My Storm Cellar is a Ditch

This was passed on to me from the NWS office here in Huntsville. A good lesson to be learned...
Guess you could say this falls into the I never thought it would happen to me department.
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Rankin County tornado victim: 'This time, it really hit'
(Brandon, MS)
04/06/05

By Cathy Hayden
chayden@clarionledger.com
And Joshua Cogswell
jcogswell@clarionledger.com

Tornado watches were in effect at mid-morning for much of south and east Mississippi as more bands of severe weather and squall lines moved through the state, including central and southwest Mississippi, the National Weather Service reported.

Numerous mobile homes were destroyed and damage was reported to roofs and vehicles in the Monterey Road area between Florence and Brandon and around Brandon-Star Road south of Brandon, officials said.

Herman Davis of Thomasville Road in Florence, MS. had just gotten home from his night shift job at Yellow Freight when he came face-to-face with the storms.

He pulled up in his driveway at 7:15 a.m. and saw one of the two mobile homes in front of his house spinning in the air. Davis, who weathered tornadoes in 1992 at his home, said he got out of his truck and jumped into the nearest ditch.

"I wanted to lay down in the truck, but it might start flying away, too," Davis said as he surveyed his property at about 9 a.m.

"I saw that trailer go up in the air," he said.

The mobile home that flew through the air belongs to his nephew, Twymond Davis, who was just getting ready to move into it. "It's totally destroyed," Davis said of the structure.

Brandon emergency services coordinator Byron McDaniel said he was able to sound the city's weather sirens about 30 minutes before the storms moved through.

He cited damage at Lewis Wilson Drive and Shiloh Road, and said no injuries have been reported in the city limits of Brandon.

There were numerous reports of mobile home damage in Rankin County, along with damaged roofs and downed trees and power lines. Some roads were blocked by fallen trees.

The Clarion-Ledger
201 S. Congress St.
Jackson MS 39201
(800) 367-3384
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Only once have I felt that my life was in danger from severe weather. Piedmont Alabama on Palm Sunday 1994. While covering the tornado that had struck the church and killed several during the morning worship service, another storm came over.

Looking back at the video, I am almost certain it was a tornado that had not completely reached the ground. I was doing a stand up on tape and pointing at the rapidly approaching wall cloud, when the metal roof of a shed detached and headed right for my head.

My camera man had his back to it and the only warning I had time to give was DUCK!
After it barely missed us, I realized that we had a tornado developing right on top of us.

...and what did I do?

I would like to say that I followed the advice I have given to people by the thousands over the years.

I did not..
I took 4 or 5 steps toward the nearest building (the one that now had no roof) until my mind settled.
Finally, I said to myself..you idiot, GET IN A DITCH.

Which I promptly did..When I looked up covered in mud I saw my photographer had joined me there, and he was still rolling!

By dark that evening, images from his camera of me cowering in a ditch were being shown world wide on CNN. The next day by Bill O'reilly.

The moral of this story and the one above....
GET IN THE DITCH

Dan Sends Thursday 7 April 2 am