The midwest is being slammed by tornados, especially in Indiana, Tennessee and Kentucky. I hope all of our members in Indiana are okay.

Today certainly counts as "Freaky Friday". It started around lunchtime -- the school systems just across the river (in Kentucky) started dismissing early in anticipation of the severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. (That's never happened before in my lifetime.) I was trying to get some online stuff done when the warning sirens went off. (As a matter of fact, I was on this site when it happened.) It was a bit of a surprise because it hadn't started raining yet... At least three supercells raced through, just brushing the northern part of town. But several small communities to the northeast and northwest were hit hard. I don't know the extent of the damage yet, but so far there are 12 confirmed dead. Right now, I honestly can't say how I feel. I'm just exhausted from the whole ordeal. It appears that the worst of it for me was just having the power go out for a few hours, and that makes me very fortunate. I can't even begin to imagine what the people who felt the full force of the storms are feeling right now.

Good to hear your safe, EW. Hope other are too. It seems like those things get stronger every year, but maybe it is just the media.

In Indianapolis, there were some heavy thunderstorms, but that was all. I've been seeing photos of the tornado damage in other places, on the internet today. My heart goes out to the victims!

Glad to hear you folks in the storm area are okay!

Been getting the news about them over here in the UK too... Hoping everyone in the path of the tornado stays safe!!

Good to hear you are safe EW Please keep yourself safe over the upcoming seaon. and to any others near that area, please play it safe as well

Originally posted by amethyst It seems like those things get stronger every year, but maybe it is just the media.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who would rather have had the hype! What made this batch of storms so devastating was that they produced "long track" tornadoes -- twisters that stay on the ground for many miles. It's the type of tornado you'd expect to see in Kansas or Oklahoma in the middle of summer. (We usually don't hear about those because they tend to happen where there's no population areas.) I just hate to think how much worse things could have been if the storms had hit during the night. Anyway, if you want to see more about the tornadoes, you can check out this site: http://www.wlky.com/index.html

Has anyone heard from Garnet? My husband is from the Indianapolis area and we have other friends who still live there. I've been there during one of these outbreaks and I never want to go through that again. Due to high water tables, most houses don't have basements. In our hotel, they came around to the rooms and asked all the customers to come to the central hallway. Several people, including my husband, went outside to check the situation out. They all came back in to say the tornado was just to the north, very visible. The next day, we saw the damage. The only saving grace was it was farmland. My thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones and those who lost their homes.

I'm glad to hear that everyone is okay!

I've been on the fringe of a few too, but not for many years. The last one I remember, I was riding with my Aunt and Uncle from Iowa to Kenosha, Wisconsin. We were under a watch the whole way and into dinner, when it touched down a few communities north of Kenosha. The closest one, was when I was about 5, again visiting my Aunt and Uncle and it touched down a few streets from the house. My Uncle "showed" us the remodel he had been doing on the basement, while my Aunt was standing outside the side door watching it, and my father stood at the base of the stairs yelling at her. EW, thanks for that info. It's quite likely as population centers continue to grow, the more communities will be in the path of those dangerous ones. Kind of like here wild fires out here, since the undergrowth can't be burned off anymore due to housing growth in wild land areas.

I was thinking about you guys in the Midwest -- especially EW! Glad to know you're okay!

When I left home for Detroit on Friday, to the south and east was nothing but a dark wall of cloud...Had rain the entire trip with visibility on 30 feet or so at times. Once here, (Detroit) warm and pleasant...but incredibly heavy winds, gust to 60mph as the cold front moved on through...Yesterday--snow...I'm not kidding you, Currier and Ives sorta snow, and me in my windbreaker/raincoat... Hubby and kids are fine as the worst of the weather passed east of where we live...but the devestaion is horrible, Henryville, Indiana is gone--dozens have periished...very, very sad....

There's a town in Alabama that was hit that has been hit four times in the last few years, the last one being last spring. I think it's time to move out of that town.

The security cameras that were in Henryville (Indiana) High School when the March 2 tornadoes hit survived, and the footage was released yesterday. Seeing the images of the school as it was being destroyed by an EF4 tornado is simply jaw-dropping... Here's a link: www.wlky.com/video/30699652/detail.html

That is terrifying, but it's amazing the cameras survived. It looks like those kids getting off the school bus literally had 3 seconds to get in the building and that was it.

Damn, that's scary! Makes me very glad that my neighborhood has tornado sirens, and the house has a basement.

Yikes! Very glad BC isn't prone to tornados! ETA: And wow yeah the kids didn't have much time did they?

Though you probably have earthquakes to worry about. And on the east coast, there are hurricanes. It seems that no part of North America is safe from a natural disaster of some sort.

Some friends of ours just had a close call with one in Michigan...missed their neighborhood, but their friends are going to have to move out for a while as their house had enough damage to make it unliveable... Had enough of this weird weather!

Originally posted by lborgia88 Though you probably have earthquakes to worry about. And on the east coast, there are hurricanes. It seems that no part of North America is safe from a natural disaster of some sort.

I grew up in FL. Hurricanes are a huge pain in the butt. And while you see them coming, you never know exactly where they're going to hit, so there's all this panic and freaking out and then nothing ... or everything ... That makes them somewhat similar to tornados since they don't follow a predictable path either, but the wait to see what's going to happen is longer as you have more warning. Fortunately I've never been present for a tornado. I have for hurricanes. When they start blowing down palm trees, which evolved for tropical storms, that's my rule for when I get nervous. Where I live we've felt the occasional earthquake, but just barely. We've felt ones from Alaska or Seattle but don't seem to get them with an epicentre around here. I love the moderate climate here and that goes for storms too. Supposedly my area is also protected from tsunami because of the massive mountains to the west of Vancouver Island. They'd block the wall of water. I try not to get too over-confident, though. Plus, I live very near a (long since) dormant volcano! Woo! And BC is rainforest, which means that it builds up lots and lots of tinder, and has cycles where eventually we get a hot, dry summer and then burn baby burn! Clears out the forest floor. And towns. I'm not sure there's a truly safe place in the world. All areas are subject to numerous types of natural disasters. It's amazing, some of the areas of North America you don't even realize are on fault lines. Nature is both beautiful and terrible, truly awesome in the original sense of the word (to be viewed with awe).

Originally posted by Becky Rock That is terrifying, but it's amazing the cameras survived. It looks like those kids getting off the school bus literally had 3 seconds to get in the building and that was it.

Miraculously, nobody was hurt!

I heard about that. Anyplace can have a tornado. Hawai'i had one this past week as well. It started as a water spout and came on land for a few minutes.

Originally posted by Becky Rock I heard about that. Anyplace can have a tornado. Hawai'i had one this past week as well. It started as a water spout and came on land for a few minutes.

I hadn't heard about the Hawaii one, but California's had a few. We get a lot of dust devil's, but we've got a few that are strong enough to move fences and out buildings.

Tornado Sirens just kicked off..horrible dark clouds to the west bearing down...guess it is our turn now...watching radar carefully...

Keep safe over there OK!!!

You would not believe the lightening...now hail...tiny bits...and my ears keep popping.

Yikes, doesn't ears popping mean a tornado is near/likely? Keep safe!

No, my ears tend to pop whenever we have some seriously severe weather moving in the area. These storms came on quick, and our area made it through a-ok..although the neighborhoods south of us had a larger nastier system plow through. We have a basement, and I was keeping an eye on the radar. Our backyard flooded in a matter of minutes.

I hope the night calms down.

Are you in Ohio, k2p2? I was talking to my sister (who lives near Cleveland) earlier today, and she had some bad weather coming in... Hope no flooding got into your house!

I hope everything calms down there! It's been one horrendously strange winter, and I'm sure we could all use a break.

Yes, we are fine. Our backyard flooded into a river that went all down the block, (I have pictures if I ever get them uploaded to Photobucket) What was the most impressive was the incredible lightenng. You did not want to be outside at all during that! Our neighbors tree got it hit, the ensuing exploshion of bark, leaves an branches she thought might have broken a double paned window. Were our friends live, a house got hit and caught fire. and one in our neighborhood had a massive hole blown through it before ignighting. Sitting in my living room near the bay window, you could not only see the flashes, you could hear and feel them. It hisses on the way down like the sound of fabric tearing.

Glad you're ok, sounds like you had a few near misses there though!

Wow, glad we don't get them here, I don't have words for what I just watch on the video Everyone, please keep safe

I'm glad everyone is safe, K2!