Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Pond Boss Dodged a bullet last night

I'm not one to be "afraid" of tornadoes but last night had me worried. A friend that lives about 300 miles away texted me and said "Have you seen the weather? Kankakee, Illinois just got smacked by a tornado and it's headed your way. Watch your butt.". Now Kankakee is about 90 miles and 1.5 hours away so I finished what I was doing in the pole barn and headed inside. We were on the border of zone 3 and 4 of severe weather yesterday but it was cloudy all day so the energy didn't build like it could have. This was around 8pm. In the next 30 minutes I had probably 10 different friends and customers text me saying that I needed to watch my butt.

I looked at my local weather guy that I trust and he said there was s supercell moving NE from there that DID have a tornado in it. I kept watching as it got closer and closer. As it got closer and closer I got a wee bit more concerned and started putting things away for safekeeping that should have been put away. The house has a 9' deep basement, but when they said it was 10 minutes away I chickened out, threw the dog in the truck and hit the highway, driving away from it. My thoughts were that I could replace material things, but if I got hurt, that would not be a good thing.

It previously was staying on a pretty straight SW to NE track, so I knew if I drove SE I'd be OK. I heard was that the tornado hit Knox, then Hamlet, then the rotation was showing at Koontz Lake, which is NNE of Grovertown, instead of heading further E like it was going towards this house when I hit the road. Grovertown is directly between Hamlet and Koontz Lake.

Unfortunately, Grovertown is where the other house is and where the office/business is. I texted the neighbor but got no reply. I stopped in Bourbon, about 20-25 miles SSE of the house, topped off the fuel tank in the truck and looked at the radar. Radar showed the storm past me, so I headed home. The neighbor texted me and said that as they were heading to the basement the tornado lifted and they had no damage. I drove past the other house in 1/2 hr and he was correct, I didn't see any branches down on the road. WHEW.

Today the weather guy I trust said 2 were killed in Lake City, just over the border into Indiana and he also said that the tornado was 1/2 mile wide when it was in Starke County, where the office is. Tomorrow I have to visit a customer in Knox, he said they were missed, but it looks like it was about 4 miles North of them. I will do some driving around on the way there to see where the damage stopped and it actually lifted up.

I think I dodged a big bullet; if it would have hit the office, the fish hauling trailer, tanks, holding tanks, and house/barn would have been flat out gone.

Esshup I can relate, we had one about 5 miles from my house last week. 2 people were killed and there was lots of property damaged.

We live about 10 miles from Wakita Oklahoma where the move Twister was filmed. There's a reason it was filmed there. LOL

Thank God we were out of the danger zone!

Last night there was a front coming in, me and the 3 year old Grandson were fishing before it hit and he caught 15 BG/HBG. We only got 3 tenths of rain. Thankfully the neighbors ponds upstream leak and it keeps my pond full.

The 2 largest fish were an 11" LMB, 130 % RW and at least 4 HBG weighing 3/4 pounds.

Nothing like Theo's trophy HBG but great fun for a 3 year old.

One of the houses destroyed in that movie used to belong to a family member.

Glad you made it through ok. Tornado season has begun.

Texas is tornado alley and I’ve been through my share.

Wow....Scott that is pretty scary! Bullet Dodged!

Thanks guys. NWS is saying EF-2, but they are still surveying. The supercell spawned at least 2 that they are surveying the tracks from.

Just had this conversation yesterday with oldest daughter (who just had her first child).

Daughter: Dad I am glad you taught me that tornados are no big deal and you should just stay calm.

Me: I only LOOKED calm, and that was just to not freak you out and your little brother and sisters. Every time the sirens went off we took you guys to the basement. When I said I was going back up to get the dogs, I ALWAYS got on our local TV channels to get the doppler radar reports of the spotted tornado plus the analysis of the areas that might spawn new tornados. Only after that did I bring the dogs down. Do NOT be clueless, but rather always get more info to see if one is truly coming your way.

We then had a long conversation about getting more information and evaluating your risk.

We have looked at tornado clouds in the distance, and seen what they look like during the day. However, "rain-wrapped" tornados and night tornados can only be prepared for by modern scientific analysis.

I know of 3 people that have tornado shelters. One in Oklahoma is built above ground but tied to the slab and is to Fed specs, another is in the basement with a 100% concrete room (+ a door and escape door that both open inward) and one had one put in the ground right next to the house.

I'm thinking of seeing what I need to do to add one here. In the basement. There is an area that is 6' wide where it wouldn't take much excavation to add it, and it wouldn't take away from the basement space.

My parents' basement has a full concrete room with a steel door that swings inward. The top of the room has a foot of concrete. Basement is my #1 choice.

I have a shelter in my garage that is inground. I have a come-along in my shelter in case something falls on the shelter so I can get out.

I know people who have cellars in their backyard (which I am not a fan of) or steel ones in the garage (which I also do not like).

When we built my uncle's house, we had a concrete room poured in the center of the house.

Glad you and all the stuff are ok ! Last second planning is not good to rely on. Plan ahead !

I agree. The plan was to ride it out downstairs. The closer it got, the more concerned that the local weather guy got that I trust. So I just bailed. I was going to put the dog's kennel in the truck but it was starting to rain pretty hard so I said the heck with it and just put her in the back of the truck on the floor, and she stayed there. First time she's been in the truck and not in her kennel.

jludwig, my 1st preference is one in the basement. I am not a fan of going outside in the rain and wind to climb down the stairs to a below ground shelter. I know they are supposed to be safe, but I don't like the above ground shelters at all. It wasn't here, but if a tornado can rip up a blacktop road, I don't want to be bounced around inside a concrete boulder. Besides, you don't know what projectiles the tornado is throwing at you too, where below grade you have a much better chance (I think).

Those are my exact thoughts.

NWS update. The 1st tornado that started in Kankakee, IL was rated as an EF-3, was found to be 1,000 yds. wide and was on the ground for 36.6 miles. The one that was headed my way was rated as an EF-1, was 900 yds wide and was on the ground for 10.3 miles. That's over 1/2 mile wide for both of those tornadoes.

I have been through Greensburg, Kansas after the EF-5 tornado hit the town.

The damage was inconceivable to me. There were houses where the only thing left was a damaged concrete slab with a few shattered stubs of plumbing pipes sticking up.

I too would not trust my life to an aboveground tornado shelter rated to 250 mph wind speed. I have seen video of tornados rolling cars at high rates of speed. The steel plate is not sufficient when struck by a car travelling 60 mph.

I want to be underground, and preferably with two exit holes!

As Ron White said, "It's not THAT the wind is blowing 125 mph, it's WHAT the wind is blowing at 125 mph."

Scott, we did an add-on to our cabin about 3 years ago. I asked the builder if while he is here pouring concrete, if he could build a small "bait-house" to keep all the fishing stuff. He said "no problem, but if you want I can build a solid concrete room with concrete top with storm-shelter specs.Solid steel door with triple storm locks, breathing tubes. From the outside it won't look like a storm-shelter. i will make it look like it matches the new part of your cabin with the same stone veneer attached to storm shelter exterior wall and a metal roof on top of the concrete storm shelter top to match cabin.."

Zep, that looks great!!

Well the winds yesterday bit me in the butt at the other house. I got a call from the neighbor at the other house as I was leaving to go there. An 18' x 24' section of metal roof from one of the out buildings was peeled up and laying on the ground (well mostly on the ground. There are 2-3 pieces still on the roof). So I will be putting my roofers hat on this coming Thursday and Friday to put it back on. It was an old roof, nailed, not screwed on. I am pretty sure I can re-use the metal, I will have to patch the old nail holes that I cannot re-use. I will have to replace a few of the boards, but all in all it could have been a LOT worse.

I'm going over there tomorrow at sunrise to climb up there and screw down the "new" edge of the roof because from 11- sunset tomorrow we are supposed to get the same winds that we had yesterday. I'll weigh down the metal that came off the roof so it doesn't go flying and get boogered up too, and add the metal that is laying on the roof to the pile on the ground.

I honestly don't know how old that metal roof is. The building has tree trunks that had the branches lopped off for the upright supports on the outer walls and center supports. The outer boards are roughly 8" shiplap boards. The building has remnants of knob and tube wiring in it. .

Knob and tube goes back around hundred years.

60°F now and 8-10 mph winds.


Thanks Theo. The barn itself has the same uprights in it. The house is listed as being built in 1900, but from what I can tell it was earlier than that. All the old houses in this county were built in 1900 because the courthouse burnt down then along with all the records. That's when the new records started..........

The old farm house across the road from us was built in 1875. It's still square. The couple that owned it when we got here (1986) had it in fantastic condition. What impressed me (the engineer who inspects the guts of houses while his wife looks around upstairs) the most was that they had the original 6' (maybe) deep dirt floor cellar excavated down another two feet, concrete floor put in, 2.5' of concrete block wall built a foot or so inside the original field stone foundation, and all modern mechanicals put in.

It's been under contingency for sale to a churchless parish for a year for $700k. We're scared their going to tear down the house to build their church - their plans already show two big barns and four other outbuildings being scrapped.

That would be a shame.