d_ford
Member
Last thursday I was on duty at the fire dept. where I work and a tornado warning was issued. We get lots of warnings but here in hilly s.e. Ohio real tornadoes are rare so we didn't think much about it. Around 7 pm my wife called and said it was coming toward our house, I told her to get to a safe place and she said it was too late, it was there...then we were cut off. Within minutes my grandson called and said it was hitting their house and they didn't know what to do. I told him to put my daughter on the phone and she was hysterical, she said she was in the bathroom laying on top of the kids and she thought the house was collapsing and the windows had blown out.
I left work to get them. By the time I got to the little town of The Plains where they lived the tornado had passed but I couldn't get to their house with all the trees and power lines down and debris everywhere. I had to walk in part of the way.
Thankfully they weren't hurt so I loaded my daughter and grandchildren into my truck and started to try to get to my house. My wife was able to get through to my daughters cell phone for just a minute, enough to let us know they were ok. It took me a couple of hours to get the few miles home from my daughters house because all the roads were blocked. Thankfully the tornado jumped my house, my neighbors weren't so lucky.
There really isn't any way to describe it. Here is a link to some photos. One of my co-workers at the fire dept. is also a photographer and he took these the next morning after he got off work. Click the slideshow. Amazing. http://seandeanphotography.zenfolio.com/twister917
Here's a link to a short video of the tornado taken from my next door neighbors driveway. http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-32103-video-of-tornado-that-was-spotted-south-of-nelsonville.html
Some of the same photos set to music on youtube. The guy in the first few photos is a lifelong friend of mine, his elderly mother was in the trailer with the missing wheels. She's in the hospital but is expected to survive. Athens County September 16, 2010 Tornado Slideshow
I left work to get them. By the time I got to the little town of The Plains where they lived the tornado had passed but I couldn't get to their house with all the trees and power lines down and debris everywhere. I had to walk in part of the way.
Thankfully they weren't hurt so I loaded my daughter and grandchildren into my truck and started to try to get to my house. My wife was able to get through to my daughters cell phone for just a minute, enough to let us know they were ok. It took me a couple of hours to get the few miles home from my daughters house because all the roads were blocked. Thankfully the tornado jumped my house, my neighbors weren't so lucky.
There really isn't any way to describe it. Here is a link to some photos. One of my co-workers at the fire dept. is also a photographer and he took these the next morning after he got off work. Click the slideshow. Amazing. http://seandeanphotography.zenfolio.com/twister917
Here's a link to a short video of the tornado taken from my next door neighbors driveway. http://www.athensnews.com/ohio/article-32103-video-of-tornado-that-was-spotted-south-of-nelsonville.html
Some of the same photos set to music on youtube. The guy in the first few photos is a lifelong friend of mine, his elderly mother was in the trailer with the missing wheels. She's in the hospital but is expected to survive. Athens County September 16, 2010 Tornado Slideshow
