Around 6:00 pm a message was shouted out all across town on the city's siren system, telling us that there was a storm coming toward us that had a history of delivering tornadoes. They instructed everyone to seek shelter and that it would be over in about 30 minutes...
So we went outside to have a look, as did nearly everyone else in the neighborhood. Okies would rather stare a tornado down before they head for the cellar. The sirens went on at least 10 times, maybe more, but there was very little wind. The sky was dark, and in a short while we saw the wall cloud pass overhead, followed by a funnel cloud.
Down the street, an elderly gent brought out a lawn chair out and sat down facing west.
"When he goes in, I go in," I reasoned. He's probably seen a lot of these things and I trusted his judgment a lot more than the weather service, who didn't deem it important enough to update their radar maps online. Because we don't have TV, we rely on our computers for news.
Soon, another announcement was made, telling us that a tornado had touched down out at 6th and Country Club, which isn't far away. The wind suddenly hit us. The man took his lawn chair indoors and everyone else followed suit. All the while, the sirens were blowing. Then everything turned dark and deathly still. All we could do was listen and wait, and I felt like I was in WWII England, waiting for the Blitzkrieg. That's nerve wracking!
Later, after it was all over, we learned that the closest touchdown was at the university, only three blocks away. Immediately after the sirens went off we began to hear the sirens of emergency vehicles. That went on the rest of the evening. I heard the last one just a few minutes ago. The city trucks are still driving around, answering calls.
This is a link to the Stillwater News Press, where there is a short article and video.
I hope I never go through that again.
Oh, I forgot to mention that our house was in the middle of a flash flood last night. Our driveway is covered with debris, but we're lucky that our house is up off the ground a good two feet.
Can we have a little boredom now? Seems like the past two weeks have been one thing after another.
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UPDATE 11:12 am, Thursday:
We've learned that another one touched down just a couple of blocks on the other side of us. We were surrounded!
