If cats have nine lives, how many do people have?

[Daghain]

Because I think I just used up #2.

Hear about the tornado that went through Windsor, CO? Yep, I was there. I was at work when that sucker went through, huddled in the tornado shelter with a bunch of my coworkers.

Since we work in a factory which is essentially a big concrete box, we were quite safe, and the noise was minimal. A bunch of us dumb asses, however, were watching it come in front of the big plate glass windows in the office, thinking it really wasn't coming. It's kind of a deer in the headlights thing. As soon as the hail hit, the lights went out, and the sirens sounded, we beat feet for the shelter. About two minutes later it went though.

It lasted maybe two minutes, but of course it felt like ten years. When we came out, there was a huge hole ripped in the roof of the warehouse, and there's a smaller one in the office. Water was running down the back stairs like a waterfall. We could smell gas, there were many leaks in the area, although I don't think it was actually at our plant.

All our cars were damaged; mine (which I have only made two payments on, by the way) had all but the windshield and front side windows blown out, a HUGE dent in the roof, the driver's mirror hanging by its wiring, and the rearview swinging loose due to the roof cave-in. It was drivable, so I got it to the dealer and secured a rental (before half the town did - it's a total disaster) so I'm good for the duration.

The town is a wreck. It looks like the tornado passed next to our plant - a direct hit and I think I would have still been okay, but I think that shelter (the women's bathroom :lol:) would have been all that was standing.

Luckily, I live in Ft. Collins, the next town over, so my house was okay. A bit of hail, but that's it.

Linkies:

slideshow (http://www.thedenverchannel.com/slideshow/news/16366171/detail.html)

That overturned train near the end is about 1/2 mile from my plant.

video (http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/22/colorado.tornado.video/index.html#cnnSTCVideo)

This is pretty much what we saw coming at us, but in much more vivid technicolor.

[Unfound One]

Oh my gosh Daggers!
I'm so glad to hear you're okay!
And I'm sorry about your car... ugh.

[Aballah]

Wow, that sucks man. The worst we get up here is heavy blizzards and the occasional ice storm, but no tornados and almost no hurricanes.
Still lucky that the whole damn thing didn't blow with all the leaks.

[MonteGss]

:o
Daggers!

[Daghain]

We *never* get torndaoes in this part of Colorado - they ALWAYS go east.

This was totally bizarre. I lived in Michigan for 27 years, and never lived through a tornado. And then get plastered by one here. The hell?

I'm starting to feel like that kid in the movie Final Destination. :lol:

ETA: If you click on the video called "Tornados smash cars, buildings, at about :21 in you'll see the side of our building. Those are semi trailers - or, they were. There's an annoying ticking noise in the video.

[bergy81]

Glad you're ok Daggers. Where in Michigan did you live?

[Daghain]

Saginaw. The town NEXT TO the armpit of the state. :lol:

[Erin]

:o :o :o Holy cow Daggers!!!!

I'm so glad you are OK! What a terrifying story!

[Daghain]

Yes, but now I have beer and a four day weekend, so I'll try to muddle through. :lol:

ETA: I'm trolling for pics of the plant, so I'll post up what I find:

This is the south side of our plant. Notice the small truck totally escaped damage:

http://www.schwols.com/Photos/d/16084-1/tornado.jpg

[Jean]

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Messages/HugsToYouRddBear.gif

[obscurejude]

Daggers, I'm very glad you're okay, but damn, that must have been cool as hell to see.

*jealous*

[Míchéal]

wow,,,fucked up

[Daghain]

Daggers, I'm very glad you're okay, but damn, that must have been cool as hell to see.

*jealous*

It totally was. That thing was HUGE.

Once is enough, however. :lol:

Right now they've basically sealed off the town - our corporate office tried to parachute some people in to assess the damage and they can't get across town. I think they're trying to keep the looting/vandalism down and of course there's no power on that side of town, so there's not much anyone can do, anyway. The only person I've talked to from work so far is my boss, who was off site when it happened - she got to ride it out in a restaurant across town. We're trying to figure out how to run payroll - our only means of access to our system right now is her laptop. This should be fun......

[jayson]

Glad to hear you came through that ok Dag. sorry about your car.

[mia/susannah]

Daggers, glad to know that you are ok. Sorry about the damage to your car. I have been through a tornado when I was a kid. It was the scariest thing to me. My family lost our home in that tornado

[Daghain]

I just found out they painted our warehouse with red "x's" to keep people out - they're afraid it's going to collapse! There are a couple of nice huge holes in the roof, for sure.

[Odetta]

Ugh!
At least you're alright... how very odd for a tornado in CO!?!?!

[Daghain]

Not really, but usually they go a lot further east. This one apparently didn't get the memo. :lol:

[Odetta]

stupid illiterate tornado!

[Daghain]

That's exactly what I thought. Why aren't people educating these things? :lol:

[Rjeso]

Hate hate hate hate hate tornadoes. I'm glad things ended up okay for you, all things considering!

[Woofer]

Phew! Glad you and your house are okay, but I'm sorry your car has to be hospitalized. I hope the recovery is swift and fully compensated by your insurance!

[MrsSmeej]

So glad to hear that you survived your first tornado Daghain. I can see why your mood is twisted today. Thoughts and good wishes are with you and yours in Colorado.

:scared:

*dials phone* Ummm...? Hello. I'd like to cancel my reservations to Colorado. I understand they have ignorant tornadoes there.

[Matt]

I was worried about you when I saw the news Daggers, I know you are in that area. So glad to hear you are okay. :wub:

[CPU]

Glad to hear you made it through ok.

I loathe tornados, growing up in Kansas and Oklahoma gave me a healthy fear of them. They seem to be expanding their territory these days, we just had two straight weekends of them from Arkansas->Georgia, which is pretty uncommon for this area. Lot's of damage and unfortunately dozens killed.

[alinda]

daggers, dayum glad your ok there girl.
Your one solid individual ! Way to keep it
together under pressure!

[Nerak]

Huggles and glad to know that the only thing that suffered is your car...and your work (time off with pay?!?!)

[Heather19]

Daggers, I'm sorry to hear about that. I can't even imagine going thru that. I would have been terrified. Glad to hear you're alright.

[The Lady of Shadows]

jeez daggers, just getting caught up and this is what i see. i'm so glad you're okay! :couple:

thankfully, you still have a home to go to and hopefully your insurance will cover "act of illiterate tornado". just a reminder sweetie, standing there watching the tornado coming - not a good idea. :nope:

again, i'm so very glad that you're safe.

[Daghain]

My friend Bob (who now insists he is the official photographer for all my disasters :lol:) got some pics of my car at the shop:

Pinot Gets Wrecked (http://www.schwols.com/Photos/v/AnnSellersPhotos/Pinot/)

[The Lady of Shadows]

My friend Bob (who now insists he is the official photographer for all my disasters :lol:) got some pics of my car at the shop:

Pinot Gets Wrecked (http://www.schwols.com/Photos/v/AnnSellersPhotos/Pinot/)


okay so my first question is pretty obvious - exactly how many disasters are you planning on having????? :panic:

second question - are you sure you don't want to just drive your car around like that? i mean, come on. imagine the stories you could tell. :thumbsup:

seriously though, any word from the insurance company? i know it's a holiday weekend and all but they are going to cover it, right?

[Daghain]

They're going to look at it. I'm sure I'll hear tomorrow.

[Frunobulax]

Taking the thread title literally, I have two. My Nental Ife counts.

[Daghain]

Well, I just found out why the building was red x'd.

Apparently part of the roll room is gone. It's a big cement room in the back where we hold rollstock (think newspaper printing machine, big rolls of paper like that).

Corporate parachuted in a couple cranes and about 100 people, and they're fixing it up. I have to go in for a bit tomorrow to assess the damage, but hourly is off for at least a week, and more likely two.

This ought to be fun.

[Armand St Pierre]

Glad to see that you're ok!
Hope the company gets back on it's feet ASAP.

We just made it through some bad weather this weekend...... let's hope this isn't a trend.

[Daghain]

That system seems to have worked it's way across the country. What a nightmare!

I'm going to go the long way to work tomorrow and see if I can see what's up with the back of the building. I'll try and get some phone camera pics if I can.

Should be good if I do!

[Nerak]

Well, I just found out why the building was red x'd.

Apparently part of the roll room is gone. It's a big cement room in the back where we hold rollstock (think newspaper printing machine, big rolls of paper like that).

Corporate parachuted in a couple cranes and about 100 people, and they're fixing it up. I have to go in for a bit tomorrow to assess the damage, but hourly is off for at least a week, and more likely two.

This ought to be fun.

hope it's a paid "vacation"

[Daghain]

Went to work today. We gave up at 2pm because they still couldn't get the power on. I just got a call about 10 minutes ago that it's all back up and we're on for tomorrow.

I got a tour of the damage - holy shit! Had it not rained last night we would have been a LOT better off. I've posted up some shots from my camera phone here (http://www.schwols.com/Photos/v/AnnSellersPhotos/tornado/).

Comments on the shots are in the upper right corner. Happy browsing!

[Heather19]

Yikes, that doesn't look good Daggers. It's a good thing you guys are all safe.

[LadyHitchhiker]

Depends on the person. Some people don't even have one!!

[Daghain]

There's one house I tried to get a picture of, (couldn't - too many construction vehicles around) that literally looked like a facade from a Hollywood set - the front was there, but the rest was totally gone. I mean TOTALLY gone.

We lost most of the HVAC from the roof - as in no longer there. Some of those things weighed hundreds of pounds. Glad they didn't kill anyone.

[Nerak]

again, Glad that you and everyone else made it through it ok!

Next time, don't watch!! LOL Well, hopefully there won't BE a next time!

[Daghain]

I only watched up to the point where we all knew it was headed for us. Then we all took shelter.

We missed the really good part. :lol:

[cozener]

And here I was about to rant about the unfairness of felines getting 9 lives and everyone else getting one then I see its some goddamn tornado thing...

Glad you lived through it though and its really cool that you got to see it up close. Thats shit you can tell the grandkids about.

[Daghain]

Yeah, I've kind of checked that one off my bucket list. Once was plenty. :lol:

[Daghain]

Well, they're going to fix my car, to the tune of $9000!

I have to pay the $500 deductible, though. GRRRRRRR.

I hate Mother Nature. :angry:

[stboling]

Wow, Daghain, I'm glad you're ok. Tornados are scary. Sorry about your car.

[Rjeso]

Glad to see that you're ok!
Hope the company gets back on it's feet ASAP.

We just made it through some bad weather this weekend...... let's hope this isn't a trend.

Yeah, and then again this weekend?? Hope you and Monte both made it through those hailstorms unscathed. That was some pretty nasty stuff.

[Daghain]

For the curious, I managed to snag some pics of the inside of the building, taken right after the tornado hit.

Tornado Pics (http://www.schwols.com/Photos/v/AnnSellersPhotos/tornado/)

Start on page 2 for the new ones.

[Unfound One]

Yikes! Yet again Dags, I'm so glad you made it through this alive.
We had a pretty bad storm here Sunday night - tornado came through the city and ripped the roof off of our brand new Super Walmart - the sirens were on and off all night where I was but we were spared, thank goodness.

[Ves'Ka Gan]

Holy cow! I have family out that way but nothing hit them...we had a few funnel clouds balst through Baltimore/DC (apparently those ones REALLY couldn't read).

I walked outside at 330 in the afternoon and it was dark as night and perfectly still. I thought "fuuuuuck this! I'll take California earthquakes over this eery shit any day!"

Then the wind & rain hit...it was a pretty terrifying time, hanging out in the basement with the cat, but luckily nothing touched down.

In short, what I am saying is FUCK weird ass weather--ESPECIALLY TORNADOES!!

[Daghain]

I love the pic of the boxes stuck to the wall. It's just so...weird. :lol: