Thats right, you guys probably remember I just moved into a new house in Fort Worth. Well, as a new housewarming gift the city decided to throw a Tornado in my honor…must have something to do with my nick!
Anyway, it’s crazy…the entire downtown area is closed, most of the city’s a wreck, and where I moved from in Arlington is all messed up too. I went by the Arlington airport on the way to work and some of the buildings that way have been decimated. Take a look at some of the major news sites, most of the high-rises downtown had all the glass blown out of them.
Emergency crews are everywhere in the city cleaning things up, a lot of people still have no power or phones, and its just a total mess!
Makes you realize a few things about life, time, and how small we all really are.
Well, I am certainly glad that you are alright. I saw it on the news last night and I thought, “how often does a tornado blow right through a major city like that?”
Shadowfox
“The dead have risen, and they’re voting Republican!” - Bart Simpson
Seems like it’s happened a fair amount, lately. If I’m not mistaken, the downtown areas of Nashville, Miami, and I believe Oklahoma City have been hit in recent years.
Plus, some pretty close-in suburbs of Atlanta and Birmingham have gotten it in the recent past.
Up to a month ago, I was working in Downtown Fort Worth. Since I usually worked till 7PM at that job, I would have been right there when the tornado hit - probably watching it from the office windows. (I’m a weather weenie) So, right now I’m very glad I changed jobs!
Downtown FW is closed through the weekend (Wait, I could have had 3 free days off. Hmmm…)
I have one friend who picked his kids up from daycare 5 minutes before the tornado hit the church the daycare center was in. He and the kids are fine, and grateful for the small miracles that kept them safe.
The tornadoes hit to the west and south. Fortunately, most of our local regs live and work in the north and east parts of the metroplex, but I’d like to hear from everyone that they’re ok, ok?
Fortunately yes, I escaped with little damage to my property, a few things will have to be relandscaped and I may need a new roof due to hail and wind damage, but I’m not sure yet. It’s strange…today is absolutely beautiful, about 75 with a light breeze, clear skies, and perfect. Like the literal calm after the storm…it’s perfection is almost eerie!
Last night was pretty spooky. The wind really picked up, and hubby went out to look because he’s not all that bright and thinks storms are fun. The sky was Green. Not tinged green, or a pale facsimile of green, I mean dark grass Green Green. With lots of ugly swirling black stuff. And lightning, we can’t forget the lightning.
And yeah, today is just beautiful. How convenient of them to make the day for cleanup too pretty to waste time indoors.
While I live in the northern part of the Metroplex (Grapevine), I happened to be visiting family in south Arlington when the storm hit. Fortunately, we were about a mile or so away from where the Arlington tornado touched down, but we were without electricity for about 3 hours. Very scary experience.
It’s really cool because a local radio station(Mix 102.9) had a Red Cross spokesperson on and asked what they could do to help. She said that because their is a training program required to volunteer, the best way people could help is with cash donations. The radio station immediately threw out their format for the whole day and pledged to raise $102,900.00(their station numbers) for the Red Cross here in Fort Worth. They’ve been having different business types challenge each other by donating, and then matching the donations. So far at 3:37PM Central Time they’ve raised $50,000.00 of their goal…WOW!!!
In response to my earlier question, “how often does a tornado blow right through a major city like that?”, I should have looked it up in the archives. Our benevolent leader already answered the question.
I already knew about Nashville and Oklahoma City being hit by tornadoes, I was just curious as to why it seemed to be such a rarity for a larger city to be hit, considering the US alone suffers from several hundred tornadoes a year.
Shadowfox
“The dead have risen, and they’re voting Republican!” - Bart Simpson
I’m from Texas and most of my relatives still live in the D/FW area. AFAIK, they’re all right, but none of them live in the areas that were hit. My mother and my two brothers live 25 miles south of Fort Worth in Alvarado.
Some of my relatives live in Lancaster, which is just south of Dallas, and they still talk about the tornado that hit there in '96. It went right through the center of town and took out the whole south side of the town square. There’s nothing there now but empty lots.
I was also in Central Florida the night tornadoes went through Kissimmee and Orlando in '98. You might remember seeing our Fearless Leader Clinton taking a helicopter tour of an RV park that was destroyed. I used to ride the bus right past that park every day. It’s right by the Houston Astros spring-training facility.
Feel free to correct me at any time. But don’t be surprised if I try to correct you.
Jab1, Lancaster is my original home town. A childhood friend lost his mother in that tornado. I believe hers was the only death.
My boyhood home was destroyed, as were homes of a lot of old friends. The Lancaster square was a very old, very historic place, with lots of stories. Shoot me an email, if you like, maybe we have friends in common.
