Last night, about 6Pm, Todd and I loaded up the 4 kiddos in the mini -v for a family outing. We were about 1 mile from our home and the tornado sirens started going off like crazy. I look back at Todd (I was driving) and say, hey babe, should we go back home? He says nah. We look at the sky and it is totally bright and sunny, just a little gray way off in the distance. No big deal. I said, "Yeah, they are probably just testing them out."
This should have been warning number 1.
With complete lack of judgement we proceed and get on 35 south headed out to 820. I glance out to the right and it is really black and ominous. I'm thinking this doesn't look good and turn on the radio to catch the weather report. They are telling people to take cover immediately at Texas Motor Speedway because of hail. Ok, that's about 10 or so miles away, we're fine and we go on.
This should have been warning #2.
2 Minutes later the sky is completely black, with low circulating clouds. The radio says a major storm is about to hit us. We exit on 820 to go back home and we are sitting in the access road in major traffic and are told a tornado is near 35 headed our way.
I start freaking out. Kids are crying. Todd is craning his neck looking for a tornado. Traffic is not moving. I told Todd let's just leave our car here and run across the street to a nearby hotel. He said that is stupid. I said dying is stupid.
Traffic finally starts moving and we turn on the street to go home. Weather man says if you are at Beach st & 820, take cover immediately - baseball sized hail. Guess where we were. yep. That exact location.
Almost immediately, our car was pounded with hail. I am screaming "Oh my God we're going to die!" I tell the kids to duck and cover. Todd is yelling at me to quit yelling. I think he was scared.
I pick up my tennis back pack and drive with it over my head because I thought the hail was going to crash through the windows and knock me out and the mini-v would go out of control. I thought this was quick thinking like Jack Bauer but apparently is wasn't. Todd told me later the windshield would not have broken apart. How was I to know that. It's not something I usually talk about.
Then a tornado was reported a few miles where we were. I said Todd pray. He says not right now. WHAT. We are facing death. What was he thinking.
Todd:" God, keep us safe. amen."
The kids crying in fear: " That's not good enough."
More yelling from me that we are all going to die.
Todd makes me pull over although my driving was pretty awesome considering I was driving with one hand, holding a back pack over my head and ducking down during a rain/hail storm. He starts driving. Now I can really freak out from the back seat.
My sweet daughter asks if a tornado is bad. Todd says it can blow your house away. If you are a parent, I would suggest that you never say this. The result is not good.
The hail stops. We make it home and it is sunny again. Crazy Texas weather.
A few lessons learned:
*Tornado sirens go off for a reason.
*Never scream "We are going to die" in front of your kids.
*Near death experiences are not all they are cracked up to be.
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5 comments:
That is so funny! My car suffered some pretty good spider web looking cracks in the windshield. There was already one crack all the way across the middle of my windshield and I was just telling my husband today that I have a fear of going 65 mph and it breaking and cutting my head off. He laughed at me and said that the window can't break. How is a person ever supposed to know this? It happens in the movies like that, haha!
You are right Joy - it does happen in the movies so how are we supposed to know differently?
Very funny! "Never scream 'We are going to die' in front of your kids"...good to know. BTW, I've been a storm chaser for over a decade and I can tell you that if you're stuck in your car in a hail storm like the one you experienced there are a couple of things you can do to minimize damage/injury. First, orient your car so that the hail isn't hitting your side or back windows. Your windshield is safety glass and will tend to spider but not fail in a hailstorm. Side and rear windows will fail. Now, big hail (baseball, softball, etc) doesn't tend to blow much in the wind but it still won't typically fall straight down so you should pull off the road and face your car into the wind. I have seen several instances when even the windshield fails in big hailstorms so orienting the car may not be enough to keep you safe. So, the second thing you should do is crawl under the dashboard or under a reclined seat and cover yourself in a towel, blanket, etc. It's unlikely that hail will crash through the window and into you at the speed that it falls out of the cloud but, as you probably expect, a demolished winshield will create lots of broken glass that a simple towel should protect you from. And incidentally, you were right about pulling over and going into the hotel. That was the safest thing you could have done. A car is just about the worst place to be in a tornado.
Thanks for the advice Adam. Hopefully I won't have to use it!
Hello again - don;t know if you will find this - I commented on your post about the trip thru Schlotsky;s - linked to you from the STeece's. Was just reading more on your blog. Evidently, I don't live far from you! Small world!
okay - so tornado's aren't funny - but you are a great writer. I have enjoyed reading your blog.
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