Tornado heading toward loved ones...

[Steve Dedman]

This likely will never happen to me & my family here in Knoxville. We just don't get long-track violent tornadoes here.

That said, May 3 1999 was a serious kick in the gut for me. My wife & I returned home and turned on CNN, and saw what the monster had done to Moore, and saw all of the other warnings going up for central Oklahoma. I immediately called my parents in Bethany (NW OKC burb). They were in their celler without power, so all they had was their weather radio which was only providing warnings. It was around this time that the B-16 and B-17 tubes were doing damage between El Reno and Piedmont, about 10 miles from my parent's house. This is the storm that eventually produced the F-4 in Mulhall. Since they didn't have power, I stayed on the phone and relayed what the TV weather guys were saying (they had one of the affilliates live feed up, I think KOCO). So here I was 1000 miles away acting as their eyes and ears. Kind of surreal.

Meanwhile, my brother calls me from Ft. Worth. His mother-in-law lives just north of 4th St. off of Telephone Rd. in Moore, so the beast had just missed her house. But all of the phone lines were out south of OKC, so he couldn't get hold of anyone. So obviously, they were really worried about his MIL. So I switched lines back to my parents, and they said that before they lost power, they could tell from the spotter/chaser reports (most likely Val Castor and Jeff Piotrowsky) and from radar images that the big one had missed her house.

It was a really weird thing, being the communications hub for my family 1000 miles away and being the only one with a way of seeing most of the big picture.

There have been a couple of times since joining ST that I have picked up something from a nowcast and gone to the radar to see something headed towards Bethany. I will always call my folks and ask if they are aware of what's going on. They always are, but I'd feel awful if I didn't ask and someting caught them off guard.

 

[Clarence Bennett]

I have firsthand experience with this as it happened to me April 7, 2006. I was chasing a supercell heading for the north side of Davidson Co. TN, when it became very apparent that it was heading right for the town of Goodlettsville where my parents reside and where my son was staying this afternoon as my mom had picked him up early from daycare, the daycare which was at the church that took a hit in town. For anyone that has chased in TN, you know what the terrain is like and the cell phone coverage. I had lost my signal and by the time I got it back, the thing was bearing down on them. They were playing outside and as soon as my mom answered the phone and about as quick as I could tell her to take cover, it came over the hill, she said "oh my god" and the phone went dead. They had just a split second to get underground and by the time they emerged, I had gotten there to witness the destruction...That is how my experience went...

 

[Adam Lucio]

I try to keep those close to me as informed as possible. Its harder to do when Im out in the field sometimes.

The best example I had from when I wasn't around for a potential disaster is Sept 22nd 2006 [the day a brief and weak tornado touched down IN Chicago.] Ironically enough before I could call those closest to me my phone started blowing up with calls and texts from friends and family asking what was going on. At least they are somewhat paying attention to the weather, although more of it was probably driven by them being confused as to why the sirens were going off.

Like everyone else on here, keeping family and friends informed is a huge priority and I make every effort possible to do so.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I was in that situation on May 4th, 2003 when Franklin, KS took a direct hit by an F4 tornado. My sister-in-law's family was living in Franklin and a good friend of mine has a brother and her dad that lived there as well.

After the tornado passed I had to make the call to my brother and his wife and to my good friend telling them that Franklin had taken a direct hit and that much of Franklin was gone. My sister-in-law's parents and my friend's brother and dad both took a direct hit and were in the home at the time, they survived but had lost everything.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

I guess all that's left is to lose my home to a tornado I wasn't there for, which is my biggest chasing fear.

This easily could have happened to me four years ago today, if the tornado had tracked about 1/4 south of where it did as it passed through my neighborhood. If I had been somewhere else and heard what was going on, I would have been freaking out.

 

[Chuck Hurley]

I had this situation recently happen for the Central IL storms that hit Loami, IL and Williamsville, IL. The Loami storm was the one that was the biggest threat due to Loami being about 10 miles to the SW from my house. I work from home so that made it a bit scarier. I was on the phone with a customer when the sirens went off. The wife and daughter were over at a friends about 4 blocks away. I had advised them to get in the basement and hide. At that time my daughter gets on the phone says for me to go over there. But there was no way I was going out in the storm. I saw the rotation hit Loami and heading directly torwards me then that's when we lost power. I was quickly on the phone with a friend who was giving me updates. The tornado ended up lifting about 2 miles from the house.

It's one thing to know a storm is coming at you. It's another not knowing exactly where it is and which direction. BTW that's the 3rd Tornado to hit Loami, IL in the last 4 years.

 

[Chris Sokol]

On May 8th, 2003, my house sustained minor damage from the tornado as it passed through the SE 89th and Bryand intersection (the neighborhood across the street was devistated...my damage was from falling/thrown debris), but no worries as I was chasing in one vehicle, while my wife had our daughter in the other. SHE was the one that saw it touch down initially...grrrrr......