home and at 2pm, I had the weather alert on my phone let me know something was coming directly to my address. I live in a mobile home and leave when bad weather comes at it. This day I went north by 7 miles to folks place. They have a small tornado shelter. My car was still packed with stuff.

I was with parents watching tv until they lost power then we started listening to a battery operated local radio station.

About 4 pm there was a line come about 10 miles south of Mom and Dad's (near where my Aunt and Uncle lived), then about 5 there were more in that area and above a below some. There was tornadoes on the ground reported during those times. Between first batch and 2nd it was a pretty day. But the second set was the really deadly group.

By 9 pm the weather had passed and it was a gently summer evening. I went home to the mobile home and DARK. The roads between my folks and my place only had a lot of leaves but no limbs on it.

That was the day of.....

 

[Swing]

I remember the day after the tornadoes. I went over to where a deceased uncle had home my cousins were about to auction off, and next door was my aunt and uncle's mobile home. Next to that was a brick house, which is where they went for the storms.

I went to that area and drove past the house that was to have been auctioned as I could not recognize that area. I had to turn around and go back some and find a place to park. I went out and there were people looking for people, etc. I had to go into a pasture and around a tree to get to my aunt and uncle's mobile home place. It was leveled, and the brick home was leveled too. Fortunately a neighbor was there to tell me that Uncle had been killed by the 2nd round of tornados, and Aunt was in hospital as a piece of metal roof had cut deeply into her upper right thigh. She was at the hospital.

I drove to my daughter's home and they were okay, but I had to tell her her favorite uncle was dead and aunt in hospital badly injured.

We didn't have power and it would take 6 days for the county to get power again. TVA feed lines were damaged by the tornadoes.

I then went and told Mom and Dad who was fine and who was not fine. Phone were not working, cell phones were not working but text messages and emails would get through as the cell towers would get a bit of signal and power.

More later tonight or tomorrow. I learned a lot and found out I react well in emergencies and had more at home that worked well, than I would have thought.
More later

 

[Bacpacker]

That is one day I'll never forget. Sorry to hear about your uncle. There was a lot of folks that died that day.
We had been paying close attention to the weather for a day or so before of what could be coming. At the time I was running a Em-Comm group for our county and had called up the entire group to get their gear charged and ready to go in case we were activated. I went to work and headed home around 3, got home and did last minute charging to top off phones and handheld radios. Kept the weather radar pulled up on the laptop and the weather was running non stop on TV. I made calls to certain folks I knew wasn't watching as close as they needed to. About 7:30 our power went out and started getting really heavy rain and strong winds. It passed pretty quickly, but then around 8:30 round 2 came thru. This one was bad, we had gone to the basement with some supplies and rode it out. We were on the radio and sending reports to the weather service. You could track the calls on a map and see the path of the storm moving thru. It passed us in about 15 minutes and I raised the garage door and went out side to look around. Soon as the door came up the hail stones that piled against the door started falling inside. The average size of the hail was about the size of a silver dollar. We had 2 vehicles totaled, the siding on the house had holes punched thru on 3 of 4 sides, gutters torn off, holes in the roofing, window screens looked like cats had been climbing them. I have a lot of pine trees planted around the perimeter and the hail had stripped all the new growth and it was all over the yard in a fairly deep pile. Garden had just been planted and was trashed. Fruit trees were stripped. I also screwed the roof and siding up on the camper.
I found out later that week that every house but 4 in our area had sustained some damage, most had serious damage. Also learned a tornado passed less than 1 mile from the house. We had round 3 pass us about 1030 that night. IIRC correctly there was 20-30 some folks in Tennessee that died that night.
Angie, no problem if you don't want to answer, but I am curious what state you are in. I'm guessing either Mississippi, Alabama, or Tennessee from the storm results you suffered. I'll be following this thread to see who else was impacted that day.

 

[Meerkat]

Wise choice you made in preps and hope lots of others learned to do the same.

 

[joel]

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Amish Heart]

That's very sad about your uncle.
Some workplaces now require emergency supplies. Homeland has put out lists that childcare facilities must have. We have all that at our school and more. Also a disaster preparedness plan that is checked annually by our local FD and Children Youth and Family. I also have a ham radio base station in my office, as well as flashlights, 110 gallons of stored water, and 3 weeks of food for our students and staff. Maybe your coworkers will now keep at least a flashlight and a bottle of water handy because of you