Had a visitor last night

[jrt]

Well, it had to happen someday- a decent sized tornado came through Iowa City and wrecked havoc. Destroyed a bunch of houses and a fine old church also. Fortunately no damage to our house. We cowered...er...waited in the basement anyhow. Well, mostly. I did go outside when it started hailing. I have never seen such heavy rain in my life. And hail hurts when it hits you in the head.

Here's some pictures of the damage-

http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eournews/tornado/

 

Click on the galleries of pictures- the last part of section 1 and most of section 2 are about 1/4 mile up from our house on the next hill - some of it on the same street. We got seriously lucky.

Yikes.

[Martin Barrett]

Glad to here that you got through it unscathed. Have noticed over here that there seems to have been more spring tornadoes reported this year

[Mike Stewart]

Jason,

 

Glad to hear that you and your family made it through it safely!

 

We woke up to the news on the radio this morning and you guys were on our minds. Is it time to move back to earthquake country yet?

 

 

Take care,

Mike

[todd haven]

JRT,

Glad you made it through.

 

Hurricanes are bad.

Tornadoes with little or no warning are worse.

 

I lived in Tulsa for a few years as a kid--- that

crap used to scare the F#@$ out of me.

 

I know when a hurricane is coming, and have a few days to prepare.

And yes, hurricanes often bring tornadoes along....

but I won't live in the midwest any time soon.

[Ouiji Veck]

WOW...Glad you and your familly are ok.

( I thought doing my taxes was bad)

[Frenchbob]

Sort of puts our spring rainstorms into context!

 

Very glad that you are all OK and have no damage.

[jihem]

We got seriously lucky.

86100[/snapback]

 

some of the pics are just Armageddonesques...

[Paul Minnaert]

I this a place where you get this once in a while? Of is this the first one to strike the city ever? Looks scary with houses missing the walls.

[Dan M]

Well, it had to happen someday- a decent sized tornado came through Iowa City and wrecked havoc.  Destroyed a bunch of houses and a fine old church also.  Fortunately no damage to our house.  We cowered...er...waited in the basement anyhow.  Well, mostly.  I did go outside when it started hailing.  I have never seen such heavy rain in my life.  And hail hurts when it hits you in the head. 

Here's some pictures of the damage-

http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Eournews/tornado/

 

Click on the galleries of pictures- the last part of section 1 and most of section 2 are about 1/4 mile up from our house on the next hill - some of it on the same street. We got seriously lucky.

Yikes.

86100[/snapback]

 

Glad you got through it safely. Sure seems like there has been a lot more of this stuff the last couple of years. Scary.

[jrt]

  Is it time to move back to earthquake country yet?

86109[/snapback]

I do seem to move every 5-7 years, so it's about that time.

 

I this a place where you get this once in a while?

86109[/snapback]

Oh, it happens. Mostly to the south and west of here, but we are on the edge of tornado alley. Oklahoma and Missouri get them real bad sometimes (Hi Carl!). I'm sure this is not the first to hit Iowa City, but it's the first since I've lived here.

This is all just a manifest of the large continental area that gets solar heating and Gulf of Mexico moisture. It's good fuel for 'active' weather.

[TX REDNECK (R.I.P.)]

Glad to hear that it passed you by I still haven't got my place back to normal yet & hurricane season is right around the corner again

 

I wonder if these weather patterns have anything to do with Global Warming

[P3GA]

Glad to hear you made it through ok. We just had one touch down last weekend, 'bout 4 miles from the house. Took out a car wash, garage, and generally wrecked havoc.

 

It was Norton (our dog) that woke me up a few minutes beforehand. I thought he just needed to have his morning squirt. Once out in the front yard, he started pacing back & forth across the front yard, tilting his head in the general direction of the twister. Just then the Cherokee & Cobb county tornado sirens went off.

 

We got back into the house, got the bride & junior, and headed into the basement.

 

Ten minutes later, it was all over with. We had one stong gust of wind, and that was it. No rain, hail, nothing.

 

And even that was too close for comfort in my book.

 

I give credit to all of you that live in Tornado alley & have to live with that excitement for 6 +/- months each year.

 

Good luck, let us know if there's a local relief effort we can contribute to.

 

Phil P

Atlanta GA

'02 Guzzi Le Mans

[kaput]

Happy to hear that good luck was with you and that your family and property are safe. Here in South Florida we can relate - I'm still looking for roof tiles as there is a 6 months back log but my guess - if I had to choose - is that tornadoes are even scarier than hurricanes and with hurricanes at least you get a few days of warning.

 

Kaput

[callison]

I do seem to move every 5-7 years, so it's about that time.

 

I this a place where you get this once in a while?

86109[/snapback]

Oh, it happens. Mostly to the south and west of here, but we are on the edge of tornado alley. Oklahoma and Missouri get them real bad sometimes (Hi Carl!). I'm sure this is not the first to hit Iowa City, but it's the first since I've lived here.

This is all just a manifest of the large continental area that gets solar heating and Gulf of Mexico moisture. It's good fuel for 'active' weather.

86157[/snapback]

 

Glad you're okay. Those photos are truly frightening! I've just moved to tornado alley and don't look forward to my first tornado experience. With luck, I'll never see one but luck is all that would be. I can't afford to move back to the land of earthquakes as Mike so aptly puts it, but I would consider most anyplace northwest if I decide to relocate again. For now though, we're happy and we have a tornado shelter, so I guess we should survive although we could certainly lose everything else in the process if everything blew away. The Oklahoma Guzzi MGNOC representative, Russ Marooney, got hit directly by the May 3rd, 1999 Norman F5 tornado. His Guzzis were found under some very large trees. His house was completely destroyed.

[v50man]

The afternoon of January 3, 2006.

 

Interstate 85 -- about 20 minutes South of Atlanta.

 

Yes -- it sounded like a train. I'll never forget.