The National Weather Service calls it a PDS – a particularly dangerous situation.
Tornadoes ravaged parts of Louisiana and Florida yesterday. Those storms came to my neck of the woods today. My city is no stranger to tornadoes though, thankfully, they’re infrequent. But they have hit the city several times before today, including a storm in 1993 that killed several people when it tore through a Walmart store.
East of me, down highway 460, the small town of Waverly was hit hard and at least 3 people are known to be dead there. They were inside a mobile home that was picked up by a twister and dropped in a different location. West of me, the small town of Appomattox – where the Civil War ended – was also hit hard, with homes losing their roofs.
Local TV meteorologists have been showing weather radar and talking non-stop since about 2:30 PM. Watching the radar makes me feel like my city is a target in a shooting range and Mother Nature is taking potshots at it. We’ve had at least 5 tornadoes in Virginia today, and the count could go higher. Many tornadoes are not reported until the next day when surveys are made.
The last band of storms is moving through my city now. After it passes, there should be only rain. The lights have flickered twice. I’m hitting the publish button now, before the power goes off for good.
[Edit] It is the next day. The storm’s death toll in Virginia stands at 4, with 3 people killed elsewhere. There were 8 tornadoes in Virginia, 5 in North Carolina, and 3 in Florida. City officials decided to sound the tornado-alert siren (a.k.a. the BFS), which is located about 50 meters from my house, at 7:32 PM – approximately a half hour after the storm had passed. Go figure.
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