Foto-story Friday #12-- tornado adventures

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

No one told us when we moved to this map dot in Eastern MT that we had moved to tornado ally. OK, so it's not Kansas, but surprisingly enough {to us} this area receives its fair share of the twisters!  The above picture is of the trailer we lived in when Troy was working on the farm.  It is how it looked after our first tornado experience.  {July 2001} 

Let me first say, that out on the farm If you don't have dish network or direct TV, you don't have TV! And the radio, yeah, it only comes in if you hold your tongue just right and stand in such a way that you are the anteane!  {on with the story...}   The day seemed pretty normal we went about life as usual and fed the sister missionaries that night.  Troy observed the sky, that it looked like a storm was brewing and told them they should head on back to town.  The sky looked nasty, nearly black off in the distance and it was only around 7-ish.  We got the kids ready for bed, took another look outside. I remember thinking "Humm, that's strange, there's no wind." Now, there seems to always be wind in Eastern MT.  All of the sudden, the wind hit! We were sure that it would rip the A/C unit out of the window, so we quick worked to get it in the house.  Our table still bears the marks of our hasty drop onto it.  I looked out the window,saw stuff all over the yard and remarked, "The wind is sure strong, it has already destroyed something and strewn it all over the yard."  The wind was shaking the trailer, but you know how unsteady a trailer house can be.  The phone rang at that moment and it was the farmer's wife, "Get up here, it's a tornado.  You need to get in the basement!"  My mind was reeling!  A tornado?  Did I really hear that right?!  So we gathered the kids and ran for the suburban.

See the two vehicles in this picture? We mostly parked them like this, close together and usually headed in the same direction. {All pictures were taken the day after the excitement.} We raced out to the sub and the wind picked up Shantel, who at that time, was only 5, and slammed her into the pick-up.  I was starting to panic thinking something worse would happen in the short drive up to the main farmhouse.  We all crammed into the basement bedroom to wait out the storm.  Shortly it passed on, and the guys went out to check the damage.  We stayed that night at the farmhouse. I was scared. That stuff all over the yard? That was the roof of the trailer! A few years before they had a new roof built over the trailer and the tornado had removed it in a matter of seconds!  That's right we were in the house as the tornado passed over us!  I've seen the pictures of whole trailer parks being leveled in tornados!  The Lord was for sure watching over us.  We were all fine, our puppy was fine, he'd hid under the porch and our horse was also alright.  The gate to her pasture was open, but she was fine.  This is some of the damage incurred at the farm.  The 5th wheel trailer was on the other side of the car!  The swing-set was in the grass and closer to the clothes line and the windows of the garage.  The riding mower was also in the grass upright.  The grain trailer had been freshly painted and now was in need of a new paint job.  The garage door had been tweaked.
The power went out right after the phone call.  We were without power for nearly 24 hours.  
The above picture is of the grain elevators in Circle.   A farm in the area lost a whole quonset -- all that was left was the concrete slab!
The farmer's wife then told us that it seemed every time there was a tornado watch or warning in the area, they had been hit.  I think this was important information!  Why did she not tell us this before?!  We spent the next day cleaning up the mess.  We learned that our new trampoline had rolled down the street and then came all apart-- the pieces parts never to be all recovered.  A few days later I was chatting with my mom online when I looked out the window to see three funnel clouds off in the distance!  

I could have gone my whole life without ever experiencing another one of those storms.  It was not to be.  In June 2006, I went out to take pictures of the storm clouds.  They were very cool looking.  Kind of menacing 
and a little eerie...
I took this below picture just before the wind kicked in.

Do you see that cloud coming down the road?  I got inside and got the door closed just before the wind roared past the house.  I can not even describe how it sounded.  The power went out, the rain followed.  Shantel started to panic reliving our previous experience.  Whether it was a tornado that twisted down our street or just the wind, I'm not sure.  There were sightings of twisters on the ground in town that day.  

My mother-in-law came over right after the storm and we drove around to survey the damage.
The next day I did some more looking.
Nearly every area of town had sustained some damage.  Huge trees came crashing down causing the most damage.

Beware the weather and always take your camera!  Be wary of green skies and the clam before the storm.