Tornado!!!!

Hey All,
Big warning in the area I'm in right now for Tornados. Evidently, the "perfect" tornado weather is brewing in East TX, LA, AR area. Heavy weather from the Rockies is meeting with gulf winds. Last night we drove through what was maybe the most violent rain storm I ever saw!

So, if I see a big twister heading my way, what do you do? Remember, I have two kids. I have heard you are supposed to get out of your car and get in a ditch. Really??? Again, REALLY? It seems that with crap being flung through the air at 150mph, one would want to stay inside.

Since the bus weighs 24 tons, I would think that staying in the bus might be the best option. Buckled up? All crammed in a closet? Under the bed? Any thoughts? I'm not from these parts.

Thanks for any ideas.

~Adam

Adam, I understand your concern, but I am afraid I don't have an answer for you. I can only guess that staying in the bus would be better than being outside on the ground in a ditch.

If it were me, I would close the blinds and get into the center of the bus, away from as many of the windows as you can get, if you hear a rumble coming your way. Do you have heavy pocket doors you can close off the open areas of the bus, so you Lisa and the kids are in the center of the bus?

Do you have an Emergency Band weather radio to keep you informed of your area weather? Or maybe you could stay tuned to the CB for constant updates.

This afternoon I was picking up my bus at Birdland coach and never saw it rain so hard and for so long. The thunder and lighting was horrendous, but I am home safe and sound now, and the weather has passed.

Hope it clears up for you and your family.

Stay Safe.

Gary S.

Hopefully someone from tornado country can answer, but I would guess if you can get under a bridge underpass or similar, you might be shielded somewhat from the full force? I think as Gary suggested, I'd stay inside, but I'm pretty sure a direct hit is never a good thing.

Ray

Adam, Peggy gave you good advice. Ive seen tornado watchers racing the things and seeking refuge under a overpass. don't stop near trees. Try not to travel at night during those warning periods. You can spot some of them and drive to avoid them. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by hhoppe

Adam, Peggy gave you good advice. Ive seen tornado watchers racing the things and seeking refuge under a overpass. don't stop near trees. Try not to travel at night during those warning periods. You can spot some of them and drive to avoid them. Good luck.

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Harry, I will have you know Peggy is asleep at the moment, and sometimes I come up with good advice, too ! ? :mad: :D

Gary S.

Adam,
IF you must stay in the bus, drive in a direction that is away from the Tornado.
Best case, is get out of the bus!! YES, the Tornado will blow the bus away and even pick it up!! So, staying in the coach is LAST thing you want to do.
As others have said, travel during the daylight. If a twister is not enveloped in rain and hail, you can see it. AND DO NOT SEEK REFUGE UNDER AN OVERPASS. They become windtunnels of DOOM!!! Try for a drainage ditch, or even a culvert, some sort of ground depression.
Many campgrounds and RV Parks in tornado prone areas have storm shelters. USE THEM!!
Some RV PARKS that have shelters will advertise such. Traveling in Torndao Alley during the prime season, SPRING, we ALWAYS stay in a camp that has a shelter, and that is not next to a Wal Mart like building. If the wind doesn't get you, the falling concrete block wall will.
Some shelters can be concrete constructed semi buried bunker-like structures, which double as campground restrooms.
A Tornado is NOTHING to lark about with.
They are sudden, compact, intense, brutal, erratic, phenomenons of nature. A 48,000 lbs bus is no match for a Tornado. If it doesn't pick the bus up, it will roll you many times like a log.:eek:
The bus is replaceable, your family and you aren't.
Don't mean to be harsh, but I wanted to emphasize the dangers Tornadoes pose to the motorist/RV'er.
Why do you think JIM SKIFF got so much flack and grief about having an Oklahoma State Rally in APRIL??? Argh----Tornado Central!!!

Jim,

Spot On! These things are not to be fooled with and your advice is sage. Get out of that bus and pronto and don't ever try to outrun one, they move when and where they want and at a speed of their choosing, usually much faster than any motor vehicle.

Be careful out there

John

I have zero experience with tornados, their avoidance, and what to do when one is in the area. However on our very first trip in our first bus we encountered severe winds. It was in December, just north of Pittsburgh and it was snowing/sleeting and there was thunder and lightning an extremely rare combination. I pulled off the highway under a bridge on the interstate and it offered considerable protection. The precipitation was being dirven sideways and even under the bridge the coach was rocking, but nothing like before I stopped. We have never encountered winds of that level since.

One of the Techs @ Newell told me about a NASCAR drivers coach that was being driven to Newell for service. The delivery driver spotted the tornado right before he got to it. He stopped the coach, and was running to the rear of the coach. The tornado turned the coach on its' side, and spun it around in place. The refrigerator fell out of its' cabinet, and landed on the driver. He was able to lift it off, and suffered no injuries. I was told the coach was unrepeatable. I think the best move is to stay as far away from the severe storms as possible. Even an encounter with moderately sized hail can severely damage an XL's aluminum panels.

Grew up in tornado alley as did a few others around here....

1. Get out of the bus and into shelter. There is a video out there of a school bus flying through the air in a tornado. The tornado that hit Clinton AR last year carried a fiberglass boat to near Mountainview -~ 25 miles.
2. Do not hide up under the overpass. Although there is a video of some surviving this way, many have been killed under overpasses. Winds are accelerated potentially under there which makes it worse.
3. Ultimately, the only safe place is below ground. The F5 that hit Jarrel TX in the 90's wiped a complete subdivision clean including peeling up blacktop and some concrete. Vehicles were found up to a mile away from were they were parked. Twenty something people were killed.
4. I cleaned up after three tornadoes as a boy scout growing up in southern OK. When you have seen the damage first hand, it leaves an incredible impression. Hot water heater wrapped around a tree 15' up like a beer can. Roof joists and studs stuck 2-3' feet in the ground.

We have a funeral director in our resort that says that area is only known for its fire ants and toronados. Have fun.

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Originally Posted by lewpopp

We have a funeral director in our resort that says that area is only known for its fire ants and toronados. Have fun.

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Fire ants and Oldsmobiles?:eek:

Spell check Lew - Spell check!

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Originally Posted by lewpopp

We have a funeral director in our resort that says that area is only known for its fire ants and toronados. Have fun.

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So, Lew, is that one of the resorts amenities?? Like, "Our resort has the following amenities":

Swimming Pool
Game Room
Shuffleboard
mini golf
funeral director
dog walk

Boy, we're gonna rush right down.

Bite me Tuga. You got me. I was thinking of an Oldsmobile Toronado. Ha ha.

As for your resort with all of those services, I'll be you don't have as many butt holes as we do.

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Originally Posted by tdelorme

So, Lew, is that one of the resorts amenities?? Like, "Our resort has the following amenities":

Swimming Pool
Game Room
Shuffleboard
mini golf
funeral director
dog walk

Boy, we're gonna rush right down.

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Hey, after the funeral director, if they add a dentist, on site ATM, an OTB parlor, Lotto, a psychiatrist, a micro-brewery, a good kosher deli, and a brick oven pizza joint, my whole family will be rushing right down. They would get rid of "Outdoor Resorts" and rename it "Heaven on Earth".

Sawdust....Wake up, you're way behind in the mocking catagory.

Jon,

How did you guys fair during the bad weather yesterday and Saturday?
Hope you didn't have any damage.

Tuga......I'm sure you heard about the tornados in the Murfreesboro area. That area and up along the Cumberland plateau always seems to have the bad weather.

We have been somewhat protected living in the valley between the plateau and the Smokies. We got some winds, but nothing substantial, a period of heavy rain for perhaps an hour and it was all over. Even after more than nine years here we are still trying to predict the weather. The forecasters seem to whip folks into a frenzy when the weather is just a little stormy. I wonder if that is why there were deaths and injuries in Murfreesboro, because people only respond when someone cries wolf for a while and then ignore the predictions.

Glad to hear everyone is o.k.

I know what you mean about the weather forecasters; we have the same situation down here during hurricane season. I remember last year there were pictures of Terrebonne General Medical Center (our local hospital in Houma) with 6 feet of water in the parking lot!:eek: We were in the MH staying with Karen's brother in Shreveport and saw the pictures on the internet. Come to find out, some ding-dong posted a photo on the net of what the hospital would have looked like IF IT HAD 6 FEET OF WATER IN THE PARKING LOT! My business is located 1000 yards from the hospital.

This is what our world has evolved into.

Hope everyone else in the vicinity is o.k. also. Roger? Eric?

I haven't seen signs of life from either but I think Eric recently posted and Roger has also so I'm guessing they both still have electric or they are running the generators.

Eric lives on the northern part of the plateau, but I don't think they had any serious weather and Roger lives at a little higher elevation than us, so he gets cooler temps, but I don't think they had any bad stuff that day or evening either.

I'm still kicking.

We are somewhat protected by these hills from the real severe weather that occured down in the flatlands

Micki and I lived in Murfreesboro for 30 plus years prior to moving to Bristol. There the thunderstorms can occur on a daily basis that evolve into the tornadoes. I saw a couple in action in years past and it is very humbling to see the power of mother nature.

If you don't have a basement, you certainly would appreciate a storm shelterd or a deep hole.

Glad to hear you and Micki are o.k. Those storms were really something. We drove back from Ruston, LA Sunday afternoon and we caught the tail end of that frontal system. High winds and rain for about 2 hours, it wasn't too bad - no problem for a Newell:D

Eric and Debbie had no issues with recent storms. They passed to the South of us. Thanks for thinking about the East TN POGGERS. We had an interesting time a couple of weeks ago near Clarksville, TN when the last series of storms hit that area, but all turned out well, thankfully :) Deb

Glad to hear you're o.k. Deb

Last fall I was asleep in the Ameristar casino lot in Omaha NE. About 1:00 AM I heard the tornado warning go off I tuned on the local TV and got the Doppler up on my computer. In a minute I could see the storm was very close and grabbed the comforter off the bed and huddled up under the blanket in the center bathroom area of the coach.

The tornado went North of me by about a half a mile. I could tell it was close when the coach started flexing and air was leaving my lungs.

I grew up in Iowa and have been in several large tornado's. In 1976 we had the biggest F5 tornado ever recorded until the recent Greenville KS storm. Leveled the ground for 20 miles by 1.5 miles wide. As a boy I watched a tornado touch down in a lake only to come on shore and dump several feet of water on the lake house. Our friends Edsel floated away and ended up in the lake.

Always was impressed with that hardtop convertible.

What is the best course of action when you are in a MH and a tornado threatens? As strong and heavy as we feel these coaches are - they are no match for a tornado! Getting in the middle bathroom is good I guess because you are away from windows but it seems to me that getting out of the coach would be the best thing to do. But then, where do you go? I'm just thinking out loud here and trying to learn from those of you who have grown up in tornado alley.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.:confused:

I have no idea if this is valid, but I posted previously that we encountered strong winds on the very first trip we took in our first Prevost, such that we were afraid to keep driving.

I pulled over off the road under a bridge. It made a huge difference in the way the wind was affecting the coach. I have no idea if tornados would be able to get at a coach under a bridge or if the tornados would knock a bridge down on the coach.