Catastrophes and other Forces of Nature

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We always looked forward to driving through Greensburg. It had this huge hand dug well they dug for the railroad and had to go WAY down to get to the aquifer. Greensburg was on the gently sloping ancient sea bed that is the Great American Plains in the middle of the Continent. Winds start up in the Hudson Bay country and don't stop till they smack into the Andes down in Peru. Those winds and the moisture from the gulf of Mexico make an alley. . tornado alley they call it and I lived my first 17 years with springs and summers huddling in the basement or the southern most part of a house while the whine of the air raid sirens ( the sirens did double duty, because of that little circumstance called 'The Cold War' and "The Cuban Missle Crisis") We learned in school how to 'duck and cover', but it was mostly to give us something to do because an atom bomb or a tornado. . . well, either one doesn't give much warning or much chance of survival, anyway.

When I grew up, it was the common wisdom that if you lived at the fork of two rivers, you would not be bothered by tornados. Wichita was at the fork of the Big Arkansas and the Little Arkansas river ( and in Kansas, it was pronounced AR KANSAS. In Colorado, where it sprang up and in every other state it flowed through to get to the Mississippi, it is called AR KAN SAW)
and though outlying suburbs got hit, Wichita hasn't much, so it may be true.

I remember the sky being purple, vibrant, pulsing purple and every hair on my body standing straight out, the dogs and cats hair, my folks hair. . while the characteristic 'chugga chugga, chugga, chugga' vibration down in your gut and in the walls and then the house looked like it was breathing while the roof sailed off the house, right over our heads, leaving us to peep though the holes made in the ceiling into the roofless attic. Yes, it was just like in 'the wizard of oz', really.

But the devastation afterwards was complete. The only thing I ever saw to resemble it was some live feeds on CNN after the Twin Towers went down. Like all the people have gone autistice in the shock and stuptifacation.

There was a little town that was completely devastated like Greensburg was last night that rebuilt when I was a girl. They named the rebuilt town after Lawrence Udall the secretary of the interior for his help in getting rebuilding money.

This is my way of honoring the people of Greensburg, KS. although I have lived through wildfires and volcano eruptions, living through tornados was the worst, simply because of the capriciousness of the damage. Greensburg's tornado was a mile wide, and little remains.

thanks for having this site so I can vent.

Merle

I lived in suburb of Topeka Kansas and still have a lot of fear when the sky gets dark.It seemed that all the oxygen had been sucked out of the air before a storm.We were never hit but the fear of "it's time to head for the basement" is still with me.Most of the tornados that hit MN are 30 min south of us,but I still have an emergency bag packed.

I feel greatful that I haven't had to live with my life being uprooted by wind,water ,fire.I have enough trouble just making it through daily life.I'm sorry anyone has to deal with these things.How do they have the strength?

I saw the pics on the CNN website. It's like they were bombed, like Berlin during the war. Unimaginable devastation. My heart goes out to those folks.

I lived in Topeka two years after the 1966 devastation that damaged the capitol building. It was scary and awe inspiring just to see what can happen with that sort of force of nature.
I have a 'bag' too, with a wind up radio and one of those flashlights you shake to make work, one of those 'space blankets' and my old wool college blanket, a rain suit ( I live in Oregon!) and wellingtons. I ate the energy bars and the peanuts, though, but the chocolate has 'bloom' on it so I am gonna have to be pretty hungry to eat that.
Matches and candles an empty tin can and kitty litter. (hey, I lived in MN for a while, believe me, if you are stuck in your car in the snow, you want to get out. . dig down next to the tire, light the candle and put it in the can, melts the snow down so you can sprinkle the kitty litter and get some traction to get out!)



I have been flooded out, twice and my only house I ever owned burned to the ground. But I have not yet had the wind blow me away. When it happens you don't think about having the strength, Krex. You just 'do'. ( and curse, and scream and kick and moan and groan and whine but you don't stop your momentum to keep on going.)

Merle

I remember a day while at Penn State. The sky, the ground almost the very air, turned green. I was a bit nervous. This went on for a while and I just had never seen such a thing. Then it appeared. It was the only time I have ever seen ball lightning. It seemed huge as it rolled, yes it really looked like it rolled, across the sky. Almost firey, sparkily, slowly, I really have no words that could do it justice.

We have tornadoes here, but nothing of the magnitude you speak of. Have only actually laid eyes on one here. Hills usually break them up, but they have a nasty habit of following valleys every once in a while. Have seen the results of them touch down, traced the paths they left in the woods. I can not imagine the feel of such a thing. Got very nervous in Texas one time, but it didn't seem to form. I'm sure it was in that odd cloud. No I really can't imagine such a thing.

We are very geared for lose of power and things like that. Things that puts most people in a tither. Just the way it is around here. I do need to get a generator, the phone always seems to pull through what the power company can't get right. I need my computer fix, often. Went through the Agnus Flood, lost a truck was all. We're in a higher elevation and it didn't affect this house to much, mostly the river valleys, wasn't pretty. Get the local down pours and the creeks will jam up, lost 20 some years worth of archeo research obsession to one, that one crushed me. I felt a death in that one. I got out of the field shortly after and will never go back.

Thank you for letting me vent

I remember the flooding that happened in New Orleans. I hope that never happens in Langley.

My sorrys. I haven't been watching the news. I have reasons for it, very unlike me to not keep current, but needed.

My reply was not appropriate.

krex,

Isn't Kansas where all of the tornadoes were last night? I just saw it on the news. I hope you weren't affected?

Thanks for your concern.I did live on a lake in the suburbs of Kansas and still have two brothers in Kansas city but I moved away in 1979.I live in MN now and our worst problems are flooding on some rivers and blizzards(which is why we are rooting for global warming... )

In Southern Alberta we get the floods in the spring and summer, tornadoes from May to July and nasty blizzards in the winter. And we can't forget the Chinook winds that gust from 50 km to 120 km all fall and winter long. Why am I living here?

This is my first time being in such close proximity to wildfires. Every day the sky is hazy with smoke, and the air is smoky to breathe. I've been really sick, and have been unable to do anything but sleep, for two days. Every time I listen to the news, more acres have been destroyed by the fires. This is really scary.

I hear you Hartz. I call every day because I'm worried about my pets. It never fails, I leave the state and disaster happens. I'm paranoid about vacations now.

Yeah, it must be hard to relax and enjoy yourself. I hope you manage to, anyway, Zanne-Marie!