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Oh Noes, a Tornado!
The long awaited (?) picture post about the tornado that didn't destroy my house!
I took these pictures a few weeks after I'd been home, but the houses looked about the same as they had when i first got back. Now they actually look worse, because they've started working on them, so they are all torn open! I tried to get pictures when we had the 'ice storm' here, but I wasn't quick enough and the ice melted ;p. I thought the contrast would have been nice :)
In anycase.... This was the general view from across the street:
My building is on the left - the one with a few shingles missing from the roof. My apartment is on that side of the building, on the first floor. The other house, as you can see, has significantly more damage!
Here is a close up to the building to the right of mine, if you are looking at the from across the street:
Yeah - it is pretty trashed!
Just to rub things in a bit more, here is the building that is further left of mine. There is a small parking lot between my building and this one, and it side on to the street:
Once again, I escaped doooom!
And just to reinforce how completely I escaped said doom, here is a picture of my door. While this demonstrates the shitty drainage in the area, what I would really like you all to note is that my welcome mat is still in place :o
When I thought my place *had* been struck my a tornado, I had several thoughts. I was mostly resigned to the situation. I did mourn for my things, but not all of them. I was never "OMG my Microwave! D:" Things I was concerned about were mostly books, because I need them for school - they are the tools I need to work. While most of them would not be hard to replace, some really really would. I was also concerned for my mementos - letters and things I have been given by various people over the years, wall hangings by my mom, and that sort of thing. Mostly I didn't really care about my stuff, and I am kind of proud of that. Things can be replaced. One notable exception is the hand blown glass that I bought in Venice, but it is a work of art. I was also a little worried when people were going to go move my stuff for me (a sentiment I still appreciate) about who might be moving some of the, ah, 'things' near my dresser ;)
I took these pictures a few weeks after I'd been home, but the houses looked about the same as they had when i first got back. Now they actually look worse, because they've started working on them, so they are all torn open! I tried to get pictures when we had the 'ice storm' here, but I wasn't quick enough and the ice melted ;p. I thought the contrast would have been nice :)
In anycase.... This was the general view from across the street:
My building is on the left - the one with a few shingles missing from the roof. My apartment is on that side of the building, on the first floor. The other house, as you can see, has significantly more damage!
Here is a close up to the building to the right of mine, if you are looking at the from across the street:
Yeah - it is pretty trashed!
Just to rub things in a bit more, here is the building that is further left of mine. There is a small parking lot between my building and this one, and it side on to the street:
Once again, I escaped doooom!
And just to reinforce how completely I escaped said doom, here is a picture of my door. While this demonstrates the shitty drainage in the area, what I would really like you all to note is that my welcome mat is still in place :o
When I thought my place *had* been struck my a tornado, I had several thoughts. I was mostly resigned to the situation. I did mourn for my things, but not all of them. I was never "OMG my Microwave! D:" Things I was concerned about were mostly books, because I need them for school - they are the tools I need to work. While most of them would not be hard to replace, some really really would. I was also concerned for my mementos - letters and things I have been given by various people over the years, wall hangings by my mom, and that sort of thing. Mostly I didn't really care about my stuff, and I am kind of proud of that. Things can be replaced. One notable exception is the hand blown glass that I bought in Venice, but it is a work of art. I was also a little worried when people were going to go move my stuff for me (a sentiment I still appreciate) about who might be moving some of the, ah, 'things' near my dresser ;)
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Well, that's the theory I was told (and I've no idea if it's apocryphal or not) is that houses in a tornado-prone areas tend to be mostly wood, so that the structure of the house just flies away from the cellar when a tornado passes over. On the other hand, a brick-shelled building would just get its innards sucked out by a tornado and collapse inwards - which is bad news if you're hiding in the cellar.
By comparison, we prefer to build out of brick in this country because exposed wood rots too damned quickly in our climate.