Post by hornharvester on May 23, 2011 8:36:50 GMT -5
With killer tornado's in the news again I thought I would share this with you. In June 1998 my friend from Florida and I were camping/fishing at Inland Marina by Port Clinton, Ohio.
It was a Wednesday and we had caught a limit of walleyes, cleaned them and went to town for supplies. On the way back from town we saw this huge storm out on the lake and it was nasty looking.
We got back to the camper and he started to do the supper dishes and i went outside to look at the approaching storm. All of a sudden the winds picked up and blew off a neighbors awning and I saw the tornado coming down to the ground.
I yelled at him to get out of the camper and we jumped into the 4-5' drainage ditch directly behind the camper. We lay as flat as possible with our heads down and all kinds of debris was flying over our heads. The winds were howling and it sounded like bombs going off around us from the lightening hits.
It was pouring cold rain and small hail and my buddies says "there goes your camper"! I looked back and the back of my camper was about 4' in the air and going slide ways but my van was parked beside it and when the camper hit the van it stopped.
It seem like it took an eternity but just as quick at it started it was over. The lightening and rain ceased and we got out of the ditch. Campers and debris was everywhere. This happened right before dark so we got out some lights and went looking to help people.
Luckily the tornado happened on a Wednesday when most of the campers were empty and no one in our campground got injured except for a few minor cuts.
The tornado traveled 12 miles along Lake Erie shore taking out most anything in its path. Davis-Besse nuke plant was a mile from us and the tornado did a direct hit on the plant. The parking lot surveillance cameras showed twin tornado's hitting the plant. It traveled on and hit Camp Perry and did millions of dollars worth of damage to the camp.
In all only one person was killed and he died of a heart attack. The tornado was classified as a "F2" with winds up to 155 mph at the power plant.
This picture was taken the next morning by a helicopter. I had just reset my camper back straight and we were getting ready to go home. The ditch where we went is behind the camper. My 22' boat was on the trailer in the boat yard which is in the upper right out of the picture. To my surprise the tornado didn't damage my boat but 30 foot away it smashed a small camper to pieces.
There are two more camping areas like the one in the picture and the tornado destroyed around 100 campers at Inland. Luckily no one lost their boat because the water was low and the boats docks were down which keep the boats protected by the shore.
After this experience Ive always have an eye to the sky when bad weather is coming. Tornado's form really quick and are gone just as quick. h.h.
It was a Wednesday and we had caught a limit of walleyes, cleaned them and went to town for supplies. On the way back from town we saw this huge storm out on the lake and it was nasty looking.
We got back to the camper and he started to do the supper dishes and i went outside to look at the approaching storm. All of a sudden the winds picked up and blew off a neighbors awning and I saw the tornado coming down to the ground.
I yelled at him to get out of the camper and we jumped into the 4-5' drainage ditch directly behind the camper. We lay as flat as possible with our heads down and all kinds of debris was flying over our heads. The winds were howling and it sounded like bombs going off around us from the lightening hits.
It was pouring cold rain and small hail and my buddies says "there goes your camper"! I looked back and the back of my camper was about 4' in the air and going slide ways but my van was parked beside it and when the camper hit the van it stopped.
It seem like it took an eternity but just as quick at it started it was over. The lightening and rain ceased and we got out of the ditch. Campers and debris was everywhere. This happened right before dark so we got out some lights and went looking to help people.
Luckily the tornado happened on a Wednesday when most of the campers were empty and no one in our campground got injured except for a few minor cuts.
The tornado traveled 12 miles along Lake Erie shore taking out most anything in its path. Davis-Besse nuke plant was a mile from us and the tornado did a direct hit on the plant. The parking lot surveillance cameras showed twin tornado's hitting the plant. It traveled on and hit Camp Perry and did millions of dollars worth of damage to the camp.
In all only one person was killed and he died of a heart attack. The tornado was classified as a "F2" with winds up to 155 mph at the power plant.
This picture was taken the next morning by a helicopter. I had just reset my camper back straight and we were getting ready to go home. The ditch where we went is behind the camper. My 22' boat was on the trailer in the boat yard which is in the upper right out of the picture. To my surprise the tornado didn't damage my boat but 30 foot away it smashed a small camper to pieces.
There are two more camping areas like the one in the picture and the tornado destroyed around 100 campers at Inland. Luckily no one lost their boat because the water was low and the boats docks were down which keep the boats protected by the shore.
After this experience Ive always have an eye to the sky when bad weather is coming. Tornado's form really quick and are gone just as quick. h.h.
, very well said