Tornado… in Our Backyard!
Wow. I’m still trying to accept that this actually happened… it just feels a little unreal at the moment.
There was a tornado here in Vancouver today. And based on the damage reports I’m seeing in the news and Lisa’s firsthand account of things, it passed about 5 blocks south of our house.
I happened to be talking with Lisa on the phone around 12:15 PM, and she said, “Ooooh, we’re starting to get some thunder and lightning.” We said goodbye, and I got back to work. About 20 minutes later, around 12:35, Eric piped up from the cube next to mine with, “Hey, we’re under a Tornado Alert.” I went straight to weather.com and scanned through the alert text:
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORTLAND HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR… SOUTHERN CLARK COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON
* AT 1220 PM PST… THE PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR HAZEL DELL… OR ABOUT NEAR VANCOUVER DOWNTOWN… MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.
I called home immediately and was relieved to hear Lisa’s calm voice on the other end. “You wouldn’t believe the weather we had here for the last few minutes!” she said. I told her about the tornado alert and she told me what they had seen from the upstairs windows: dark, roiling clouds filled with debris like shingles and branches; sheets of hail rattling down; and a low, continuous, rumbling sound.
Apparently the tornado formed over Vancouver lake and cut about a 4 mile swath east through Fruit Valley and Hazel Dell, tearing up trees and toppling power lines along the way. It destroyed two portable office buildings and about 50 rowing shells moored at the Vancouver Lake Crew club, completely demolished a home near the lake, hurled shopping carts out into moving traffic at Fred Meyer’s, and flattened a pumphouse and tore parts of the roof off at Joel Olsen Trucking.
This is the first tornado to hit Vancouver since 1972, and miraculously, not a single person was injured today. I’m feeling very thankful for the safety of my family right now.
Wow. Talk about kicking off the new year with a bang. We’re not in Kansas anymore, are we Toto?
7 Comments So Far
2. Lisa wrote:
Holy crap - I heard about it and saw a bit on the news, but I didn’t hear about the shopping carts! I was merrily listening to music and working when it all went down, and someone came in to tell me about it and I must have looked at her like she was on crack ’cause I said “dude, we don’t GET tornadoes through here!” hahaha UM, WRONG!!! WOW!
3. Clint wrote:
Yeah, I saw the damage to KFC and Canton Buffet when I drove home last night. At noon, Eric and I were actually planning to drive up to the Canton Buffet for lunch, but we decided to wait until 1 PM so that it wouldn’t be so crowded… another little miracle I guess.
4. Maureen Williams wrote:
You’ll have to pardon the language but HOLY CRAP! I’m not sure I’m more amazed by the tornado or that no one was injured. Happy to know that your family and house are intact you can’t be carried off to Oz until we’ve at least met once. Watch out evil neighbor lady’s with bicycles that have baskets! You’ll know them by their cool theme music!
5. Clint wrote:
Hahahaaa… thanks Maureen, we’ll keep a sharp lookout. Believe it or not, Lisa actually has an Auntie Em. Too funny.
Hold on a second, there are a bunch of midgets knocking at the door…
6. Maria wrote:
I just can’t believe that I MISSED ALL OF IT! I remember in Minnesota watching the clouds funnel up and then hit ground and it was the most amazing thing watching that tornado hit every suburb around the one me and the girls were living in. It is sad the damaging results, but I have to admit, watching a tornado form and work is really fascinating. But then I am one of those ding-dongs that sits outside and watches the thunder and lightning without fear.
Glad to hear that your family is safe Clint.
Maria
7. Annabellissima wrote:
Yuh… turns out it was IN MY MOM’S NEIGHBORHOOD =0_0=
She didn’t have power for a while…
Remember my old house on Dogwood? Lightening struck a tree and it fell over and obliterated our (ex)-neighbors house.
1. prnsis_anita wrote:
So glad your family is safe. I called Gene since our shop is right off St. Johns alittle East of Hwy 99. He had no idea anything was going on, and was very ho-hum about it, so I just told him to “run to the cellar Dorothy”. Sarcastically since the shop doesn’t have a cellar. I heard that the KFC and Chinese restraunt got damage too.