STORM2K

Hi everyone, thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers! It's really unbelievable what's it's like down here.

First of all, our family's ok, and our immediate neighborhood was not damaged. However the tornado passed 1-1/2 miles to the southeast. I'm in Warrick County, Indiana in the northern part of Newburgh just east of Evansville. Our power's been out for 16 hrs and was restored about 3 hrs ago, but the internet wasn't working at all until just recently.

Last night my NOAA radio alarm went off shortly before 2am. (Yes, thank God for those wx radios!) I got on the computer downstairs and didn't like the track I saw and the fact that it was moving at 60mph. We've had plenty of tornado warnings here, but this really felt different. Hard to describe. So I got the family awake and downstairs and prepared to go to an interior closet (no basement), when the power went out. No flickering, just instant dark. Shortly after, saw a transformer blow a couple miles to the south. We heard a distant rumble, sounded like thunder but steady. Only heard it a few seconds before the rain became heavier and in sheets.

After a few minutes, the rain stopped very abruptly, VERY abruptly, which I didn't like. Thanks to frequent lightning, I followed what appeared to be a persistent wall cloud feature passing to the south and east. Called it in to NWS (SKYWARN), and took a couple pictures. They came out decent. I'll try to post later.

We had no idea of the devastation that had occurred until we got a call shortly thereafter that someone who works for my husband was injured in the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park and lost everything. She has no family here in town, so we hopped in the car at 3am to the hospital. All along the way, we heard nothing but sirens in the still of the night. No power anywhere until we got to east Evansville.

The ER was just like you would imagine. People all around in their pajamas, dazed, moaning, lacerations, broken bones, searching for family members, parents frantically looking for children, children whose parents were missing. No one had any information on who was there; most arrived by ambulance with no ID. Overheard so many heartbreaking cell phone conversations. People relaying their stories and just desperate for information. We went to 2 different hospitals and couldn't find her. Finally found out she and many others were being triaged nearby the mobile home park. Her injuries are serious but not life-treatening. She has an amazing story to tell, but later. On the way home, drove by the mobile home park, which can be seen right off I-164. Just couldn't believe our eyes.

After very little sleep, today was just hectic. Long story. Got the generator going though, which had been gathering dust since Y2K. Let the neighbors use our freezer. On the phone most of the day.

The fatalities and injuries are incredible. I've heard of at least one entire family wiped out. We're under a curfew in Warrick County, 7pm until daylight. Schools are closed tomorrow, but are open in Vanderburgh County (Evansville).

It's just unreal ... everything. Debris was found 50 miles away. It's so sad especially that it happened in the middle of the night in the month of November. Most people didn't know what hit them. I know some of you, especially Garrett, knows firsthand a tornado's wrath, and all too many know a hurricane's.

I have to go to bed now. The Sandman is beating me to death. I'll see you all tomorrow.

Love,
Donna

Glad to hear that you are safe Donna.

I'm sure you didnt get much sleep last night! Tornado warnings always keep me up all night. Wow, glad to hear you're okay. I'd definitely be interested to see your photos!
Logan.

This is horrible. Glad u are ok Donna. This event was well forecasted by SPC but most people go to sleep at night regardless of the weather so a lot of folks were caught off guard.

sure glad you're okay. i appreciated your comment about the weather radio. i use mine all summer long because it seems like we are ALWAYS under a severe weather alert in west central florida from april to september.
my DH always ribs me about being a weather girl, and bought me my wx radio a couple years ago. (for $5 in a cut out bin at walmart!) when Wilma was in the gulf last month that thing woke me up 2 times in the wee hours of the morning with tornados very nearby. i slept with it under my pillow.

i think weather radios should be right up there with smoke detectors & carbon monoxide detectors - every home should have one.

I had chills just reading your report Donna. So glad you have a weather radio! It is very sad this happened in the middle of the night, and in November. When no one would expect a tornado. We usually expect them in Spring, not Fall. But several years ago in mid-November, there were Tornado warnings in Indiana. They didn't touch down here but to our west they did.

So glad you woke your family up and were safe in a downstairs, interior room.

I read about the entire family that perished. That is awful news to read.

Thanks for that indepth report. Get some much needed rest now.

Mary

Thank you very much, Donna, for sharing with us. I look forward to seeing your wall cloud pics as well. So very heartbreaking for those injured and those who have lost loved ones and an entire family killed, mercy.

Get some much-needed rest, Wxbuddy.

There was a deadly tornado that hit a part of Raleigh in late November 1988.

Eric

Donna, thanks so much for the firsthand account. For all our fascination with severe weather, there is nothing so humbling as witnessing the agony and pain of the real thing playing out in your own community.

In some ways, your description mirrors the events of the famous nighttime Barneveld, Wisconsin, tornado. Tornadoes at any time are brutal reminders of nature's wrath, but overnight they are so very very eerie.

Bless your friends and family. The EXACT memories of the days and moments you have witnessed will be etched in your minds for the rest of your lives. Even the sounds and smells will be part of that memory.

As I too can attest to.

And this outbreak reminds us again of the "famed" November spike in tornado activity that has taken quite a toll over the years...long after the springtime tornado season has come to an end.

I'm glad that you and your family made it through the Twister OK.

This situation isn't tornadic related, but straight line winds in excess of 80 MPH toppled over a mobile home in Hood County, TX a couple of months ago. The entire family that lived in that mobile home survived it all with injuries.

I'm glad that you able to see your husband's employee was alright and I'm sure that she REALLY APPRECIATED the fact that you went to look for her.

I'm so sorry about the loss of lives. Again, I'm glad that you and your family are safe and sound!!

This is what appears to be the wall cloud with some detached scuds behind it taken shortly after 2am facing east. Lightning was helpful that night.



This is 1-1/2 miles south of my house.



Right across the street from the above house ... an industrial complex with mangled steel beams.

Man, that's a lot of damage. Those pics do tell the story, that's for sure.

You're right about one thing Jeremy, pictures do speak louder than words.

Donna, I kept telling myself that you had a wxradio, you
were a trained spotter, and, this storm couldn't have caught
you, off guard! Of course, I know that a very big tornado
can get anyone, trained or not, but, I kept thinking that
you were safe - and, thank goodness, you are!

I wonder if that tornado will be re classified as an F4. I know it doesnt take alot to destroy a mobile home but on the news I noticed a lot of other structures were destroyed as well.

Impressive wall cloud picture Donna. I was very saddened to see the destruction though. Similar to the one that appeared in our local newspaper today, front page:

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... /511070345

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ ... 803&Ref=PH

Mary

george_r_1961 wrote:I wonder if that tornado will be re classified as an F4. I know it doesnt take alot to destroy a mobile home but on the news I noticed a lot of other structures were destroyed as well.

NWS classifed it at a F3, a strong F3, max winds of 200 MPH in the newburgh area.

I would like to personally thank 2 very good mets at TV stations in Evansville for the work that they done early sunday morning, Wayne Hart (ABC 25 weht,) which many tri-staters would agree that he is the "Bryan Norcross" of severe storms around here. Also I would like to thank the ENTIRE WFIE channel 14 weather team. they had EVERYONE on deck that morning, and Jeff Lyons and Chad Sewitch covered the early hours of the disaster with good stride and calmness. Great job and I am sure that all the evansville area s2kers would agree this whole heartly.

isobar wrote:This is what appears to be the wall cloud with some detached scuds behind it taken shortly after 2am facing east. Lightning was helpful that night.

Wow, that is rather an impressive photo for 2am.

My parents said that they had a picture of the tornado at night on the news. Anyone catch it. I missed it?

Donna, your recollection sounds so eerily similar to mine with the exception that ours occurred at daylight. The thunder reference you used to describe the tornado is exactly what it sounded like to me, too. Everyone always says it sounds like a freight train (and maybe it does as it is tearing through your home), but the thunder like noise is more of what I have heard as well. You also captured a mighty incredible pic, especially for late at night.

But most of all... thank goodness you are all right! By the way, if you guys need anything in that area... let me know. I am more than willing to help out in some way.