It was a gorgeous early summer day--When I drove home from an out of town meeting at 2pm, I could see those tall fluffy clouds hanging over the mountains. Usually they stay there, and if there is a storm, its in the mountains, never moves into the valley where we are.
Within an hour it was getting mighty cloudy and dark. I figured I would pull up the local weather radar--holy crap--the map was yellow and bright red just to the south of us, with severe thunderstorm warnings posted for 70mph damaging winds. I shut the computer down, turned on the local news, grabbed the step ladder and pulled the hanging flower baskets, and the flag down. 5 minutes later, back in the house, now the emergency broadcast is sounding with TORNADO warnings for my city directly in the path!! Folks, we DON'T have TORNADO'S here!!
I didn't even know what to do, so trying not to panic--I listened to what they said to do, and got under our big Victorian king bed. I see these two ears perk up--well the cat was already there--she knew where to be. With cell phone in hand, I was calling all the family in town.
The cat and I spent 15 scary minutes under that bed with the loudest wind I had ever heard in my 56 years. When I heard the wind quiet a bit I ventured out to a torrential downpour for at least 15 minutes.
It is estimated that we have about 2 inches of rain--that is about what we get all summer. The power was out for about an hour, and the bigger cities to the east and north of us Salem and Portland suffered power and flooding issues too.
I know this seems like OMG, we have that all the time in our part of the country, but try to compare it with snow in Hawaii--this stuff doesn't happen here!
I uploaded this pic from the local newspaper as I was just too scared to even pick my camera...
13 comments:
Yes, it is rare to have a tornado in Oregon ... We were from WA ST & I only remember one from the early '70s that ripped up the entire state & into Oregon. Scares the tar out of one to be in that situation.
Glad you are safe ... I chuckle visioning those 'ears'. TTFN ~ Marydon
Glad you are okay Debbi. Wow, I did not know that some parts of our country did not have storms like that. I'm sure it was very scary when you are not used to it. Hopefully you will have a nice relaxing weekend!
Mary Ann
Deb, while I was in Greensboro, we had 4.75" of rain. The whole downtown was flooded. Unusual weather for them too. Glad everything is o.k. It is scary!
We rarely get Tornado Warning's here but last month we did. Just like you I was scared to death!! I put my "boyz" in their carriers & watched the weather. If there had been anything that looked remotely like a funnel cloud "We" would have been in the cellar!!
This ain't funny.... It IS like having a Blizzard in Oahu!!!!
Thank goodness you are safe...
Love,
Marilyn
xxoo
Im in the process of getting my house for sale and moving up to Oregon. Reading stuff like this makes me wonder if Im doing the right thing lol. But truthfully you can find any weather anywhere, just maybe not all the time. My bf is from there and Ive been up there a few times so Im preparing myself for lots of weather....that I dont have where I am now. But darn this is scary!
This is most definitely not something that happens in Oregon. I was SHOCKED when I got the call from mom about the tornado. Usually we watch these types of storms from a distance, not from the middle of them. Thank goodness no tornados ripped through town. Oye! That was enough excitemt for me this year!
We had a weather thing going on here also. Thunder and lightening...strange. It is still overcast today. YOURS was beyond ours...that is for sure!
Sending you an email...
Hugs..
I understand, we get them but every 10 years or so, and then only one in the state so I've never been where it hit. I'm so glad you and yours are ok. And I think even if you did have them often you would still have been scared!
Hugs, Lisa
My sister works at PDX and called to tell me it was very windy there and expected to get worse. I live about 60 miles north so expected the weather to head this direction. We only had about 45 minutes of gusty weather, I recorded the tree in the front yard as the wind blew it. The air was so strange, that stormy feel during hot weather. I'm you and yours are alright and that you weathered the storm! Tornados are SCARY!
Yes, our weather has been a little unusual here too but not quite that scary. Of course June 1 was the start of hurricane season for us. We are near the water so the older I get, the more the threat of hurricanes and severe flooding scare me. I can't imagine losing everything you have worked your whole life for in some catastrophic weather event (or fire) and then having to start over. Scary stuff indeed and I'm glad it passed without incident for you.
Debbi, that looks so scary, just like a tornado could be just over on the right in your picture. When we lived in Abilene, TX we had tornado watches all the time and nowhere to go. We were told to move to the inner part of the house or get into a bathtub with a mattress over you......you must have be soooo scared. Glad it passed without all the damage that could have happened, Char
Debbi, I can really relate to this. We've had our "air raid sirens" go off twice this week with Tornadoes spotted in our town. We actually had one hit and damage a shopping center on Sunday.
Glad you're ok.
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