Shelter in Place ?

Shelter in Place??

In the Lark??  A “single wide” with 6 wheels is no place to be in high winds.  What’s the rule?  In a tornado better to be out of your vehicle and face down in a low lying ditch?  That was the choice last night.  I’m only doing the ”low lying ditch” thing if I see a tornado coming. Played the odds, sheltered in place,  and now I’m writing about it.

We knew a storm was coming.  I am always aware of the weather when we are on the road. Do you think 4 weather apps is a bit too many?  I like radar and alerts.  We were moving from one site to another, so we chose one that was going to be out of the wind, but not so low as to flood.

The storm coming over the gulf was the tail end of the giant winter storm the north-northeast was getting ready for.  Due to hit us around 2AM….right in the middle of the night.

You could here it coming at 3AM. Long rolls of thunder,  then lightning getting closer and closer.  By then my alerts were going off n iPad and iPhone :Tornado Watch,  Rip tide warning, Strong thunderstorm warning, Gale Force Marine warning.  OK, we can do that.  Then another: Severe strong thunderstorm warning. By this time we were wide awake, raining hard and lightening everywhere.          

One bolt hit close,  .1miles distant from our location (Weather Bug).  It was really close.  Shook the Lark.  All three of us were up now, Eze was heading for under the couch, as I grabbed him and into his carrying case he went.

He feels safe there, and I know just where he is.

Then another alert at the crescendo of the storm:  Tornado warning alert for our location, take shelter immediately.  Oh sh$#%@.  Signs are always posted on the washroom buildings to use as a shelter.  I saw several pickups fly by us, knowing they were heading for the shelters. We don’t have a separate vehicle and to run several blocks as winds were whipping and tree branches were falling didn’t seem wise either.  I couldn’t remember the chances of getting run over by a tornado.  We have always lived close enough to tornado alley in Indiana to pay attention. Cle does not get many, but they have come close to us on several occasions.

We just waited it out in place.  Didn’t hear any sirens (of course, would there be one out of town in a state park?).  It took an hour to blow out…a very long hour.  Small chunks of Florida were hitting the van and we rocked a bit. No hale…that was good.

Just as we climbed back into bed around 4AM…one more alert goes off. What now… oh, just a floord warning for the area. But of course.  We turned on our big outside spotlight and looked around.  Looked OK.

This morning, there were sounds of chain saws. One pine went down a couple of lots away. A really big pine in the park was leaning and road was closed as a precaution.  A few sites were ankle deep, but nothing too dangerous.  

Thank you El Nino for giving us this wet and wonderful winter.