It's been months since I've taken time to update our blog...and it really sucks to have to now....about really CRAPPY Weather.. that killed over 300 a couple days ago.
I'm sure by now you've heard of all the sucky tornadoes we've had here in Mississippi and next door in Alabama in the past few days. Good news, me, Linda, the dogs, our cat....and trailer survived! Closest tornado to us...to the north anyway, was only a couple miles away. Don't have a clue how many came through but devestation is horrible. We lost power for about a day and a half...thankfully our solar panels did what they were supposed to. Tues evening, storms rolled in. Watched TV and Listened to Nat'l WX svc...while tracking on my laptop. About 2:am, it was time to run to the only building in the campground...the men's bathroom on the north east corner of the bldg. Took my handheld Radio, laptop and WIFI phone. Listened to Tornado warnings one after another....right where we were. Luckily, they weren't exactly right where we were...but real damned close...WAY too close for that matter!
Next morn ran the 6 miles up hwy 9 to town ...Eupora MS, for breakfast and shopping. We couldn't believe the destruction from the tornadoes along the way. Mississippi DOT had just cleared and re-opened the road. Trees down...not just down, but twisted from their trunks. Many on houses, in yards and on fences, blocking roads...power lines down and laying across roads. Power is still out in most of the area and some expect at least 2 months before full electrical service and land line phones are restored. Took a bunch of pic's but haven't had time to download them yet...snapped off trees, trees on houses..even the roof of a building in a tree. I mentioned Hwy 9 because it runs South East to North West....and it's out of character for a Tornado to travel NW instead of East or North East...This tornado traveled right along the Hwy for about 5 miles and from the damage, must have been half mile ..or maybe more, wide.
Hit the Piggly Wiggly market in town in time for more Tornado Warnings. Eerie sound! At first, we could hear the warning sirens off in the distance....but, as the tornado got closer to us, sirens got louder and louder. Watched storm chasers flying down the road... We headed to the cooler in the middle of the store with the employees til the storm passed. Once out of the cooler, sirens again..this time we stood by the door and watched a tornado pass a mile or so south of us down US82 on it's way to Starkville (home of MFJ) 20 miles to our east. In town, one died in the Tues night storm and two more in the Wednesday afternoon tornado that we watched pass by. Total, within about 10 miles from the campground we were in, 15 to 20 lost their lives... Reports have been that the tornadoes strength was EF4 with 200mph winds, but experts are thinking the storms were actually EF5...with 250+ mph winds.
Looking at the devestation caused by the storms and our close proximity to touch down, it gives you a completely new perspective on life...
We made phone calls and left voice messages Thursday morning with the ARRLs Alabama Section Manager and the Mississippi Section manager asking of they needed help with communications out of communities that were destroyed by the tornadoes...haven't heard a peep out of them...guess they've got Comm's under control.
We’re Linda, and Steve Weed..welcome to our blog. We hope you enjoy joining us in our travels with our Two Dogs, Heidi, our Long Haired Black German Shepherd, Lit'l Bit, our American Staffordshire Terrier (Pit Bull) Puppy and our cat, Sam. A little about us..in November of 2009, we moved out of our house in San Diego and hit the road to travel the US in our RV “Full Time”. Our home on wheels...a 40 foot long 2004 Cardinal Fifth Wheel Trailer.
