So we had a F-Zero tornado strike around the Dayton Mall tonight, only about a couple of blocks away from our house. Let's set the scene, shall we:
It's around 7:30 p.m. It was raining like cats and dogs, and it sounded like some hail might have fallen, but it had really started to calm down rain-wise. I'm in my office, Chris is in the family room with the dog watching TV. She hears what sounds like the civil defense siren (this siren is some distance from our house, and it's hard to hear it on a good day). I hear it as well, but I couldn't figure out why it was blaring: the weather had calmed down considerably and there was nothing on the TV warning us of a tornado (no watches or warnings had been issued). We both meet in the living room and confirm what we heard. We then step outside the front door for a look (yes, I know, exactly what they tell you NOT to do. . . so save the lectures, Nancy). For a couple of minutes, we see nothing. Then, I began to notice the clouds around us were swirling a little too much for my comfort. However, the clincher was that we then saw what appeared to be a debris cloud a couple of blocks southeast of the house. At that point, the TV started blaring "Tornado Warning! Tornado Warning!" No s**t, Sherlock!
The emergency house protocol # 3 went into effect: gather the pets and get the hell into the hall bathroom (no windows). Of course, by this point, the tornado had: (1) already ripped off part of the roof at the Wal-Mart complex a couple of miles away, (2) ripped off the roof of the Carpet Warehouse, which was behind the Dayton Mall, (3) destroyed the sign for Joker's Comedy Club, also close to the Dayton Mall, (4) twisted pieces of awning around trees, (5) smashed car windows at Target (to the immediate east of the Dayton Mall) and (6) knocked down some tree limbs in our general neighborhood. So, essentially, the warning issued was a wee bit too late to do any good.
In the end, nobody died, and the most serious damage was described above. Around our neighborhood, some tree limbs were down, but it didn't look like anybody suffered major damage to their homes. It was confirmed that a F-zero tornado did touch down briefly behind the Dayton Mall, but most of the damage apparently happened while it was a funnel cloud roughly 30-50 feet off the ground. I've attached a picture to the post; it was taken behind the Dayton Mall facing south by somebody's camera phone. When you look at the picture, it looks kinda scary.
Apparently, these storms blew up out of nowhere. Traditionally in our area, storms barrel in from Indiana (usually fueled by warm air) and you get to see them coming. Today, though, the storms popped up out of nowhere; it was cloudy and rainy all day. I was out walking at 7:00 p.m., and though it was cloudy, it hardly looked like a tornado was brewing. By 7:30 p.m., ol' twisty was a-blowin'. The storm literally blew up out of nowhere right on top of us and had the nerve to drop a freakin' tornado on us.
So, tonight wasn't so much scary as it was surreal. I imagine if we had been out shopping at Target or the Dayton Mall, it would have been much scarier (apparently, Target went into "Lock-Down" mode, which means they probably gathered up everybody and forced them to shop only in "The 1 Spot" or something). Instead, we were at home, scratching our heads as to what the hell just happened until we read more of the reports. Then we were like "Cool!!"
I guess this will be something for the baby scrapbook or something one day: Spawn's First Tornado. I'll recreate it by hijacking pictures of the cow scene from "Twister" and putting Spawn's head over that of the cow . . . just to freak him or her out.
