Idiot me was intrigued by the weather maps and the meteorologist on the local news. Really, how many times do you hear that there is some kind of weather warning that turns out to be a bust. I figured the wind would get gradually worse giving me time to get to the basement if anything really happened.
No such luck.
About 8:40 PM, only 3 miles from the IM MOO start/finish line, a tornado touched down briefly on my street. There was just a little rain one second, and then my wife just suddenly said "WOW, it is _really_ windy." She said this because all of a sudden the neighbor's birch tree was flexing all the way over and touching the ground with its canopy. I looked out and saw the scene from every close-up tornado video you have seen. You know the one with all the debris flying around horizontally. The debris is unidentifiable but often turns out to be cars or cows or something. In this case of a lower-grade tornado, it was probably just shingles and siding and stuff.
So, seeing the flying building materials, we grab the dogs (the cats can fend for themselves) and hightail it to the basement. Running through the living room with the 50 pound yellow lab in my arms I see trees crashing down in the back yard. Running through the kitchen exposes the same scene in the front yard.
It is all over in about 20 seconds before we even get down the steps.
The sky was crazy-yellow for a bit after the storm then the sunny blue sky gave light to the damage. My street seemed to be one of the very few, but very hardest hit in the city of Madison. My wife and I lost 3 of 4 of our 50 year old trees. Our neighbors on our small cul-de-sac came out the same. Very few of the large trees made it. We have no phone or power either (I am at work right now).
Everyone is OK - we checked on our elderly neighbors who were troopers. One tree fell on our car. It definitely killed our Yakima rack, but not sure about other damage yet (it was still under the tree canopy this AM). The house seems alright. And the Tri bikes are just fine.
Lesson learned: Go to the Basement, damn the colorful doppler radar and witty weather guy.
No such luck.
About 8:40 PM, only 3 miles from the IM MOO start/finish line, a tornado touched down briefly on my street. There was just a little rain one second, and then my wife just suddenly said "WOW, it is _really_ windy." She said this because all of a sudden the neighbor's birch tree was flexing all the way over and touching the ground with its canopy. I looked out and saw the scene from every close-up tornado video you have seen. You know the one with all the debris flying around horizontally. The debris is unidentifiable but often turns out to be cars or cows or something. In this case of a lower-grade tornado, it was probably just shingles and siding and stuff.
So, seeing the flying building materials, we grab the dogs (the cats can fend for themselves) and hightail it to the basement. Running through the living room with the 50 pound yellow lab in my arms I see trees crashing down in the back yard. Running through the kitchen exposes the same scene in the front yard.
It is all over in about 20 seconds before we even get down the steps.
The sky was crazy-yellow for a bit after the storm then the sunny blue sky gave light to the damage. My street seemed to be one of the very few, but very hardest hit in the city of Madison. My wife and I lost 3 of 4 of our 50 year old trees. Our neighbors on our small cul-de-sac came out the same. Very few of the large trees made it. We have no phone or power either (I am at work right now).
Everyone is OK - we checked on our elderly neighbors who were troopers. One tree fell on our car. It definitely killed our Yakima rack, but not sure about other damage yet (it was still under the tree canopy this AM). The house seems alright. And the Tri bikes are just fine.
Lesson learned: Go to the Basement, damn the colorful doppler radar and witty weather guy.