Yesterday we had our first tornado out break of tornado season here in north Texas. Back in the day (which means in the time before kids) I was very blasé about things like Earthquakes and tornados. I would say (and still do) there is nothing you can do to prevent them so all you can do is be prepared. So you shouldn’t worry about what you can’t control.
But then I had kids. I now have three little lives I have to protect from elements beyond my control.
When Spring A.K.A. Tornado Season rolls around I often find myself comparing Earthquakes to tornados and trying to decide which I would “prefer.”
I grew up in southern California. I have actually experienced a major Earthquake (Northridge Quake of ’94) and countless tiny ones…you know those ones that are 4.0 or less…the ones that stir your coffee for you. The ground shakes and being woken by a major Earthquake is NOT fun. I remember looking at my sister and screaming right before the lights went out when the Northridge quake hit. There was damage to our house and neighborhood, but nothing like what recent Earthquakes around the world have done. With Earthquakes there is no warning. Some say extreme weather change and animals behaving oddly might be an indicator, but who really knows.
Since moving to Texas we’ve experienced numerous tornado warnings and the nearest we’ve been to one is about five miles. What I “like” about tornados is the warning. I’m not saying that tornados can’t happen without warning, but five seconds is more than you get in an Earthquake. Plus, the weather actually is an indication. You can tell if it is tornado weather, and be prepared for the possibility.
- Damage caused by yesterday’s tornados. {source}
On Monday night I had a terrible dream that we were hit by a tornado and the kids were caught and separated from us. In the dream my in-laws are there and David and I are trying to find the kids and they are not helping. They are more concerned with their material possessions rather than finding their grandchildren/nieces & nephew. David and I frantically search all over for the kids. Eventually my Aunt Colleen finds us and lets us know that they (my family) have found Chloe and that she is okay. I woke up shortly after that. In the dream we never found Irelyn and Grayson. The dream unnerved me. I cried. Every time I tried to go back to sleep I would go back into the dream and be frantically searching for Irelyn and Grayson. I’d wake myself up only to fall back into the dream if I let myself sleep. Then, the next day we had the tornados.
I think I’d rather have the Earthquakes.
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I have lived in California (San Francisco) my whole life the biggest shake we had besides the 1906 was the 1989 earthquake and it really messed us up for a bit. I would rather have that than a tornado any day. I know that you do not know when earthquake strike but most of our buildings, bridges and huge garages have been retrofitted for earthquakes. From what I have seen about tornadoes is that the power of the wind can just pick up anything and send it off into space. Tornadoes are way scarier to me then earthquakes. I also think earthquakes in certain areas will hit big once every 15 to 20 years tornadoes seem to happen every year.
I remember the ’89 quake. I mean, I didn’t feel it, because I was in southern California, but it scared me because I knew it could happen to us too. The tornados are freakin’ reckless. At least if I’m in a normal house in CA and not on a fault line I *should* be okay. It’s been a while since California has had a big one. That scares me because, with the exception of one of my sisters, all my family is in southern California. I really like living in Texas, but when tornado season rolls around and the storms start I long for California. Also,I wouldn’t mind a trip to Hollywood to people watch, that was always fun.
I live up in Washington and while we have had a few “big” earthquakes what really scares me is the really big one that they predict can happen at any time. Having never been through a tornado I can’t really say what I would prefer but at least with a tornado you have a little bit of a warning.
I’ve heard about that big one they keep predicting for the northwest. I know you can’t escape natural disasters, but it’d be nice to live somewhere where they don’t seem as evil.
I am so sorry you had to experience the scary tornadoes too. I live in Texas and was scared out of my mind yesterday. I didn’t go to bed until 4am my anxiety was so high from the days events. I have never been in an earthquake – But I think I would prefer an earthquake. Tornadoes – yes we have a warning, but if you have no underground shelter they can give you all the warning in the world and that tornado could still be strong enough to rip your house to shreds and toss you around like a ragdoll. That’s what scares me. I think houses in Texas should have automatically all come with underground tornado shelters.
How close were you and your family to where they hit? I hope you are all okay. I get really bad anxiety when we have warnings too. Luckily my husband was working from home yesterday, so I had him to keep me grounded.
When we first moved to Texas and started looking for a place to live we thought it was really weird that we were in “Tornado Alley” yet none of the houses had basements or anything for protection. When we asked someone about it they told us it was because the ground around here wouldn’t support it. I don’t know if that’s accurate, but it sounded good to me. Still…there should be something. Right now when we hear the sirens we all gather in a our downstairs bathroom and while it has no exterior walls, one of the walls it shares with the garage and all I can think about when we are in there is how the garage door could just be pulled off. Then I start to worry about the winds causing our van to crash through the wall into the bathroom. I really don’t feel safe at all.
Riding out the Northridge quake as a teenager was a lot easier on my emotions. Maybe no warning for things like that is better, because it is then completely out of your hands…
I’m not sure exactly how far but literally our area was surrounded. I kept hearing warning after warning after warning. Seeing people on the fox 4 news saying where they were spotting tornado’s and I want to say the closet one was about 20-25 minutes away from us and that was the first one we were warned about. Then more popped up and then wound up going different directions. It was completely insane. I had never had so many warnings in our area in the 23 years I have lived in Texas. I thought for sure no matter what we were getting hit with one because they were coming from all sides.
I completely agree there should be something. I think if we can’t have basements & storm sellers houses in Texas should be built with a specific room that is a big enough size to hold a family that is surrounded my walls. Oh goodness I would be freaking out about that too. Our “safe room” is the boys closet but it’s not very safe because if their room gets destroyed and the closet door comes of it’s hinges were screwed. The only room “safe” would be the hall closet but there is only room enough for one adult or maybe two small children if it was completely cleaned out. You better believe if worse came to worse I would stuff my boys in there and brace the door with my life to protect them.
It is hard to pick one natural disaster over another. I am not sure which is worse. The idea of a tornado at night is frightening. I grew up in Georgia where there were not sirens and occasionally we awoke to trees going over. In Florida we have an occasional tornado, but more frequently have hurricanes, which also cause tornadoes. One year we had four hurricanes in a month. The hurricanes are better than the earthquakes or tornadoes because there is a lot of warning. Sorry that you have to go through such a frightening experience over and over.
i live in tornado alley!!!!!!! eeeks, that’s the scary part of spring here!
I often wonder if I had realized where I lived was at the tail end of tornado alley if I would still have moved here. I was totally clueless…but that’s really the only thing I don’t like about our area. Everything else I like or can deal with more easily!