Wizard Of Oz in Columbus!

Growing up in England I never experienced a storm, well that is, not a REAL storm.  We’re very protected and sheltered in the good old British Isles.  Our idea of a storm is a little wind and rain, the occasional roll of thunder, and the odd flash of lightening.  Here in the USA it’s quite different, here we have MEGA storms, its like the world is ending.  We get hail the size of golf balls, winds so strong they tear trees out of the ground, pick up school bus’s, and demolish houses, although the demolishing of houses is not really surprising as most houses here are made of sticks, and can be blown down in a light breeze.  I don’t think the American house builders are familiar with the story of the three little pigs.

The week we moved to America from England a tornado tore through the little town of Kingsport, Tennessee, causing horrendous damage, and putting fear into the hearts of all the occupants, including us, Kingsport was the town we had just moved to.  I remember Mum and I watching the storm from one of our upstairs windows, all the trees were bent almost in half, tree branches were flying through the air, sirens were wailing all around, and we had absolutely no idea at that time what the sirens meant; the television programs were interrupted with messages telling us to take cover in a basement or get into the bath.  I was very confused by that, why exactly was it that we had to get into the bath?  We brought the dogs and cat inside, I made hot chocolate, and Mum baked a cake, we really had no idea how serious the storm actually was, well that is until the next morning when the television showed all the damage, it was as if a giant had gone across the town with a 200 yard wide strimmer (bush whacker in American).  It had been the first tornado to hit the town in 64 years; naturally it chose to do so the week we arrived. We had been very lucky that our house hadn’t been in its path.  Through the experience our education was kicked up a notch and we very quickly came to understand the seriousness of the storms here. 

A year later we moved North to Cincinnati, we were staying in a hotel for a night as our furniture was being delivered the next day.  That night another tornado hit the town, we were all evacuated from our hotel rooms into the hotel basement for the duration of the storm, and at 5am when we were allowed to leave we immediately drove out to our new house to check on our dogs who were in the garage.  As we drove the 3 miles from the hotel to the house we were astonished by the devastation we saw; trucks and cars littered the highway upside down or on their side, debris was everywhere, there were whole trees laying across the road that had literally been torn out of the ground and hurled through the air. I remember how as we weaved through all the debris everyone in the car was silent, we were all completely shocked by what we were seeing, but also terrified at what we might find at our new house. 

We were so lucky, the dogs and the house were fine, the tornado had missed us by only one mile.  Even though the house was undamaged, and thankfully the dogs were OK, the storm must have been frightening for them because from that day forward for the rest of her life little Skye was absolutely terrified whenever she heard thunder.

Last week Danni and I were trapped in a barn with our horses during a tornado warning. The barn had a tin roof and the huge hail caused a deafening noise. Between the 60 mile an hour winds, thunder so loud the ground shook, and lightening that lit up the night sky like daylight, it was truly frightening, I was in a right old panic being all too familiar with just how much damage a tornado could do.  With my relentlessly vivid imagination working overtime, I was having disturbing visions of all of us, the horses, Danni, the barn and me, being lifted up like Dorothy  and spun around as if in a blender, and landing unceremoniously with one almighty bloody crash in Kansas.

Danni had been riding Travis in the indoor arena when the storm hit, and even with the incredible noise of the hail he didn’t bat an eye, he’s such an amazing horse.  She dismounted, un-tacked and put him in the stall while we waited out the storm, I can honestly say I was petrified. I was pacing up and down the barn isle wringing my hands together like a demented person.

Then last night on my way home from Danni’s condo, I drove white knuckled through another tornado warning, with sirens blaring, radio warnings, and torrential rain that was so bad I could only drive 15 miles an hour on the highway (along with everyone else), the roads were flooded, and once again the lightening was scaring me half to death.  I know that being in a car is supposed to be a safe place in a storm, but I didn’t feel very safe last night, I've decided that I’m now officially terrified of storms.

They say everything is bigger and better in America, and I can, without hesitation confirm that America has bigger, (and depending upon how you look at it) better storms than England.