Always Be Prepared & Take Severe Weather Alerts Seriously

in life •  6 years ago 

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As some of my followers know, I recently relocated back to Georgia to get away from a bad situation and be closer to family. Yesterday morning, my boyfriend & I were gonna go hiking but big droplets of rain started coming down and we'd heard the weather was gonna get "bad." So we didn't hike and just came back to my house and he went back to his house. By now, it was raining hard there were "noises" indicating not only a severe thunderstorm but something else, but I still was like "eh..." bad storm, whatever.

It's a known fact that animals can sense incoming severe storms or natural disasters. My cats were acting schizo and trying to hide. I had an urking feeling that it was more than just a t- storm. I got more than one Tornado alert on my phone at that point and others were getting more alerts than I received.

I live about 90 miles SW of Atlanta. This area has had tornadoes before. In fact, about a decade ago, there was a bad one right near where I now live that decimated a drug store and a fast food restaurant and damaged nearby neighborhoods. No deaths or injuries. Coincidentally, I was just sitting in a classroom taking a college final at that time because the school believed it was just a "bad storm."

So it goes to show unless you live in Kansas most people don't take tornado warnings seriously. Yes, the "weatherman" isn't always right but you should err on the side of caution anyway!

I like to nap when it's raining so I did. Meanwhile, a mere 2 miles up the road from me there WAS a tornado that destroyed most of my Mom's & her partners upper level. I woke up to nine missed calls. She was concerned about ME even though their neighbors had already told them their house was destroyed. I never even lost power, just a couple limbs down in the yard that I gotta pick up.

They were out of town and since the warning was over I hopped on the road to go assess damage and make sure my Mom would not have to come home to a dead cat (the cat was okay, just frightened.) What is normally a 5-8 minute drive took an hour of me going weird ways to try and get to their home due to power lines being down and multiple police blockades. Eventually I figured perhaps I could bypass all that by taking the interstate up and going the opposite direction down to their house. At that point I was also trying to tell them which way was the best way to go to get home since the police were blocking so many areas.

I got up in the driveway and it was surreal but not in a good way. Multiple trees on their house. There were valuable assets hidden in the attic that we thought were permanently gone. We dug through the rubbish in the first photo and found the most important one. It was nothing short of a miracle in my eyes. The upstairs office was unscathed and their bedroom had some damage but not too bad. It looked like a giant had taken a spear and rammed it through one wall, just missing their big bedroom TV!

They chose to sleep there last night as looting was a concern, despite being a seemingly safe rural neighborhood. Can't be too safe these days. I didn't know the storm blew open the front door because we never use that entrance but people (with good intentions I hope) had already been inside as there were muddy footprints in the basement.

My Mom's fine jewelery was OKAY!! She sent it with me for safe keeping as that house is not secure. Look at the magnitude of this storm...
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That cedar was a very big & old tree that mostly took its wrath out on the house which softened the blow onto my Mother's car, which from my inspection I saw no broken glass or dents it's simply "resting" on her car.
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Just the day prior I was there feeding her cat for her and washing some clothes. Less than 24 hours later, this all happened. Just the previous weekend, we had a nice dinner there with one of my siblings, his spouse, my mom and her partner of 10+ years.
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Their pool was also damaged, with a tree in it.
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The southbound side of the interstate had tons of trees on it. Luckily by the time I left, I didn't have to go that way as the police were letting people through the usual route that only takes 5-8 minutes.

I saw a lot of property damage and downed trees but no ones house was as badly damaged as theirs'. In fact the neighbor RIGHT across the street had no damage whatsoever. Which makes me realize I have no understanding of tornado "trajectories." Coincidentally, they were in florida working on their new sailboat. Why new? Because 2018's hurricane Michael destroyed their old one! My poor Mom and her bf cant catch a break from these storms it seems.

I had commissioned an artist friend of mine a few years back to paint a sailboat for them. I now call that painting "the little sail boat that could." It was located in the first photo.
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I told the artist about it and was trying to be light so I said, "now you can market your paintings as tornado proof." Turns out this was her second piece that survived a tornado! It just had a few scuffs that are not really noticeable and attic dust, I cleaned it and it'll adorn their home once again soon as the insurance kicks in and rebuilds it.

I offered to let them stay at my house but they were concerned about looting and wanted to sleep in their own bed since as I mentioned it that room was mostly okay.

They would have been okay down in their basement, but I am relieved that they just flat out weren't there. Because I know if it was me I'd be like trying to move everything that was really special to me to the basement and probably get killed, going up and down fetching items. Mostly I would've just tried finding all three cats.

TLDR: Learn about how to be safe during natural disasters. Listen to local authorities if they alert the public to stay off the roads. Do not EVER take a tornado warning for granted.

Hope you're all well. Depending on the final payout of this post I'm gonna give some money to them for food, etc. Thanks for reading! Be safe & healthy!
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Oh no, what a mess. That weather is really scary!!! 😱

I am happy to hear no one was injured. Nice to know the cat is well. I hope you are able to restore the house to its former glory.

Thanks for the kind regards. Unfortunately, the home sustained severe structural / foundational problems and has to be leveled

I'm terribly sorry to hear that. 😱

So was i , it was her bf family home .... he's 66

So sorry to hear about your mom's house! The pics are scary. I'm glad no humans or cats were injured. I hope the insurance claims and rebuild process go well!

Thank you! Unfortunately the home is beyond saving, the foundation was damaged and has to be leveled. But hopefully within a few months time they will have a nice livable home again

Oh wow! Glad you are all ok! It didn't really get too bad up here north of the city, but we're watching the news now seeing all the damage where the worst weather passed through. Mother Nature is crazy sometimes! I hope they can get the house fixed back up soon.

Posted using Partiko Android

Thanks, i'm glad to hear it didn't get too bad up there! Unfortunately the home has to be leveled due to damage to the foundation. They are living in an insulated large barn on the property that was somehow not damaged at all!

This is devastating news, I’m so sorry for your mom and her partner, I hope they are going to be alright. I’m sure it made a huge difference to know you were on it and what luck you had finding what they were looking for. There is some solace in the indiscriminate violence of climate change it seems, at least in this instance. The van, the TV and the painting are also silver linings to this otherwise sad news. I love how you finished on a positive note about the painting, I found that quite funny.

It is true that one must take weather warnings seriously, there is much at stake!

Lol, i tried not to be all doom and gloom. 8 days have passed and the detached barn that wasn't damaged has been turned into a rather cute (I'd rent it) apartment with electricity, bathroom running water.

The thing with the looting..... there's been TONS of it, or just flat out trespassing. They've ACTUALLY had to put huge signs up saying "private property." One day when my mom was at work Pete chased 30, yes 30, people off. They've had coin jars taken, a gun, etc. ... they were having a meeting with the insurance adjuster and a complete rando just wandered inside and started taking photographs!

Wow!

Living in Missouri, I can understand the tornado thing...

My goodness indeed; I am certainly glad things weren't worse than they were. I grew up right across the street from a tornado alarm; if there was a thunderstorm watch in three states away, the city would turn it on!! So, at a young age, I grew to have a fear of anything "storm" related. As I got older, I started to lose that fear, but never discount what mother nature is capable of.

Sad still... to think you would have to be afraid people would even think of looting when such devastation was the main concern. Certainly, hope you are able to get things sorted; sending positive energy that way... please let us know how things end up going...

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Thank you! It's true you never know what mother nature has in store. Better safe than sorry. Well unfortunately their home has to be leveled because it caused severe damage to the foundation and they are living out of an insulated large barn on the property that somehow was not harmed

Oh dear... I hate to hear that. Yes; at least they have "somewhere" to go, but like I said...looting? Really? I don't know if it is any help, but I did find this information...
Helping Those Affected

@wesphilbin - red cross came through , just brought them a pre loaded card from initial donations and said they'd keep loading when/as more donations come in

Very nice!! I'm glad they are getting some kind of help...

Is there a general link or place that others can add funds? Or just generalized and goes to where it's needed?

It's specific for this disaster relief.
But you can also just do a general red cross donation that probably just keeps their lights on...

That's what I figured... for sure wondered, so others could see the response, and hopefully, it would help promote the message...

Oh wow. Geographically I am close to lee county and actually didn't know it was so much worse. My mom and partner also had their sailboat destroyed in hurricane Michael last year and here's a picture taken by her at a nearby house near the hurricane Michael site; so i can understand from their viewpoint why although they live in a "good neighborhood" you just never know....
Thanks for sharing the link i'll pass it along to her.

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Yeah, I was lucky. They were very close to my house but just missed it.

Posted using Partiko Android

VERY close to mine too! I'm glad your home was okay though! I hear a lot of the roads are still a mess so be careful out there!

So sorry that you had to go through this!

Thanks 8 days later and their untouched detached barn on the property has been turned into a cute apartment with electricity and water!

That's amazing! So glad they're doing okay now. Okay, you never totally get over it, I'm sure - "before the storm" vs "after the storm" - but they're clearly very resilient.

It's definitely reaffirmed things we already know that people are more important than THINGS i'm so glad her partner has skills and a crew that could get that together so quickly for the interim

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Good they weren't there. What a mess....

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